Does multilateral environmental diplomacy improve environmental quality? The case of the United States

Irfan Khan, Fujun Hou*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    82 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)23310-23322
    Number of pages13
    JournalEnvironmental Science and Pollution Research
    Volume28
    Issue number18
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2021

    Keywords

    • CO emissions
    • Capital formation
    • Economic growth
    • Environmental diplomacy
    • Renewable energy consumption
    • United States

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