Abstract
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are enforced by a set of instruments, among which environmental regulations, green innovation, and carbon taxes play a central part. This article aims to investigate the mitigation capacity of the above-mentioned elements using a sample of 15 European countries. This study takes CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) into account to ensure the consistency and accuracy of the findings. Augmented Dickey–Fuller and CIPS unit root tests, Pesaran CD, Bias-corrected scaled LM are employed to check the cross-sectional dependence. The panel effect is tested using error correction-based modeling along with dynamic approaches, while the Granger causality technique employs country-related outcomes. The results show that innovation and environmental policies help in reducing emissions both in the long and the short run. In addition to this, carbon pricing mitigates emissions in the regions although its effect is more country-specific. We find evidence of both unidirectional and bidirectional causality among the variables. However, in a few cases, they are too a country-specific artifact. As a general conclusion, carbon pricing is an efficient short-run tool to achieve SDGs. At the same time, long-run sustainability relies on green innovation and environmental policy stringency in the region.
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Notes
Sustainable development goals (https://www.unep.org).
Goal 9, https://sdgs.un.org/.
Goal 12, https://sdgs.un.org/.
United Nations Convention on Climate Change, https://unfccc.int/news/.
World Bank- Carbon Pricing program, https://www.worldbank.org/en.
Paris Climate Change Agreement's goals and carbon pricing, https://www.zurich.com/en/knowledge/.
OECD: https://oecd-ilibrary.org/.
IEA: https://www.iea.org.
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Conceptualization: AK; Methodology: AR, AK; Formal analysis and investigation, ACC; SQ, Writing—original draft preparation: AK; Writing—review and editing: ACC; SQ, Funding acquisition: No Funding; Resources: Nil; Supervision: WD. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Khurshid, A., Rauf, A., Qayyum, S. et al. Green innovation and carbon emissions: the role of carbon pricing and environmental policies in attaining sustainable development targets of carbon mitigation—evidence from Central-Eastern Europe. Environ Dev Sustain 25, 8777–8798 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02422-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02422-3