The asymmetric and long-run effect of energy productivity on environmental quality in Ireland

Abstract

This study aims to examine the long-run asymmetric impact of energy productivity on environmental quality in Ireland. The data set covers the period from 1990Q1 to 2019Q4. Although the border issue has been the source of contention and terrorism for decades in Ireland, the country is conscious of modern innovations and has a coherent body of environmental law. Ireland’s goal is to achieve 80% of its electricity as renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions by 51% in 2030. Unlike earlier studies, the novelty of this study lies in the thorough analysis of how energy productivity affects the quality of the environment in Ireland while controlling for financial development, primary energy consumption, and economic growth utilizing the nonlinear ARDL approach and other robust econometric techniques. Precisely, the results indicate that (i) energy productivity benefits the environment by lowering CO 2 emissions (CO 2 E) in the long term; (ii) financial sector development enhances the quality of the environment in Ireland; (iii) increase in primary energy consumption and economic growth without eco-friendly protocols propel an increase in CO 2 E. These findings support the economic theory that energy productivity can stimulate steady green living and green technological growth. We recommend that policymakers in Ireland invest in energy productivity and prioritize R&D that embraces cleaner technologies and cross-cutting eco-friendly policies to combat environmental challenges in Ireland and the world at large.

Environmental Management Technologies, Environmental Policy Stringency, Energy Productivity and Pollution Emission: Fresh Evidence from Indonesia under STIRPAT Framework

“…Recently introduced new phenomenon named "Energy productivity" refers to all economic benefits derived from consuming total energy resources. We measure it as $/MJ and it refers to total primary energy use of an economy (Kirikkaleli et al, 2023). However this phenomenon is relatively less explored in the existing literature in terms of its role in determining environmental quality.…”

“…Like Abbasi et al (2023) estimated the effect of energy productivity on consumption based CO 2 emission in Iceland over the period from 1995 to 2019. Fourier ARDL model was in the study that revealed that energy productivity had negative effect on consumption based carbon emission in Iceland Kirikkaleli et al (2023). estimated the impact of energy productivity on environmental pollution in Ireland over quarterly period 1990-2019.…”