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The Impact of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies on Environmental Quality in OECD Countries

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Abstract

This paper aims to explore the impact of energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies adoption in CO2 emissions of 36 OECD countries during the period 2000–2019. The system GMM estimations demonstrate that energy efficiency and renewable energy decrease emissions. As for renewables technics effects, results suggest that hydropower and wind energy reduce emissions, but their impact magnitude is different. However, solar energy has not statistically significant impact on emissions. Furthermore, fossil fuels deteriorate environmental quality. A robustness check estimate has been conducted to test the validity of our results by changing the sample of studied countries and periods. When modifying the composition of the studied sample, the magnitude of impact differs considerably. However, by changing the studied period, results are affected as regards their significance.

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Notes

  1. See countries list in Table 1 in the Appendix.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their supportive comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Research in Applied Micro Economy (LARMA), Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management of Tunis, Tunis El Manar University, Chedly Ghedira Street 5000, Monastir, Tunisia

    Saoussen Aguir Bargaoui

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 List of studied OCDE countries
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Table 2 Data description
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Table 3 Descriptive statistics
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Table 4 Correlation matrix
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Table 5 Two-step system GMM estimation of CO2 emissions’ Determinants for OECD countries
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Table 6 Two-step system GMM estimation of CO2 emissions’ determinants for G20 countries
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Table 7 Two-step system GMM estimation of CO2 emissions’ determinants for OECD countries during 2009–2019
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Aguir Bargaoui, S. The Impact of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies on Environmental Quality in OECD Countries. J Knowl Econ 13, 3424–3444 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-021-00864-0

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