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Arising carbon emissions and accelerating industrialization have intensified concerns regarding sustainable development in emerging markets. This study examines whether innovation functions as a direct mechanism for decarbonization and whether innovation-driven environmental dynamics follow the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. Using panel data from emerging market economies over the period 2000–2020, the study applies fixed-effects estimation techniques to investigate both the linear and nonlinear effects of innovation on CO₂ emissions. Innovation is measured through research and development (R&D) expenditure, while industrialization, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and ICT indicators are incorporated as control variables. The findings demonstrate that innovation significantly reduces CO₂ emissions, suggesting that technological advancement supports environmental sustainability through cleaner production systems and efficiency-enhancing mechanisms. However, the analysis does not support the existence of an innovation-driven EKC, as the nonlinear innovation term remains statistically insignificant. The study contributes to environmental sustainability literature by extending the EKC framework beyond conventional income-centered explanations and positioning innovation as a direct decarbonization mechanism in emerging economies. The findings further provide practical implications for policymakers seeking to accelerate low-carbon transitions through innovation-oriented industrial and technological policies.

Energy is one of the most important dynamics of economic growth all over the world. Specially developing countries are in need of much more enery to provide economic growth. In this study, the relationship between energy consumption, economic growth, inflation and trade openness is exaimined by using structural VAR model for fragile five countries which have similar characteristics in terms of macroeconomic indicators. The analysis carried out with annual data that contains 1971-2013 period for fragile countries which contains of Turkey, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Brazil. According to the empirical results of the study, shocks that emerged in economic growth affect energy consumption positively but decreasingly in all countries. A substantial part of changes in energy consumption are explaned with economic growth in Turkey, India and Brazil. More than 80 percent of changes in energy consumption arise from energy consumption in South Africa and Indonesia.