The impact of nuclear energy use, energy prices and energy imports on CO2 emissions: Evidence from energy importer emerging economies which use nuclear energy

In this study, the impacts of nuclear energy, energy prices, and energy imports on CO2 emissions are examined in the short and long term for 10 energy-importing emerging economies which use nuclear energy. At the same time, the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) using GDP is investigated in this study. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach is based on a panel dataset for 10 emerging economies over 30 years; relevant intermediate estimators including PMG, MG, and DFE are used to achieve the goal. In addition, DOLS and FMOLS estimators are used as robustness tests to support ARDL results. The main finding of the study is that the EKC hypothesis is valid for these economies. In addition, according to empirical results, nuclear energy use and energy prices reduce CO(2 )emissions. However, energy imports increase CO(2 )emissions. When analysed as a coefficient, a 1% increase in nuclear energy use and energy prices reduces CO2 emissions by 0.04% and 0.02%, respectively. However, a 1% increase in energy imports increases CO2 emissions by 0.09%.

Automated summary

This study examines the impacts of nuclear energy, energy prices, and energy imports on CO2 emissions in the short and long term for 10 energy-importing emerging economies that use nuclear energy. It also investigates the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) using GDP as an indicator. The findings show that nuclear energy use and energy prices reduce CO2 emissions, while energy imports increase CO2 emissions.