An empirical analysis of the determinants of CO2 emissions in left-to-right markGCC countries

Sustainable development has recently attracted growing attention on behalf of scientists and policymakers. One of the main pillars to achieve sustainable development goals is decidedly linked to the environment. This paper contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on the determinants of environmental degradation in Gulf left-to-right markCooperation Council countries between 1980 and 2017. More specifically, the effects of per capita left-to-right markGDP, energy consumption, urbanization, international trade and foreign direct investments on CO2 left-to-right markemissions are investigated. Using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, left-to-right markand Technology (STIRPAT) model and the PMG-ARDL approach, findings suggest the validity of left-to-right markthe Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in GCC countries. Moreover, the income threshold left-to-right marklevel is equal to US$56,350.928. It has been also revealed that energy consumption and foreign left-to-right markdirect investments led to more environmental degradation in the long run, while urbanization has a left-to-right markpositive impact on the environment. In the short-run, results show the validity of the Pollution Halo left-to-right markHypothesis, since more foreign direct investments flows have been associated with less left-to-right markenvironmental pollution. Finally, while the estimation of country-specific error correction models left-to-right markreveals the heterogeneity of results, the most important factor affecting the environment in the short-run is energy left-to-right markconsumption. The impact of international trade and foreign direct investment is mixed, while left-to-right markurbanization has no significant impact. In the light of these findings, some policy recommendations left-to-right markare designed.