Investigating the EKC hypothesis with renewable energy consumption, human capital, globalization and trade openness for China: Evidence from augmented ARDL approach with a structural break

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 216; p. 119220
• Main Authors: Pata, Ugur Korkut, Caglar, Abdullah Emre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-02-2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Augmented ARDL approach; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; CO2 emissions; Ecological effects; Ecological footprint; EKC; Emissions; Energy consumption; Environmental degradation; Environmental impact; Environmental Kuznets curve; Environmental requirements; Footprint analysis; Globalization; Human capital; Hypotheses; Income; Pollution; Pollution control; Pollution levels; Renewable energy; Renewable energy consumption; Renewable resources; Trade; China; Human capital; Ecological footprint; EKC; CO2 emissions; Renewable energy consumption; Augmented ARDL approach
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.119220

China is the most polluted country in the world, facing the challenges of increased CO2 emissions and its ecological footprint. In order for China to achieve sustainable growth, it must identify factors that reduce environmental pollution and take essential measures before it is too late. To this end, this study empirically examines the ecological outcomes of income, human capital, globalization, renewable energy consumption, and trade openness for China within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The paper employs the recently developed augmented ARDL approach in the presence of one structural break to investigate annual time series data during the period 1980–2016. The findings reveal that the EKC hypothesis does not hold for China, and a U-shaped quadratic relationship between environmental pollution and income level has been determined for both CO2 emissions and ecological footprint. The results also suggest that globalization, trade openness, and income drive environmental pollution while increasing human capital reduces the ecological footprint in the long-term. No effects were found for renewable energy consumption. The study highlights that human capital plays a key role in reducing environmental degradation in China, while renewable energy is not sufficient to meet environmental requirements.
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•Augmented ARDL approach is performed for China’s sustainability assessment.•The EKC hypothesis is not valid for both ecological footprint and CO2 emissions.•Economic growth has a U-shaped relationship with the environmental pollution indicators.•Renewable energy consumption has no effect on the environmental degradations.•An increase in human capital can seriously reduce environmental pressure.