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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.

This study explores the effect of oil production (OP) on environmental sustainability in relation to the role of institutions in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), using annual data from 1990 to 2022. Estimates from the dynamic common correlated effects and dynamic seemingly unrelated regression indicate that oil production heightens the ecological footprint, while this devastating impact is lessened by its interaction with institutional quality. Furthermore, there is evidence that ecological footprint and oil production are causally related to economic growth in both directions. To promote a sustainable environment, oil production activities in OPEC should be incorporated into a strong institutional structure that supports the environment. OPEC should also enhance the proportion of renewable energy in its energy mix through subsidies, tax holidays and carbon pricing.

This paper investigated this disparity in the literature using Nigeria data from 1980 to 2016. In doing this, energy consumption was disaggregated, and their impacts on economic growth investigated using a modified Ordinary Least Square technique which allows for time gaps in the model. It was observed that only renewable energy impacted on economic growth in the long-run whereas non-renewable energy component impacted on economic growth in the short-run. Therefore, the study sees the impact of energy consumption on economic growth to be indistinct in Nigeria within the period under review. This further buttresses the need for improvement in electricity production and distribution in Nigeria. Given the importance of energy consumption on productivity, the study, therefore, suggests policies/measures that will bring about increasing the supply or improvement of energy production in the country.

The primary objective of this paper is to test the hypothesis that the population age structure could contribute to carbon dioxide emission levels (environmental degradation) in Nigeria. Real income (Gross Domestic Product) was used as another determinant of CO2 emissions to test the EKC hypothesis in this study. Also, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) econometric technique was applied in this paper to annual time series data from 1970 to 2018. The results show that age structure’s influence on the environment is significant. As expected, young adults (LOGYONG, i.e., ages 15-64) and children (LOGCHIL, i.e., ages 0-14) are environmentally intensive (due to energy-intensive goods consumed). But the older age group (LOGOLD i.e., ages 65 and above) exert a negative effect. The results of long-term estimation for the population structure-induced EKC hypothesis show that none of the coefficients of economic growth were statistically significant at any of the conventional levels. In other words, this finding did not prove the existence of EKC hypothesis. However, appropriate macroeconomic policies, technological innovations, and institutional developments are very important in maintaining a sound environment in Nigeria.