Comparison of the Fossil and Renewable Energies Impacts on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in OPEC and Asian Countries without Oil Reserves

In this study, the effect of fossil and renewable energies on environmental quality were evaluated and compared in two statistical societies (i.e. OPEC and Asian countries without oil reserves) in 1995-2013. According to stationary properties of the variables, the panel cointegration approach was applied to the data. Also, based on the results of Pedroni and Kao cointegration tests, the short-run and long-run relationships were estimated by Error Correction Model (ECM) and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS), respectively. The results showed that the fossil energy consumption in OPEC countries plays a much higher role in increasing the spread of pollution than in the Asian countries without oil reserves. Conversely, renewable energy use in countries without oil reserves has a greater impact on reducing pollution and improving environment quality than in the OPEC. Also, the results showed that in both statistical societies, an N-shaped relationship exists between per capita gross domestic product and per capita emissions. With the difference that the emission of pollution in OPEC countries decreases with economic growth and in the interval of per capita income. But in countries without oil reserves, pollution emissions are steadily increasing with increasing per capita income and there is no reduction in pollution at any time.