SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Hacettepe Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 41 Sayı: 3

Determinants of Carbon Emissions: Spatial Findings for Selected European Union Countries

KARBON EMİSYONLARININ BELİRLEYİCİLERİ: SEÇİLMİŞ AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ ÜLKELERİ İÇİN MEKÂNSAL BULGULAR

Burcu Berke(Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi)0000-0002-3987-3592
Gül Şerife Huyugüzel Kışla(EGE ÜNİVERSİTESİ, İKTİSAT FAKÜLTESİ, EKONOMİ PR.)0000-0002-0901-2038
Pages
388–409
Publication Date
2023-09-27
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In the study, after controlling for the effects of other control variables (urbanization and growth), it is concluded that carbon emissions increase as income inequality and financial development increase, while these emissions decrease or environmental quality improves as renewable energy consumption increases.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:One of the main reasons for the increasing climate change in the world is the "increase of carbon emissions".
📊
Key Findings & Data:In this context, the main purpose of the study is to investigate the determinants of carbon emissions for selected European Union countries in the period of 1991-2018 using the spatial panel data method.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:In the study, after controlling for the effects of other control variables (urbanization and growth), it is concluded that carbon emissions increase as income inequality and financial development increase, while these emissions decrease or environmental quality improves as renewable energy consumption increases.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:2018 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Karbon Emisyonu · Yenilenebilir Enerji · Finansal Gelişme

Abstract

One of the main reasons for the increasing climate change in the world is the "increase of carbon emissions". Although the traditional determinants of carbon emissions are widely researched in the literature, the possible effects of financial development, renewable energy and income inequality on these emissions are less discussed. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to investigate the determinants of carbon emissions for selected European Union countries in the period of 1991-2018 using the spatial panel data method. In the study, after controlling for the effects of other control variables (urbanization and growth), it is concluded that carbon emissions increase as income inequality and financial development increase, while these emissions decrease or environmental quality improves as renewable energy consumption increases. In addition, the "environmental Kuznets curve" hypothesis, which is based on the idea that carbon emissions will increase up to a certain threshold value and then decrease as the growth rate increases, seems to be valid. These results reveal that the reduction of climate change as well as carbon emissions for selected European Union countries depends on policies that will support renewable energy. Thus, shifts from carbon-intensive coal to low-carbon gas, or from fossil fuels to nuclear or renewable energy can reduce the level of overall global emissions.

Özet

Dünyada giderek artan iklim değişikliğinin temel nedenlerinden biri “karbon emisyonlarının yükselmesi”dir. Literatürde karbon emisyonlarının geleneksel belirleyicilerinin yaygın olarak araştırılmasına karşın, finansal gelişme, yenilenebilir enerji ve gelir eşitsizliğinin bu emisyonlarda yaratabileceği olası etkiler daha az tartışılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın temel amacı 1991-2018 döneminde seçilmiş Avrupa Birliği ülkeleri için karbon emisyonlarının belirleyicilerini mekânsal panel veri yöntemini kullanarak araştırmaktır. Çalışmada diğer kontrol değişkenlerinin (kentleşme ve büyüme) etkileri kontrol edildikten sonra gelir eşitsizliği ve finansal gelişme arttıkça karbon emisyonları artarken, yenilenebilir enerji tüketimi arttıkça bu emisyonların azaldığı veya çevresel kalitenin iyileştiği sonucuna varılmaktadır. Ayrıca, büyüme oranı arttıkça karbon emisyonlarının belli bir eşik değere kadar artıp daha sonra azalacağı fikrine dayanan “çevresel Kuznets eğrisi” hipotezinin de geçerli olduğu görülmektedir. Bu sonuçlar, seçilmiş Avrupa Birliği ülkeleri için karbon emisyonlarının yanı sıra iklim değişikliklerinin azaltılabilmesinin yenilenebilir enerjiyi destekleyecek politikalara bağlı olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Dolayısıyla, karbon yoğun kömürden düşük karbonlu gaza veya fosil yakıttan nükleer enerji veya yenilenebilir enerji doğru kaymalar, toplam küresel emisyonlarının düzeyini azaltabilir.

🔖

Cite This Article

Berke, B., Kışla, G. Ş. H. (2023). Determinants of Carbon Emissions: Spatial Findings for Selected European Union Countries. Hacettepe Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, Cilt: 41 Sayı: 3, 388–409. https://doi.org/10.17065/huniibf.1150730

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (53)

  1. Al-Mulali, U. ve I. Öztürk (2015). The effect of energy consumption, urbanisation, trade openness, industrial output, and the political stability on the environmental degradation in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Energy, 84, 382-389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.03.004
  2. Agais, J. ve D. Chapman (1999). A Dynamic approach to the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis, Ecological Economics, 28, 267-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(98)00040-8
  3. Ang, J. B. (2007). CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and output in France. Energy Policy, 355, 4772-4778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2007.03.032 Anselin, L., J. L. Gallo ve H. Jayet, “Spatial Panel Econometrics”, içinde The Econometrics of Panel Data, ed: Laszlo Matyas ve Patrick Sevestre, (Springer,2008).
  4. Baek, J., ve G. Gweisah (2013). Income inequality harm the environment: empirical evidence from the United States. Energy Policy, 62, 1434-1437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.097
  5. Baek, J. (2016). Do nuclear and renewable energy improve the environment?: empirical evidence from the United States. Ecological Indicators, 66, 352-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.01.059
  6. Bai, J., Li, S., Kang, Q., Wang, N., Guo, K., Wang, J., ve Cheng, J. (2021). Spatial Spillover Effects of Renewable Energy on Carbon Emissions in Less-developed Areas of China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17053-w
  7. Balado-Naves, R., Baños-Pino, J. F., ve Mayor, M. (2018). Do countries influence neighbouring pollution? A spatial analysis of the EKC for CO2 emissions. Energy Policy, 123, 266-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.059
  8. Boutaba, M. A. (2009). Dynamic Linkages among European carbon markets. Economics Bulletin, 29(2), 499-511.
  9. Behera, S. R. ve D.P. Dosh (2017). The effect of urbanization, energy consumption and foreign direct investment on the carbon dioxide emission in the SSEA (South and Southeast Asian) Region. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.201.
  10. Bekhet, H. A., A. Matar ve T. Yasmin (2017). CO2 Emissions, Energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development in GCC countries: dynamic simultaneous equation models. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 117-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.089
  11. Boyce, J. K. (1994). Inequality as a cause of environmental degradation. Ecological Economics, 11, 169-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-8009(94)90198-8
  12. Burki, U. ve M. Tahir (2022). Determinants of environmental degradation evidenced based insights from ASEAN economies. Journal of Environmental Management, 306, 114506, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114506
  13. Coondoo, D. ve S. Dinda (2002). Causality between income and emission: a country group-spesific econometric analysis. Ecological Economics, 40, 351-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00280-4
  14. Chevallier, J., D. Nguyen ve J. C. Reboredo (2019). A Conditional dependence approach to CO2-energy price relationship. Energy Economics, 81, 812-821. https://doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2019.05.010
  15. Cole, M. A. (2004). Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages. Ecological Economics, 48, 71-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2003.09.007
  16. Doğan, E. ve F. Şeker (2016). Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: the role of renewable and non-renewable energy. Renewable Energy, 94, 429-439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.03.078
  17. Elhorst, J. P., 2012. Dynamic spatial panels: models, methods, and inferences. Journal of Geogr. Systems. 14 (1), 5–28. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-40340-8_4.
  18. Heerink, N., A. Mulatu ve E. Bulte (2001). Income inequality and the environment: aggregation bias in environmental Kuznets curve. Ecological Economics, 38, 359-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00171-9.
  19. Gianfrate, G. ve M. Peri (2019). The green advantage: explaining the convenience of issuing green bonds. Journal of Cleaner Production, 219, 127-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.022
  20. Grossmann, G. M. ve A.B. Krueger (1995). Economic growth and the environment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110, 353-377. https://doi.org/10.2307/2118443
  21. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2021). Climate change 2021: the physical science basis”, Sixth Report, Summary for policymakers, October, Switzerland.
  22. Iwata, H., K. Okada ve S. Samreth (2012). Empirical study on the determinants of CO2 emissions: evidence from OECD countries. Applied Economics, 44(27), 3513-3519. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.577023
  23. Jalil, A. ve M. Feridun (2011). The impact of growth, energy and financial development on the environment in China: a cointegration analysis. Energy Economics, 33, 284-291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2010.10.003
  24. Jorgenson, A., J. Schor ve X. Huang (2017). Income inequality and carbon emissions in the United States: a state-level analysis, 1997-2012. Ecological Economics, 134, 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.016
  25. Kanwal, M. ve H. Khan (2021). Does carbon asset add value to clean energy market?, evidence from EU. Green Finance, 3(4), 495-507. https://doi.org/10.3934/GF.2021023
  26. Kuznets, S. (1955). Economic growth and income inequality. American Economic Review, 1, 1-28.
  27. Leitao, J., J. Ferreira ve E. S. Gonzales (2021). Green bonds, sustainable development and environmental policy in the European Union carbon market. Business Strategy and the Environment, 2077-2090. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2733
  28. Lesage, J. ve R. K. Pace, Introduction to Spatial Econometrics (CRCTaylor&Francis Group, 2009).
  29. Li, W., Y. Qiao, X. Li ve Y. Wang (2022). Energy consumption, pollution haven hypothesis, and environmental Kuznets curve: Examining the environment-economy link in belt and road initative countries. Energy, 239, 122559, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2021.122559.
  30. Liu, H., ve Y. Song (2020). Financial development and carbon emissions in China since the recent world financial crisis: Evidence from a spatial-temporal analysis and a spatial Durbin model. Science of the Total Environment, 715, 136771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136771
  31. Menyah, K. ve Y. Wolde-Rufael (2010). CO2 Emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in the US. Energy Policy, 38, 2911-2915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.01.024
  32. Mo, B. Z. Li ve J. Meng (2021). The Dynamics of carbon on green energy equity investment: quantile on-quantile and quantile coherency approaches. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 29, 5912–5922. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15647-y
  33. Nasreen, S., S. Anwar ve İ. Öztürk (2017). Financial stability, energy consumption and environmental quality: evidence from South Asian Economies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 67, 1105-1122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.021
  34. Nikwatoh, L. S. (2022). Zero-pollution effect and economic development, standard and nested environmental Kuznets curve analyses for West Africa. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10668-021-01921-z
  35. Öztürk, İ. ve A. Acaravcı (2013). Long run and causal analysis of energy, growth, openness and financial development on carbon emissions in Turkey. Energy Economics, 36, 262-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2012.08.025
  36. Odhiambo, N. M. (2020). Financial development, income inequality, and carbon emissions in Sub-Saharan African countries: a panel data analysis. Energy Exploration&Exploitation, 38(5), 1914-1931. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0144598720941999
  37. Pao, H. J. ve C. M. Tsai (2011). Multivariate granger causality between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, FDI (foreign direct investment) and GDP (gross domestic product): evidence from panel of BRIC (Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China) Countries. Energy, 36, 685-393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.09.041
  38. Rai, S. K. ve A. Rowot (2022). Explaining the nexus between environment quality, economic development, and industrialization in BRICS nations: the role of technological innovation and income inequality. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, January, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18181-z.
  39. Ren, X., Cheng, C., Wang, Z. ve Yan, C. (2021). Spillover and dynamic effects of energy transition and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions for the European Union: A dynamic spatial panel model. Sustainable Development, 29(1), 228-242. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2144.
  40. Seldadyo, H., Elhorst, J. P. ve De Haan, J. (2010). Geography and governance: Does space matter?. Papers in Regional Science, 89(3), 625-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2009.00273.x
  41. Shahbaz, M., Tiwari, A. K. ve M. Nasir (2013a). The effects of financial development, economic growth, coal consumption and trade openness on CO2 emissions South Africa. Energy Policy, 61, 1452-1459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.006
  42. Shahbaz, M., Hye, O. M. A., Tiwari, A.K. ve N. C. Leitao (2013b). Economic growth, energy consumption, financial development, international trade and CO2 emissions Indonesia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25, 109-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.04.009
  43. Shahzad, S. J. H., R. R. Kumar, M. Zakaria ve M. Hurr (2017). Carbon emission, energy consumption, trade openness and financial development in Pakistan: A Revisit. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 185-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.042
  44. Solt, F. (2009). Standardizing the World Income Inequality Database. Social Science Quarterly, 90(2), 231-242.
  45. Suki, N. M. (2022). The role of technology innovation and renewable energy in reducing environmental degradation in malaysia: a step towards sustainable environment. Renewable Energy, 182, 245-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.10.007
  46. Tamazian, A. J., P. Chousa ve K. C. Vadlamannati (2009). Does higher economic and financial development lead to environmental degradation: evidence from BRIC countries. Energy Policy, 37, 246-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.08.025
  47. Tian, J., L. Yu, R. Xue, S. Zhuang ve Y. Shan (2021). Global low carbon energy transition in the post Covid-19 era. Applied Energy, 307, 118205, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118205
  48. United Nations (2020). The sustainable development goals report. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/ Erişim Tarihi: 18/02/2022.
  49. Vallajas, J. R. ve A. Lastuka (2020). The income inequality and carbon emissions trade-off revisited. Energy Policy, 139, 111302, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111302
  50. You, W., & Lv, Z. (2018). Spillover effects of economic globalization on CO2 emissions: a spatial panel approach. Energy Economics, 73, 248-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.05.016.
  51. Zhang, Y. J. (2011). The impact of financial development on carbon emissions: an empirical analysis in China. Energy Policy, 39, 2197-2203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.02.026
  52. Zhang, C. ve X. Zhao (2014). Panel estimation for income inequality and CO2 emissions: a regional analysis in China. Applied Energy, 136, 382-392. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.09.048
  53. Zhang,C. ve X. Zhao (2016). Does foreign direct investment lead to lower CO2 emissions? evidence from a regional analysis in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, 943-951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.226