From Fossil to Future: Trade, Technology and Clean Energy Transitions in High-Impact Developing Economies

Abstract

This study examines the impact of economic growth, renewable energy equipment imports, and energy use on CO₂ emissions in seven developing countries over the period 2000-2021, employing second-generation panel estimators (Augmented Mean Group AMG, The Common Correlated Effects Mean Group CCEMG) that account for cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity. Results show that economic growth and energy use significantly increase emissions, while renewable energy equipment imports display no direct or robust mitigating effect. This limited impact likely reflects adoption and integration challenges and the absence of complementary policies, underscoring the need for strategies that link imports to technology transfer and domestic manufacturing capacity. Granger causality tests indicate that growth and renewable energy imports drive emissions, highlighting the necessity for integrated green industrial policies, carbon pricing mechanisms, and sustainable finance instruments. These findings suggest that, for developing economies, achieving low-carbon growth requires a coordinated policy mix that aligns environmental objectives with economic development goals.

Keywords

Carbon emissions / Economic growth / Renewable energy equipment / Energy use / Panel data analysis

Ethics Statement

Not applicable. This study is based on publicly available open-access data and does not involve humans or animals

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable. This study does not involve human participants.

Data Availability Statement

All data used in this study are publicly available open-access.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declares that there are no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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