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This paper aims to quantify the relation between real GDP, CO2 emissions, renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, tourism development and labor force for France and Germany as these two countries are pioneer countries pushing Paris agreement within and outside the European Union. The time spans have been used for the period of 1995–2015 according to data availability. In the presence of cross-sectional dependency, several first and second-generation unit root tests confirm the unit root problem while Pedroni and Westernlund confirm the cointegration. Results reveal an inverted U-shape relation between CO2 emissions and real GDP in long run confirming the validity of environmental Kuznets curve for the group of France and Germany. Results declare that renewable energy significantly reduces carbon emissions while nonrenewable energy consumption adds to carbon emissions. Tourism sector was found helpful in carbon reduction that appeals to attract more tourists for the development of sustainable tourism industry by taking energy conservation and emissions reduction in relevant industries in the full consideration. • This paper explores the determinants of carbon emissions for France and Germany. • An inverted U-shape relation was found between carbon emissions and real GDP in long run. • Results reveal renewable energy helps in carbon emissions reduction. • Nonrenewable energy consumption was adding in CO2 emissions. • Tourism sector was found supportive in carbon reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While current climate targets demand substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the potentials to further reduce carbon dioxide emissions in traditional primary steel-making are limited. One possible solution that is receiving increasing attention is the direct reduction (DR) technology, operated either with renewable hydrogen (H 2) from electrolysis or with conventional natural gas (NG). DR technology makes it possible to decouple steel and H 2 production by temporarily using overcapacities to produce and store intermediary products during periods of low renewable electricity prices, or by switching between H 2 and NG. This paper aims to explore the impact of this decoupling on overall costs and the corresponding dimensioning of production and storage capacities. An optimization model is developed to determine the least-cost operation based on perfect-foresight. This model can determine the minimum costs for optimal production and storage capacities under various assumptions considering fluctuating H 2 and NG prices and increasing H 2 shares. The model is applied to a case study for Germany and covers the current situation, the medium term until 2030, and the long term until 2050. Under the assumptions made, direct reduced iron (DRI) storage mainly serves as long-term storage for several weeks, similar to usual balancing storage capacities. Storing H 2 , on the contrary, is used for short-term fluctuations and could balance H 2 demand in the hourly range until 2050. From an economic perspective, DRI production using NG tends to be cheaper than using H 2 in the short term, and potential savings from the flexible operation with storages are initially small. However, in the long term until 2050, NG and H 2 could achieve similar total costs if buffers are used. Otherwise, temporarily occurring electricity price spikes imply substantial increases in total costs if high shares of H 2 need to be achieved. [Display omitted] • Investigation of the use of renewable hydrogen in primary steel-making. • Analyses of flexible operation with natural gas and hydrogen in direct reduction. • Modeling optimal dimensions and minimum costs under increasing renewable shares. • Case study on optimal hydrogen and direct-reduced iron storages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]