The Impact of Renewables and Fossil Fuels Consumption on CO2 Emissions for 40 Countries, 1990 - 2017

• In Event: 2251 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. Emissions and Economic Growth: State and National Trends and Comparisons

Abstract

Climate change is an increasingly significant problem, and one major contributor is the concentration of greenhouse gases, particularly Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. Fossil fuels combustion is the primary cause to CO2 emissions that affects the composition of the atmosphere and also has serious socio-economic impact. Thus, decarbonizing electricity by promoting renewable energy is one of the key strategies to mitigate CO2 emissions. In this study, I examine the impact of renewables in electricity production on CO2 emissions by analyzing the latest data for 40 countries from 1990 to 2017. First, I compare the changes of renewables with the fossil fuels across years to understand whether the growth of the former has inhibited the consumption of the latter. Second, I compare the renewables’ impact on CO2 emissions with the impact of non-renewables by including those variables in both separated regression models and in one regression model. Third, I assess the magnitude of the impact across years to understand whether renewables have increasingly reduced CO2 emissions and whether fossil fuels have increasingly led to CO2 emissions over time. The findings will provide insights on how the renewables use in electricity production and fossil fuels consumption have contributed to climate change in the past 28 years.

Author

• Feng Hao, University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee