Pathways to reduce CO2 emissions as countries proceed through stages of economic development

Abbas Valadkhani, Jeremy Nguyen and Mark Bowden ()

Energy Policy, 2019, vol. 129, issue C, 268-278

Abstract: We propose a new approach to identify pathways for countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) per capita through possible changes in their energy consumption portfolio. Utilizing data from the last half century (1965–2017) for 79 countries, we investigate how changes in the composition of primary energy consumption (i.e. oil, coal, gas and renewables) can contribute to changes in per capita CO2 emissions, depending on the time-varying level of individual countries’ real per capita income. To this end, threshold panel regressions (with common and fixed effects) are estimated to endogenously determine an unknown number of possible pathways (delineated by break points) to reduce emissions. This study provides important policy insights into the effects of switching from one source of primary energy consumption to another on per capita emissions, as nations progress through stages of economic development. Such relative costs can be compared and contrasted (a) across country groupings, (b) through time, as real per capita income changes, and (c) with those of other country groupings that fall within similar per capita income brackets.

Keywords: Primary energy consumption; CO2 emissions; Fossil fuels; Renewables; Threshold regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q42 Q43 Q53 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:129:y:2019:i:c:p:268-278

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.02.024

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