IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i9p874-d77002.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Non-Fossil Energy Usage Lower CO 2 Emissions? Empirical Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Deshan Li

    (Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Institute for the Economy of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Urumqi 830002, China)

  • Degang Yang

    (Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China)

Abstract

This paper uses an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) to examine the dynamic impact of non-fossil energy consumption on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in China for a given level of economic growth, trade openness, and energy usage between 1965 and 2014. The results suggest that the variables are in a long-run equilibrium. ARDL estimation indicates that consumption of non-fossil energy plays a crucial role in curbing CO 2 emissions in the long run but not in the short term. The results also suggest that, in both the long and short term, energy consumption and trade openness have a negative impact on the reduction of CO 2 emissions, while gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increases CO 2 emissions only in the short term. Finally, the Granger causality test indicates a bidirectional causality between CO 2 emissions and energy consumption. In addition, this study suggests that non-fossil energy is an effective solution to mitigate CO 2 emissions, providing useful information for policy-makers wishing to reduce atmospheric CO 2 .

Suggested Citation

  • Deshan Li & Degang Yang, 2016. "Does Non-Fossil Energy Usage Lower CO 2 Emissions? Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-11, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:9:p:874-:d:77002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/874/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/874/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ang, James B., 2007. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and output in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4772-4778, October.
    2. Halicioglu, Ferda, 2009. "An econometric study of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1156-1164, March.
    3. Chiu, Chien-Liang & Chang, Ting-Huan, 2009. "What proportion of renewable energy supplies is needed to initially mitigate CO2 emissions in OECD member countries?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1669-1674, August.
    4. Baek, Jungho & Kim, Hyun Seok, 2013. "Is economic growth good or bad for the environment? Empirical evidence from Korea," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 744-749.
    5. Susana Silva & Isabel Soares & Carlos Pinho, 2012. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Sources on Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions - a SVAR approach," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 133-144.
    6. Jalil, Abdul & Feridun, Mete, 2011. "The impact of growth, energy and financial development on the environment in China: A cointegration analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 284-291, March.
    7. Pesaran, M.H. & Shin, Y., 1995. "An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Modelling Approach to Cointegration Analysis," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 9514, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Salim, Ruhul A. & Shafiei, Sahar, 2014. "Urbanization and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in OECD countries: An empirical analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 581-591.
    9. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hye, Qazi Muhammad Adnan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Leitão, Nuno Carlos, 2013. "Economic growth, energy consumption, financial development, international trade and CO2 emissions in Indonesia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 109-121.
    10. Hiroki Iwata & Keisuke Okada & Sovannroeun Samreth, 2012. "Empirical study on the determinants of CO 2 emissions: evidence from OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(27), pages 3513-3519, September.
    11. Oestreich, A. Marcel & Tsiakas, Ilias, 2015. "Carbon emissions and stock returns: Evidence from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 294-308.
    12. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Lean, Hooi Hooi, 2012. "Does financial development increase energy consumption? The role of industrialization and urbanization in Tunisia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 473-479.
    13. Bing Xue & Yong Geng & Katrin Müller & Chengpeng Lu & Wanxia Ren, 2014. "Understanding the Causality between Carbon Dioxide Emission, Fossil Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in Developed Countries: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-9, February.
    14. Jaforullah, Mohammad & King, Alan, 2015. "Does the use of renewable energy sources mitigate CO2 emissions? A reassessment of the US evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 711-717.
    15. James B. Bushnell & Howard Chong & Erin T. Mansur, 2013. "Profiting from Regulation: Evidence from the European Carbon Market," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 78-106, November.
    16. Bölük, Gülden & Mert, Mehmet, 2014. "Fossil & renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 439-446.
    17. Cerdeira Bento, João Paulo & Moutinho, Victor, 2016. "CO2 emissions, non-renewable and renewable electricity production, economic growth, and international trade in Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 142-155.
    18. Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2013. "Does financial instability increase environmental degradation? Fresh evidence from Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 537-544.
    19. Soytas, Ugur & Sari, Ramazan, 2009. "Energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions: Challenges faced by an EU candidate member," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1667-1675, April.
    20. Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2005. "The saving and investment nexus for China: evidence from cointegration tests," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(17), pages 1979-1990.
    21. Al-Mulali, Usama & Saboori, Behnaz & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2015. "Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Vietnam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 123-131.
    22. Susana Silva & Isabel Soares & Carlos Pinho, 2011. "The impact of renewable energy sources on economic growth and CO2 emissions - a SVAR approach," FEP Working Papers 407, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    23. Salim, Ruhul A. & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa, 2012. "Why do some emerging economies proactively accelerate the adoption of renewable energy?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 1051-1057.
    24. Friedl, Birgit & Getzner, Michael, 2003. "Determinants of CO2 emissions in a small open economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 133-148, April.
    25. Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "CO2 emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2911-2915, June.
    26. Özbuğday, Fatih Cemil & Erbas, Bahar Celikkol, 2015. "How effective are energy efficiency and renewable energy in curbing CO2 emissions in the long run? A heterogeneous panel data analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 734-745.
    27. Hongfeng Peng & Xiaoyu Tan & Yanli Li & Liqin Hu, 2016. "Economic Growth, Foreign Direct Investment and CO 2 Emissions in China: A Panel Granger Causality Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, March.
    28. Aviral Kumar Tiwari, 2011. "A structural VAR analysis of renewable energy consumption, real GDP and CO2 emissions: Evidence from India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(2), pages 1793-1806.
    29. Ang, James B., 2008. "Determinants of foreign direct investment in Malaysia," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 185-189.
    30. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Salah Uddin, Gazi & Ur Rehman, Ijaz & Imran, Kashif, 2014. "Industrialization, electricity consumption and CO2 emissions in Bangladesh," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 575-586.
    31. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    32. Sebri, Maamar & Ben-Salha, Ousama, 2014. "On the causal dynamics between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and trade openness: Fresh evidence from BRICS countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 14-23.
    33. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    34. Dogan, Eyup & Seker, Fahri, 2016. "The influence of real output, renewable and non-renewable energy, trade and financial development on carbon emissions in the top renewable energy countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1074-1085.
    35. Elliott, Graham & Rothenberg, Thomas J & Stock, James H, 1996. "Efficient Tests for an Autoregressive Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 813-836, July.
    36. Tang, Chor Foon & Tan, Bee Wah, 2015. "The impact of energy consumption, income and foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions in Vietnam," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 447-454.
    37. Daskalakis, George & Psychoyios, Dimitris & Markellos, Raphael N., 2009. "Modeling CO2 emission allowance prices and derivatives: Evidence from the European trading scheme," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1230-1241, July.
    38. Baek, Jungho, 2015. "A panel cointegration analysis of CO2 emissions, nuclear energy and income in major nuclear generating countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 133-138.
    39. Shafiei, Sahar & Salim, Ruhul A., 2014. "Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 547-556.
    40. Begum, Rawshan Ara & Sohag, Kazi & Abdullah, Sharifah Mastura Syed & Jaafar, Mokhtar, 2015. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic and population growth in Malaysia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 594-601.
    41. Bilgili, Faik & Koçak, Emrah & Bulut, Ümit, 2016. "The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions: A revisited Environmental Kuznets Curve approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 838-845.
    42. Dogan, Eyup & Seker, Fahri, 2016. "Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: The role of renewable and non-renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 429-439.
    43. repec:ers:journl:v:xv:y:2012:i:sie:p:133-144 is not listed on IDEAS
    44. Baek, Jungho & Pride, Dominique, 2014. "On the income–nuclear energy–CO2 emissions nexus revisited," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 6-10.
    45. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E. & Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "On the causal dynamics between emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2255-2260, September.
    46. Sokka, L. & Sinkko, T. & Holma, A. & Manninen, K. & Pasanen, K. & Rantala, M. & Leskinen, P., 2016. "Environmental impacts of the national renewable energy targets – A case study from Finland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1599-1610.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vu, Binh, 2017. "Are population and international trade the main factors for environmental damage in China?," MPRA Paper 79773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Wang, Qiang & Li, Shuyu & Pisarenko, Zhanna, 2020. "Heterogeneous effects of energy efficiency, oil price, environmental pressure, R&D investment, and policy on renewable energy -- evidence from the G20 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    3. Petar Mitić & Olja Munitlak Ivanović & Aleksandar Zdravković, 2017. "A Cointegration Analysis of Real GDP and CO 2 Emissions in Transitional Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-18, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liobikienė, Genovaitė & Butkus, Mindaugas, 2019. "Scale, composition, and technique effects through which the economic growth, foreign direct investment, urbanization, and trade affect greenhouse gas emissions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1310-1322.
    2. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    3. Anh The Vo & Duc Hong Vo & Quan Thai-Thuong Le, 2019. "CO 2 Emissions, Energy Consumption, and Economic Growth: New Evidence in the ASEAN Countries," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Dogan, Eyup & Seker, Fahri, 2016. "Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: The role of renewable and non-renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 429-439.
    5. Ertugrul, Hasan Murat & Çetin, Murat & Şeker, Fahri & Dogan, Eyüp, 2015. "The impact of trade openness on global carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from the top ten emitters among developing countries," MPRA Paper 97539, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Mar 2016.
    6. Xiaoxia Shi & Haiyun Liu & Joshua Sunday Riti, 2019. "The role of energy mix and financial development in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions’ reduction: evidence from ten leading CO2 emitting countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 695-729, October.
    7. Lau, Lin-Sea & Choong, Chee-Keong & Ng, Cheong-Fatt & Liew, Feng-Mei & Ching, Suet-Ling, 2019. "Is nuclear energy clean? Revisit of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 12-20.
    8. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    9. Chen, Wenhui & Lei, Yalin, 2018. "The impacts of renewable energy and technological innovation on environment-energy-growth nexus: New evidence from a panel quantile regression," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-14.
    10. Dogan, Eyup & Seker, Fahri, 2016. "The influence of real output, renewable and non-renewable energy, trade and financial development on carbon emissions in the top renewable energy countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1074-1085.
    11. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    12. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    13. Inglesi-Lotz, Roula & Dogan, Eyup, 2018. "The role of renewable versus non-renewable energy to the level of CO2 emissions a panel analysis of sub- Saharan Africa’s Βig 10 electricity generators," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 36-43.
    14. Dong, Kangyin & Hochman, Gal & Zhang, Yaqing & Sun, Renjin & Li, Hui & Liao, Hua, 2018. "CO2 emissions, economic and population growth, and renewable energy: Empirical evidence across regions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 180-192.
    15. Vural, Gulfer, 2020. "How do output, trade, renewable energy and non-renewable energy impact carbon emissions in selected Sub-Saharan African Countries?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. Pata, Ugur Korkut, 2018. "The influence of coal and noncarbohydrate energy consumption on CO2 emissions: Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Turkey," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1115-1123.
    17. Liddle, Brantley & Sadorsky, Perry, 2017. "How much does increasing non-fossil fuels in electricity generation reduce carbon dioxide emissions?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 212-221.
    18. Muchran Muchran & Arifin Idrus & Syamsiah Badruddin & Mariana Tenreng & Muklis Kanto, 2021. "Influence of the Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Consumptions and Real-Income on Environmental Degradation in Indonesia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 599-606.
    19. Jin, Taeyoung & Kim, Jinsoo, 2018. "What is better for mitigating carbon emissions – Renewable energy or nuclear energy? A panel data analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 464-471.
    20. Sinha, Avik & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Balsalobre, Daniel, 2017. "Exploring the Relationship between Energy Usage Segregation and Environmental Degradation in N-11 Countries," MPRA Paper 81212, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Sep 2017.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:9:p:874-:d:77002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.