The impact of economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, and financial development on carbon emissions: empirical evidence from Turkey

This study examines the impact of economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, financial development on carbon emissions for the case of Turkey by using annual time series data for the period of 1960–2013. The Lee and Strazicich test suggests that the variables are suitable for applying the bounds testing approach to cointegration. The cointegration analysis reveals that there exists a long-run relationship between the per capita real income, per capita energy consumption, trade openness, financial development, and per capita carbon emissions in the presence of structural breaks. The results show that in the long run, carbon emissions are mainly determined by economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, and financial development. The VECM Granger causality analysis indicates a long-run unidirectional causality running from economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, and financial development to carbon emissions. The findings also show that the EKC hypothesis is valid for Turkey both in the long run and short run. The study provides some implications for policy makers to decrease carbon emissions in Turkey.