Impact of innovation in renewable energy generation, transmission, or distribution-related technologies on carbon dioxide emission in the USA.

Innovation in renewable energy generation, transmission, or distribution-related technologies (IREGT) is an effective way to deal with environmental pollution. Even though previous studies have focused on renewable energy generation in the USA, the impact of IREGT on carbon dioxide emissions (CO ₂ e) remains widely unexplored. Recognizing this gap, this study inspected the IREGT-CO ₂ e nexus in the USA, with international collaboration in green technology development (ICGTD), trade openness (TO), renewable energy consumption (REC), and gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) as control variables from 1990Q1 to 2018Q4. The study applied the canonical cointegration regression (CCR), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method, and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) approach to assess the long-run association among variables. First, the findings validated the cointegration relationship among IREGT, ICGTD, TO, REC, GDPPC, and CO ₂ e. Second, the results indicated that the IREGT, REC, and ICGTD had benefited the USA in mitigating CO ₂ e. Third, GDPPC and TO were positively connected to CO ₂ e. Fourth, the Granger causality depicted that GDPPC, TO, and ICGTD Granger caused CO ₂ e in the USA, while IREGT and CO ₂ e had a bidirectional relationship. The study's findings encourage the government should devise policies to induce higher research institutions and private enterprises to engage in IREGT.
(© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)