Analyze the environmental sustainability factors of China: The role of fossil fuel energy and renewable energy

• Published in: Renewable energy Vol. 187; pp. 390 - 402
• Main Authors: Abbasi, Kashif Raza, Shahbaz, Muhammad, Zhang, Jinjun, Irfan, Muhammad, Alvarado, Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2022
• Subjects: CO2 emissions; Dynamic ARDL; Fossil fuel energy; GDP; Renewable energy; GDP; Renewable energy; Fossil fuel energy; CO2 emissions; Dynamic ARDL
• ISSN: 0960-1481; 1879-0682
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.01.066

Global warming is now the most serious environmental challenge. In the most recent Paris accord, authorities opted to reduce global emissions to a certain level and voiced significant concern for China, the world's largest CO2 emitter, accounting for around 29.4% of total emissions. In contrast, coal accounts 65% of the majority of China's energy mix in 2019. Therefore, it is critical to analyze the environmental factors influencing China's CO2 emissions. Hence, the research examines fossil fuel energy, renewable energy, and GDP between 1980 to 2018 using novel dynamic ARDL simulations and Frequency Domain Causality (FDC) models. The empirical findings show that fossil fuel energy intensely boosts CO2 emissions long and short term. On the other hand, GDP increases carbon emissions in the long term but has a significant adverse effect on China's environment in the short run. While renewable energy usage has a short-term detrimental impact on CO2 emissions. The FDC also supports the long-, medium-and short-term causality hypotheses. Overall, our results imply that renewable energy consumption is crucial for achieving sustainable environmental goals and discourages fossil fuel use in the energy mix. We recommend that China consider empirical evidence and initiate long-term strategies to diminish carbon emissions for a sustainable environment.