The effect of energy prices, energy losses, and renewable energy use on CO2 emissions in energy-importing developing economies in the presence of an environmental Kuznets curve

In this study, energy losses, energy prices, and the relationship between green energy and environmental quality are investigated for 15 energy-importing emerging economies. In addition, the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve is tested in this study. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach based on panel dataset, related intermediate estimators including PMG, MG, and DFE were used as a method. In addition, FMOLS and DOLS estimators were used for robustness testing in the study. According to empirical findings, the environmental Kuznets curve is valid in energy-importing emerging economies. In addition, green energy use and energy prices have a reducing effect on CO2 emissions. However, energy losses increase CO2 emissions. While the long-term results of the variables were similar, the short-term results were mixed. This situation is attributed to different economic growths in energy-importing developing economies, the share of energy resources in total energy resources, and energy-efficient technologies in the energy field. The fact that these variables have never been investigated for this economy group makes the study different.