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Does international cooperation affect CO2 emissions? Evidence from OECD countries

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of international cooperation on CO2 emissions growth in 36 OECD economies over the period 1970–2016. The indices of political globalization are the benchmark measure of international cooperation since a higher value of the index of political globalization is an indicator of collaboration in the world. The paper finds that political globalization decreases CO2 emissions growth. The findings remain robust when we consider the sub-indices of political globalization and include various controls. Also, the findings of the panel quantile regressions with the fixed-effects via the method of moments indicate that the effects of per capita income and the initial level of CO2 emissions are higher in more pollutant countries. However, the impact of political globalization on CO2 emissions is stable at different quantiles. The paper also discusses the potential implications for the role of international cooperation on climate change.

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Notes

  1. Theoretically speaking, natural resource rents (particularly oil rents) lead to greater CO2 emissions. However, the impact of energy usage on CO2 emissions is mixed, depending on the sample of countries (see, e.g., Acheampong 2018).

  2. There are also game-theory approaches to the relationship between climate change and international governance (see, e.g., Hammitt and Adams 1996).

  3. Various papers have also conducted the time-series analyses to examine the determinant factors of CO2 emissions (e.g., Chang et al. 2019; Chen et al. 2019a, b; Gozgor and Can 2017; Ling et al. 2015; Shahbaz et al. 2013).

  4. Al-Mulali and Ozturk (2016) and Farhani and Ozturk (2015) provide an excellent review of the related literature.

  5. Bu et al. (2016) have reviewed the previous papers for the impacts of the KOF indices of globalization on environmental variables until 2015. Therefore, our review of the previous literature will focus on the empirical studies conducted after 2015.

  6. There are also empirical studies to use different indicators of international political integration, rather than the KOF indices of globalization, to analyze their effects on environmental indicators (see, e.g., Longhofer and Jorgenson 2017).

  7. In this paper, we consider a 5-year (average) growth rate in non-overlapping periods in random-effects estimations since the index value of political globalization can significantly vary only in the long term.

  8. For more details, visit the website of the KOF Institute.

  9. Note that the effects of the related control variables on CO2 emissions should be positive in developing countries.

  10. Note that we run the cross-sectional dependence (CD) test of Pesaran (2004). Following the findings, we utilize the second generation unit root test of Pesaran (2007). All findings confirm that all series are stationary. Related findings are not provided to save space, but they are available upon request.

  11. That is, greater CO2 can negatively affect the level of political globalization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China

    Tiejun Chen

  2. Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Giray Gozgor

  3. ESIC Business and Marketing School, Madrid, Spain

    Chun Kwong Koo

  4. The University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

    Chi Keung Marco Lau

Authors
  1. Tiejun Chen
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  2. Giray Gozgor
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  3. Chun Kwong Koo
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  4. Chi Keung Marco Lau
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giray Gozgor.

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Responsible editor: Nicholas Apergis

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Chen, T., Gozgor, G., Koo, C.K. et al. Does international cooperation affect CO2 emissions? Evidence from OECD countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 8548–8556 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07324-y

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