TY - JOUR
T1 - Does multilateral environmental diplomacy improve environmental quality? The case of the United States
AU - Khan, Irfan
AU - Hou, Fujun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - International environmental agreements have multiplied over the last five decades. We examine the impact of multilateral environmental diplomacy on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the presence of capital formation, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth using the framework of the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) and data from the United States from 1980 to 2015. We developed a comprehensive empirical analysis using Zivot–Andrews structural break unit root tests. Co-integration analysis indicates long-run relationships of the variables. The results of the generalized linear models (GLMs) and robust least secure (ROBUSTLS) approach reveal that environmental diplomacy, capital formation, and economic growth deteriorate environmental quality in the long run, while renewable energy consumption improves it. These results support the EKC hypothesis for the United States and suggest that, in the early stages, increased environmental diplomacy stimulates CO2 emissions to a point, after which CO2 emissions start declining with further increases in international commitments and strong diplomatic relationships among countries. Policy implications for the United States are presented.
AB - International environmental agreements have multiplied over the last five decades. We examine the impact of multilateral environmental diplomacy on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the presence of capital formation, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth using the framework of the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) and data from the United States from 1980 to 2015. We developed a comprehensive empirical analysis using Zivot–Andrews structural break unit root tests. Co-integration analysis indicates long-run relationships of the variables. The results of the generalized linear models (GLMs) and robust least secure (ROBUSTLS) approach reveal that environmental diplomacy, capital formation, and economic growth deteriorate environmental quality in the long run, while renewable energy consumption improves it. These results support the EKC hypothesis for the United States and suggest that, in the early stages, increased environmental diplomacy stimulates CO2 emissions to a point, after which CO2 emissions start declining with further increases in international commitments and strong diplomatic relationships among countries. Policy implications for the United States are presented.
KW - CO emissions
KW - Capital formation
KW - Economic growth
KW - Environmental diplomacy
KW - Renewable energy consumption
KW - United States
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099454912&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-020-12005-2
DO - 10.1007/s11356-020-12005-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 33443737
AN - SCOPUS:85099454912
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 28
SP - 23310
EP - 23322
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 18
ER -