Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic complexity, CO2 emissions, and ecological footprint in the USA: testing the EKC hypothesis with a structural break

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 846 - 861
• Main Author: Pata, Ugur Korkut
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Complexity; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological footprint; Economic development; Economics; Ecotoxicology; Emissions; Energy consumption; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental degradation; Environmental Health; Environmental impact; Environmental Kuznets curve; Environmental science; Footprint analysis; Globalization; Hypotheses; Impact analysis; Pollution; Pollution control; Renewable energy sources; Renewable resources; Research Article; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; United States > US; EKC hypothesis; Economic complexity; Ecological footprint; Combined cointegration; Renewable and non-renewable energy; Globalization
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10446-3

The economic complexity index, which indicates the level of knowledge and skills needed in the production of the exported goods, is a measure of economic development. Some researchers have investigated the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by considering the effect of economic complexity on environmental pollution. This study, for the first time, examines the impact of economic complexity, globalization, and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on both CO
2
emissions and ecological footprint within the framework of the EKC hypothesis in the USA. To this end, the combined cointegration test and three different estimators are utilized for the period from 1980 to 2016. The main finding of the study indicates that the inverted U-shaped EKC relationship between economic complexity and environmental pollution holds for the USA. In addition to this finding, globalization and renewable energy consumption play a dominant role in reducing environmental pollution, while non-renewable energy consumption contributing factor to environmental pressure. Overall, the outcomes indicate that increasing economic complexity helps to minimize environmental degradation after a threshold, and the US government can provide a better environment by using renewable energy sources and globalization.
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