Revisiting economic growth and environment: evaluating the role of research and development for China

Abstract

One of the most alarming issues of the current times is the increasing level of carbon emissions and the depletion of Ozone layer, which is due to the increased fossil fuel usage. Scholars and governors are paying more attention towards identifying the factors and remedial measures of environmental degradation. The current study aims to analyse the influence of economic growth, research and development (R.D.D.), renewable electricity output (R.E.O.), and technological innovation (T.I.) on the carbon emissions in China throughout 1988–2021. This study uses the time series approach, that unveils the stationarity of variables, and the existence of cointegration between the variables. Due to the issue of data non-normality, this study uses the novel method of moment quantile regression (M.M.Q.R.). The estimated results asserted that economic growth and R.D.D. are the significant factors of increased carbon emission level in the country. On the other hand, renewable electricity is found adversely affecting the carbon emissions level. Also, the T.I. is found negative, but insignificantly affecting the carbon emission level of the country. These results are found robust by using the novel Bootstrap quantile regression (B.S.Q.R.). The empirical results suggest the constriction policies that could consider the increased investment in environmental-related R.D.D, T.I., and renewable energy sector to attain sustainable development.