A fixed effects regression and two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) is used to analyze secondary data from the World Bank, covering 163 countries over the period from 2000 to 2016. The study tests the relationship between renewable energy, urbanization, and CO₂ emissions. The empirical results show that urbanization has an inverted U-shaped relationship with CO₂ emissions, while renewable energy consumption mitigates CO₂ emissions. If causal, a 1% increase in renewable energy use leads to a 1.2% decrease in CO₂ emissions. The results also show that the GDP per capita has an inverted U-shaped relationship with CO₂ emissions, confirming the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). We also found that innovation, proxied by residents’ patents, has a non-linear effect on CO₂ emissions. As a policy implication, developing countries should increase the share of renewable energy in their total energy use, and promote innovative activities by increasing government spending on R&D.

There is huge evidence for a relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation. One of the causes of environmental degradation is CO₂ emission which is added to the atmosphere through human activities and excessive industrialization. The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between CO₂ emissions and measures of wealth in countries of Central and Eastern Europe between 2000 and 2019. The paper extends the research on economic affluence by taking into consideration two measures of economic growth, in addition to GDP, the HDI index is included. The basis for the investigation is the EKC concept. All analyses are based on econometric models with GDP and the HDI index as independent variables. The results are not conclusive and there is no one model which best describes the relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic growth. Verification of the models indicates the better fit of models with the HDI index as the measure of affluence. Moreover, the study confirms that the key factors affecting CO₂ emissions are energy consumption per capita which leads to an increase in CO₂ emissions, and renewable energy consumption which reduces CO₂ emissions. Therefore, technological changes and an increase in human awareness of global sustainability are required.

Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego

Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu = Research Papers of Wrocław University of Economics; 2023; vol. 67, nr 3, s. 109-129