Impact of public-private partnerships investment and FDI on CO2 emissions: A study of six global investment countries

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of public-private partnerships investment in energy and FDI on environmental quality in global investment countries during 1995-2018. Economic growth, technological innovations and consumption of clean energy are also considered as additional determinants of environmental quality. The study applied advanced panel econometric models. Our empirical results affirm the evidence of a long-run association between environmental quality and its determinants. Specifically, economic growth as well as clean energy use improves quality of environment by lowering carbon emissions. Public-private partnerships investment in energy, FDI and technological innovations decrease carbon emissions. Energy consumption (generated from fossil fuel) increases carbon emissions. Heterogeneous causality evidence indicates the presence of a unidirectional causality relation from carbon emissions to public-private partnerships investment in energy and a feedback causality occurs between consumption of clean energy and CO₂ emissions. This empirical evidence provides new insights for both policymakers and governments to support public-private partnership investments in energy for the improvement of quality of environment in global investment countries.

Keywords: Carbon emissions; Clean energy; Investments; Technological innovations.