University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria.
School of Foundation, Lagos State University, Badagry, Nigeria.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Sep;28(35):47957-47972. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13728-6. Epub 2021 Apr 26.
In the current century, the G7 countries have attached more importance to energy security, and have prioritized low-carbon sources which have necessitated the consumption of nuclear and renewable energy resources to achieve a resilient low-carbon system. However, it is still not clear if the sacrifice has paid-off since the environmental quality in the majority of these countries is yet to be significantly improved. As such, this study employs advanced panel data econometric techniques that account for cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity issues to explore the impacts of nuclear and renewable energy use in respect of CO emission mitigation in six of the seven G7 countries. The core objective of this study is to justify whether energy diversification through the promotion of nuclear and renewable energy consumption can assist the G7 nations in complying with their commitments concerning the Paris Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals agendas. The overall findings from the econometric analysis affirm the abating role of nuclear energy on CO emissions. However, renewable energy consumption is found to be statistically insignificant in explaining the variations in the CO emission levels. On the other hand, economic growth is found to initially boost the CO emission level but mitigate it later on; thus, the authenticity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is established in the G7 context. Besides, the country-specific results suggest that nuclear energy significantly reduces CO emissions in all the countries, except in Canada and the USA. Also, renewable energy significantly curbs CO emissions only in Canada and France. Furthermore, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is validated for Canada, France, the UK, and the USA. In line with these findings, it is pertinent for the G7 countries to boost nuclear energy use to reduce the fossil fuel dependency in the majority of the G7 nations to mitigate CO emissions. Moreover, it is also suggested that these nations adopt relevant policies to further green their consumption and production processes to ensure complementarity between economic growth and environmental development.
在本世纪，七国集团（G7）更加重视能源安全，并优先考虑低碳能源，这就需要消耗核能和可再生能源资源，以实现具有弹性的低碳系统。然而，由于这些国家中的大多数国家的环境质量尚未得到显著改善，因此还不清楚这种牺牲是否得到了回报。因此，本研究采用先进的面板数据计量经济学技术，考虑到横截面相关性和斜率异质性问题，探讨了在七个 G7 国家中的六个国家中，核能和可再生能源利用对 CO2 排放减排的影响。本研究的核心目标是证明通过推广核能和可再生能源消费实现能源多样化是否可以帮助 G7 国家遵守其关于《巴黎气候变化协定》和可持续发展目标议程的承诺。计量经济学分析的总体结果肯定了核能对 CO2 排放的减排作用。然而，可再生能源消费在解释 CO2 排放水平变化方面被发现具有统计学上的不显著性。另一方面，经济增长被发现最初会促进 CO2 排放水平的增加，但后来会减轻它；因此，在 G7 背景下，环境库兹涅茨曲线假说的真实性得到了确立。此外，国家特定的结果表明，核能在除加拿大和美国以外的所有国家都显著减少了 CO2 排放。此外，只有在加拿大和法国，可再生能源才能显著抑制 CO2 排放。此外，环境库兹涅茨曲线假说在加拿大、法国、英国和美国得到了验证。根据这些发现，G7 国家有必要增加核能的使用，以减少大多数 G7 国家对化石燃料的依赖，从而减少 CO2 排放。此外，还建议这些国家采取相关政策，进一步使消费和生产过程更加环保，以确保经济增长与环境发展之间的互补性。
