Document Type : Research Article
Authors
- EMMANUEL SAMUEL UDO 1
- OKEZIE IKEH 2
- Abner Ishaku Prince 3
- Victor Inim Edet 4
- James Agama Emiesefia 5
- Boniface L Akpan 6
- Enobong Ekaetor Akpan 6
1 Emma-Kenrick Consult
2 Department of Banking and Finance University of Nigeria Enugu Campus
3 University of Abuja Business School
4 Nile University of Nigeria
5 Department of Economics Nile University of Nigeria Abuja
6 Department of Economics Akwa Ibom State University
Abstract
This study explores the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and economic growth nexus on CO2 emissions in the MINT countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey from 1990-2023. Despite the significance of energy efficiency in environmental policy formulation, the heavy reliance on fossil energy in these countries has led to significant environmental challenges due to climate change concerns. Previous studies have predominantly used the symmetric model, arguing for a linear nexus and neglecting possible asymmetric contributions between renewable and nuclear energy on economic growth and urbanization as CO2 emission stimulators. This study adopted the asymmetric panel non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (PNARDL) to argue for asymmetric nexus. The key findings revealed an asymmetric nexus indicating that green energy sources reduce CO2 emissions and improve ecological quality through energy efficiency and renewable energy. The economic growth and CO2 emission nexus support the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, indicating that ecological quality reprobates during the early phase of economic growth and improves as the economy evolves to prioritise environmental quality. The negative nexus between nuclear energy and CO2 emissions highlights a deficiency in nuclear energy generation to mitigate CO2 emissions effectively. Based on these findings, the study recommends prioritizing renewable energy policies, streamlining the regulatory approval process for nuclear energy projects, and providing incentives for investment in the nuclear power infrastructure to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for environmental quality and sustainability.
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