Impact of renewable energy investments in curbing sectoral CO 2 emissions: evidence from China by nonlinear quantile approaches.

The study analyzes the impact of renewable energy investments (RENIV) on the environment in China. In doing so, the study uses sectoral carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) emissions as the environment indicator, considers RENIV as the explanatory variable, includes monthly data from 2004/1 to 2020/6, runs quantile on quantile regression approach as the fundamental model, and further performs quantile regression for the controlling. The study reveals that RENIV curb CO ₂ emissions in all sectors at higher levels of sectoral CO ₂ emissions. Also, RENIV have a varying impact based on quantiles and sectors. Moreover, the results are robust based on the alternative approach. Thus, RENIV have a significantly decreasing impact on sectoral CO ₂ emissions in China. Accordingly, China policymakers should continue to focus on providing a decrease in energy and industrial sector CO ₂ emissions as the highest emitting sectors.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)