Renewable Energy Consumption, Trade Openness, and Environmental Degradation: A Panel Data Analysis of Developing and Developed Countries

Studies regarding environmental degradation and its association with different factors have got considerable attention recently in the prevalent literature but with assorted outcomes which have been a guide to the ongoing debate on environmental studies. Energy from renewable sources has been considered beneficial for environmental quality while it is still below the anticipated level especially in developing economies. Openness to trade is important to enhance economic growth while it has been overawed to worsen the quality of environment due to deprived policies especially in developing countries. Subsequently, the present research investigates trade openness, renewable energy consumption, and foreign direct investment in carbon emission in the world developing and developed countries by employing static, dynamic and long run estimators. Trade openness has been found to have a decreasing effect on carbon emission in developed countries while degrading the quality of environment in developing countries while renewable energy consumption enhances environmental quality in both samples. The impact of tourism on carbon emission varies in different samples where FDI increases emission in developed countries while having a negative effect of carbon emission in developing countries. The long run estimators also evidence the existence of long run association among variables. The outcomes of this study have considerable policy implication regarding trade openness policy formulation to upsurge environmental quality especially in developing countries. The study has further suggestions regarding tourism and promoting the use of renewable energy sources by avoiding the use of former’s energy to enhance environmental quality.