Urbanization, Economic Development, and Environmental Degradation: Investigating the Role of Renewable Energy Use

The current study explored the impact of renewable energy use, urbanization, economic growth and trade in services on CO2 emission in Maldives by using annual data series ranging from 1990 to 2020. We have checked the variables influences by utilizing the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) method with long-run and short-run connections. Findings via long-run and short-run showed that the variables renewable energy use and economic growth has positive and negative coefficients via positive and negative shocks that uncover the constructive and adverse linkage to CO2 emission in Maldives. Similarly, trade in services showed an adversative and positive connection to CO2 emission via positive and negative shocks. During the analysis, the variable urbanization uncovered a negative linkage to CO2 emission. It is imperative that Maldives implement new policies and strategies aimed at reducing CO2 emission in order to avert the environmental devastation.

Automated summary

This study explored the impact of renewable energy use, urbanization, economic growth, and trade in services on CO2 emission in Maldives. The findings showed that renewable energy use and economic growth have positive and negative effects on CO2 emission, while trade in services has both adverse and positive effects on CO2 emission. Urbanization was found to have a negative association with CO2 emission.