Exploring the impact of innovation, renewable energy consumption, and income on CO2 emissions: new evidence from the BRICS economies

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 27; no. 12; pp. 13866 - 13881
• Main Authors: Khattak, Shoukat Iqbal, Ahmad, Manzoor, Khan, Zia Ullah, Khan, Anwar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-04-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Blood; Blood levels; Brazil; Calcium; Carbon Dioxide - analysis; Carbon dioxide emissions; Children; China; Copper; Earth and Environmental Science; Economic Development; Ecotoxicology; Energy consumption; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Hair; Heavy metals; Homeostasis; Hypotheses; Income; India; Inductively coupled plasma; Lead; Magnesium; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Minerals; Phosphorus; Renewable Energy; Renewable resources; Research Article; Russia; Smelters; South Africa; Trace elements; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Brazil; South Africa; China; India; Russia; BRICS countries; income; CCEMG; BRICS; Innovation; GDP; CO2; renewable energy consumption
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-07876-4

The study’s main purpose is to investigate the complex interaction between innovation, renewable energy consumption, and CO
2
emissions (CO
2
e), under the Kuznets curve framework, for BRICS economies from 1980 to 2016. The empirical estimates drwan from the CCEMG technique highlighted the heterogeneous role of innovation. The results indicated that innovation activities have failed to disrupt CO
2
e in China, India, Russia, and South Africa, except for Brazil. Second, the data showed that renewable energy consumption has mitigated CO
2
e in the BRICS panel, Russia, India, and China, excluding South Africa. Third, the existence of the EKC hypothesis was confirmed in all the BRICS economies, excluding India and South Africa. Fourth, the causality estimations reflected a two-way causality between innovation and CO
2
e; innovation and GDP per capita; innovation and renewable energy consumption; and between CO
2
e and income, thereby confirming the acceptance of income-led emission hypothesis in for BRICS economies, and vice versa.