The Impact of Renewable Energy and GDP Per Capita on Carbon Dioxide Emission in the G-20 Countries

Carbon dioxide gas (CO,) is the biggest contributor for global warming. Carbon emissions w i l l affect the quality of the environment that could ultimately affect the economy. There are many factors that cause CO2 emission. The dominant factors are the income and energy consumption as indicated by the Environmental Kuznet's Curve (EKC) hypothesis. This study analyzes the impact of the use of renewable energy, GDP per capita, and other control variables on CO2 emission. The panel data of G-20 countries for the period of 2001-2010 and Fixed Effect Model (FEM) method are used in this study. The result of the study concludes that GDP per capita, urban population, trade openness, fossil-based energy consumption per capita, the use of renewable energy per capita, fossil energy price, are the determinants of CO2 emission per capita. The effect of GDP per capita is in line with the Environmental Kuznet's Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The increase of urban population, trade openness, and fossil-based energy consumption per capita can increase CO2 emission per capita. While the increase of the use of renewable energy per capita and fossil energy price reduce COj emission per capita. Moreover, the use of renewable energy in general, such as wind affect in decreasing CO2 emission per capita.