Abstract
The seven leading industrial countries, called the G7, are becoming a pivotal group to fulfil their emissions-reduction commitments to manage the climate crisis. This paper investigates the relationships between R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions in the context of the G7 countries for the period from 1970 to 2017. Our analysis, which examines these relationships, focuses on the wavelet coherence approach to conduct time-frequency domain analyses. The empirical results show that there is heterogeneity across different time scales and frequencies for R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions within each country. Specifically, R&D intensity and globalization are negatively correlated with carbon emissions for the G7 countries, except Japan, for which they are positive. The long-term correlations between R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions are higher than those in the short- and medium-term periods. In addition, the multiscale connectedness network results reveal that the strongest bidirectional correlations exist between energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions. Our results provide a useful reference for policymakers in the G7 countries to effectively regulate carbon emissions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Acaravci A, Ozturk I (2010) On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe. Energy 35(12):5412–5420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.07.009
Acheampong AO, Adams S, Boateng E (2019) Do globalization and renewable energy contribute to carbon emissions mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa? Sci Total Environ 677:436–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.353
Adedoyin FF, Zakari A (2020) Energy consumption, economic expansion, and CO2 emission in the UK: the role of economic policy uncertainty. Sci Total Environ 738:140014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140014
Adedoyin FF, Alola AA, Bekun FV (2020) An assessment of environmental sustainability corridor: the role of economic expansion and research and development in EU countries. Sci Total Environ 713:136726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136726
Aguiar-Conraria L, Azevedo N, Soares MJ (2008) Using wavelets to decompose the time–frequency effects of monetary policy. Physica A: statistical mechanics and its applications 387(12):2863–2878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2008.01.063
Ahmed M, Khan AM, Bibi S, Zakaria M (2017) Convergence of per capita CO2 emissions across the globe: insights via wavelet analysis. Renew Sust Energ Rev 75:86–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.10.053
Ahmed Z, Wang Z, Mahmood F, Hafeez M, Ali N (2019) Does globalization increase the ecological footprint? Empirical evidence from Malaysia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(18):18565–18582. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05224-9
Alam MS, Atif M, Chien-Chi C, Soytas U (2019) Does corporate R&D investment affect firm environmental performance? Evidence from G-6 countries. Energy Econ 78:401–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.11.031
Alola AA, Joshua U (2020) Carbon emission effect of energy transition and globalization: inference from the low-, lower middle-, upper middle-, and high-income economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(30):38276–38286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09857-z
Ang JB (2009) Analysis CO2 emissions, research and technology transfer in China. Ecol Econ 68(10):2658–2665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.05.002
Arain H, Sharif A, Akbar B, Md YY (2020) Dynamic connection between inward foreign direct investment, renewable energy, economic growth and carbon emission in China: evidence from partial and multiple wavelet coherence. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(32):40456–40474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08836-8
Baloch MA, Ozturk I, Bekun FV, Khan D (2020) Modeling the dynamic linkage between financial development, energy innovation, and environmental quality: does globalization matter? Bus Strategy Environ 30(1):176–184. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2615
Bildirici M (2017) CO2 emissions and militarization in G7 countries: panel cointegration and trivariate causality approaches. Environ Dev Econ 22(06):771–791. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355770x1700016x
Bilgili F, Ulucak R, Kocak E, İlkay SÇ (2020) Does globalization matter for environmental sustainability? Empirical investigation for Turkey by Markov regime switching models. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(1):1087–1100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06996-w
BP (2018) BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Pureprint Group Limited, London
Bu M, Lin CT, Zhang B (2016) Globalization and climate change: new empirical panel data evidence. J Econ Surv 30(3):577–595. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12162
Christmann P, Taylor G (2001) Globalization and the environment: determinants of firm self-regulation in China. J Inter Bus Stu 32(3):439–458. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490976
Churchill SA, Inekwe J, Smyth R, Zhang X (2019) R&D intensity and carbon emissions in the G7: 1870–2014. Energy Econ 80:30–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.12.020
Dar AB, Samantaraya A, Shah FA (2014) The predictive power of yield spread: evidence from wavelet analysis. Empir Econ 46(3):887–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-013-0705-6
Dietz T, Rosa EA (1997) Effects of population and affluence on CO2 emissions. Proc Natl Acad Sci 94(1):175–179. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.94.1.175
Dollar D, Kraay A (2004) Trade, growth, and poverty. Econ J 114(493):F22–F49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0013-0133.2004.00186.x
Dreher A (2006) Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization. Appl Econ 38(10):1091–1110. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036840500392078
Fan J, Da Y, Wan S, Zhang M, Cao Z, Wang Y, Zhang X (2019) Determinants of carbon emissions in 'Belt and Road initiative' countries: a production technology perspective. Appl Energy 239:268–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.01.201
Fernandez FY, Fernandez Lopez M, Blanco BO (2018) Innovation for sustainability: the impact of R&D spending on CO2 emissions. J Clean Prod 172:3459–3467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.001
Garrone P, Grilli L (2010) Is there a relationship between public expenditures in energy R&D and carbon emissions per GDP? An empirical investigation. Energy Policy 38(10):5600–5613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.04.057
Haseeb A, Xia E, Baloch MA, Abbas K (2018) Financial development, globalization, and CO2 emission in the presence of EKC: evidence from BRICS countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(31):31283–31296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3034-7
Huang J, Du D, Tao Q (2017) An analysis of technological factors and energy intensity in China. Energy Policy 109:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.048
Huang J, Luan B, Cai X, Zou H (2020) The role of domestic R&D activities played in carbon intensity: evidence from China. Sci Total Environ 708:135033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135033
Jiao J, Jiang G, Yang R (2018a) Impact of R&D technology spillovers on carbon emissions between China's regions. Struct Change Econ Dyn 47:35–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2018.07.002
Jiao J, Yang Y, Bai Y (2018b) The impact of inter-industry R&D technology spillover on carbon emission in China. Nat Hazards 91(3):913–929. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-3161-3
Khalfaoui R, Padhan H, Tiwari AK, Hammoudeh S (2020) Understanding the time-frequency dynamics of money demand, oil prices and macroeconomic variables: the case of India. Res Policy 68:101743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101743
Kocak E, Ulucak ZŞ (2019) The effect of energy R&D expenditures on CO2 emission reduction: estimation of the STIRPAT model for OECD countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(14):14328–14338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04712-2
Koengkan M, Fuinhas JA, Santiago R (2020) Asymmetric impacts of globalisation on carbon emissions of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Environ Syst Dec 40(1):135–147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-019-09752-0
Kose N, Bekun FV, Alola AA (2020) Criticality of sustainable research and development-led growth in EU: the role of renewable and non-renewable energy. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(11):12683–12691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07860-y
Le HP, Ozturk I (2020) The impacts of globalization, financial development, government expenditures, and institutional quality on CO2 emissions in the presence of environmental Kuznets curve. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(18):22680–22697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08812-2
Lee K, Min B (2014) Globalization and carbon constrained global economy: a fad or a trend? J Asia-Pacific Bus 15(2):105–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10599231.2014.904181
Lee K, Min B (2015) Green R&D for eco-innovation and its impact on carbon emissions and firm performance. J Clean Prod 108:534–542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.114
Liddle B (2018) Consumption-based accounting and the trade-carbon emissions nexus. Energy Econ 69:71–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2017.11.004
Lin B, Du K (2015) Measuring energy rebound effect in the Chinese economy: An economic accounting approach. Energy Econ 50:96–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2015.04.014
Lin X, Zhu X, Han Y, Geng Z, Liu L (2020) Economy and carbon dioxide emissions effects of energy structures in the world: evidence based on SBM-DEA model. Sci Total Environ 729:138947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138947
Liu M, Ren X, Cheng C, Wang Z (2020) The role of globalization in CO2 emissions: a semi-parametric panel data analysis for G7. Sci Total Environ 718:137379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137379
Mishra S, Sinha A, Sharif A, Suki NM (2020) Dynamic linkages between tourism, transportation, growth and carbon emission in the USA: evidence from partial and multiple wavelet coherence. Curr Issue Tour 23(21):2733–2755. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1667965
Nguyen TT, Pham TAT, Tram HTX (2020) Role of information and communication technologies and innovation in driving carbon emissions and economic growth in selected G-20 countries. J Environ Manag 261:110162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110162
Park C, Xing R, Hanaoka T, Kanamori Y, Masui T (2017) Impact of energy efficient technologies on residential CO2 emissions: a comparison of Korea and China. Energy Procedia 111:689–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.231
Petrovic P, Lobanov MM (2020) The impact of R&D expenditures on CO2 emissions: Evidence from sixteen OECD countries. J Clean Prod 248:119187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119187
Pirgaip B, Dinçergök B (2020) Economic policy uncertainty, energy consumption and carbon emissions in G7 countries: evidence from a panel Granger causality analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(24):30050–30066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08642-2
Rahman SM, Miah MD (2017) The impact of sources of energy production on globalization: Evidence from panel data analysis. Renew Sust Energy Rev 74:110–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.02.037
Roueff F, Von Sachs R (2011) Locally stationary long memory estimation. Stoch Process Their Appl 121(4):813–844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spa.2010.12.004
Rua A (2012) Economic bulletin and financial stability report articles and Banco de Portugal economic studies', Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department. Summer. 71–79
Saint Akadiri S, Alkawfi MM, Uğural S, Akadiri AC (2019) Towards achieving environmental sustainability target in Italy. The role of energy, real income and globalization. Sci Total Environ 671:1293–1301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.448
Saint Akadiri S, Alola AA, Olasehinde-Williams G, Etokakpan MU (2020) The role of electricity consumption, globalization and economic growth in carbon dioxide emissions and its implications for environmental sustainability targets. Sci Total Environ 708:134653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134653
Salahuddin M, Ali MI, Vink N, Gow J (2019) The effects of urbanization and globalization on CO2 emissions: evidence from the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(3):2699–2709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3790-4
Shahbaz M (2019) Globalization–emissions nexus: Testing the EKC hypothesis in Next-11 countries, online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/93959/ MPRA Paper No. 93959, posted 21 May 2019 16:08 UTC
Shahbaz M, Ozturk I, Afza T, Ali A (2013) Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve in a global economy. Renew Sust Energy Rev 25:494–502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.05.021
Shahbaz M, Mallick H, Mahalik MK, Loganathan N (2015) Does globalization impede environmental quality in India? Ecol Indic 52:379–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.12.025
Shahbaz M, Nasreen S, Ahmed K, Hammoudeh S (2017) Trade openness–carbon emissions nexus: the importance of turning points of trade openness for country panels. Energy Econ 61:221–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2016.11.008
Shahbaz M, Nasir MA, Roubaud D (2018a) Environmental degradation in France: the effects of FDI, financial development, and energy innovations. Energy Econ 74:843–857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.07.020
Shahbaz M, Shahzad SJ, Mahalik MK (2018b) Is globalization detrimental to CO2 emissions in Japan? New threshold analysis. Environ Model Assess 23(5):557–568. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-017-9584-0
Shahbaz M, Shahzad SJH, Mahalik MK, Sadorsky P (2018c) How strong is the causal relationship between globalization and energy consumption in developed economies? A country-specific time-series and panel analysis. Appl Econ 50(13):1479–1494. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2017.1366640
Shahbaz M, Mahalik MK, Shahzad SJH, Hammoudeh S (2019) Testing the globalization-driven carbon emissions hypothesis: international evidence. Int Econ 158:25–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inteco.2019.02.002
Shahbaz M, Nasir MA, Hille E, Mahalik MK (2020) UK's net-zero carbon emissions target: Investigating the potential role of economic growth, financial development, and R&D expenditures based on historical data (1870-2017). Technol Forecast Soc Change 161:120255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120255
Sharif A, Saha S, Loganathan N (2017) Does tourism sustain economic growth? Wavelet-based evidence from the United States. Tour Anal 22(4):467–482. https://doi.org/10.3727/108354217x15023805452022
Sharif A, Raza SA, Ozturk I, Afshan S (2019) The dynamic relationship of renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption with carbon emission: a global study with the application of heterogeneous panel estimations. Renew Energy 133:685–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.052
Sharif A, Aloui C, Yarovaya L (2020) COVID-19 pandemic, oil prices, stock market, geopolitical risk and policy uncertainty nexus in the US economy: Fresh evidence from the wavelet-based approach. Int Rev of Financ Anal 70:101496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2020.101496
Shensa MJ (1992) The discrete wavelet transform: wedding the a trous and Mallat algorithms. IEEE Trans Signal Process 40(10):2464–2482. https://doi.org/10.1109/78.157290
Shujah-Ur R, Chen S, Saud S, Bano S, Haseeb A (2019) The nexus between financial development, globalization, and environmental degradation: fresh evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 26(24):24733–24747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05714-w
Solarin SA, Al-Mulali U, Sahu PK (2017) Globalisation and its effect on pollution in Malaysia: the role of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24(29):23096–23113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9950-0
Solomon S, Plattner G, Knutti R, Friedlingstein P (2009) Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions. P Nati Acad Sci 106:1704–1709. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812721106
Tiwari AK (2013) Oil prices and the macroeconomy reconsideration for Germany: using continuous wavelet. Econo Model 30:636–642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2012.11.003
Tiwari AK, Shahbaz M, Hye QMA (2013) The environmental Kuznets curve and the role of coal consumption in India: cointegration and causality analysis in an open economy. Renew Sust Energy Rev 18:519–527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.10.031
Tiwari AK, Bhanja N, Dar AB, Olayeni OR (2015) Analyzing time–frequency based co-movement in inflation: evidence from G-7 countries. Comput Econo 45(1):91–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-013-9408-5
Tiwari AK, Cunado J, Hatemi-J A, Gupta R (2019) Oil price-inflation pass-through in the United States over 1871 to 2018: a wavelet coherency analysis. Struct Change Econ Dyn 50:51–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2019.05.002
Tiwari AK, Nasreen S, Shahbaz M, Hammoudeh S (2020) Time-frequency causality and connectedness between international prices of energy, food, industry, agriculture and metals. Energy Econ 85:104529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2019.104529
Tugcu CT, Ozturk I, Aslan A (2012) Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth relationship revisited: evidence from G7 countries. Energy Econ 34(6):1942–1950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2012.08.021
Twerefou DK, Dansomensah K, Bokpin GA (2017) The environmental effects of economic growth and globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa: a panel general method of moments approach. Res Int Bus Financ 42:939–949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2017.07.028
Wang Q, Wang S (2019) Decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions growth in the United States: The role of research and development. J Clean Prod 234:702–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.174
Wang Q, Zhang FY (2020) Does increasing investment in research and development promote economic growth decoupling from carbon emission growth? An empirical analysis of BRICS countries. J Clean Prod 252:119853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119853
Wang N, Zhu H, Guo Y, Peng C (2018) The heterogeneous effect of democracy, political globalization, and urbanization on PM2.5 concentrations in G20 countries: Evidence from panel quantile regression. J Clean Prod 194:54–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.092
Wang L, Vo XV, Shahbaz M, AK A (2020) Globalization and carbon emissions: is there any role of agriculture value-added, financial development, and natural resour-ce rent in the aftermath of COP21? J Environ Manag 268:110712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110712
Whitcher B (2004) Wavelet-based estimation for seasonal long-memory processes. Technometrics 46(2):225–238. https://doi.org/10.1198/004017004000000275
Xu Z, Baloch MA, Meng F, Zhang J, Mahnood Z (2018) Nexus between financial development and CO2 emissions in Saudi Arabia: analyzing the role of globalization. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(28):28378–28390. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2876-3
Yang L, Li Z (2017) Technology advance and the carbon dioxide emission in China-Empirical research based on the rebound effect. Energy Policy 101:150–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.11.020
Yang Y, Cai W, Wang C (2014) Industrial CO2 intensity, indigenous innovation and R&D spillovers in China’s provinces. Appl energy 131:117–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.06.033
You W, Lv Z (2018) Spillover effects of economic globalization on CO2 emissions: a spatial panel approach. Energy Econ 73:248–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.05.016
Yu Y, Xu W (2019) Impact of FDI and R&D on China's industrial CO2 emissions reduction and trend prediction. Atmos Pollut Res 10(5):1627–1635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2019.06.003
Zaidi SAH, Zafar MW, Shahbaz M, Hou F (2019) Dynamic linkages between globalization, financial development and carbon emissions: Evidence from Asia Pacific E-conomic Cooperation countries. J Clean Prod 228:533–543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.210
Zhang YJ, Peng YL, Ma CQ, Shen B (2017) Can environmental innovation facilitate carbon emissions reduction? Evidence from China. Energy Policy 100:18–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.10.005
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the editor, Professor Ilhan Ozturk, and the anonymous referee for their constructive comments and suggestions, which are helpful to improve the quality of this paper greatly. Of course, any remaining errors are our own. This research is partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 71671062).
Funding
This research is partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 71671062)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
YH: conceptualization, formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft; HW: data curation, methodology, software, validation, writing—review and editing; HZ: investigation, methodology, supervision, writing—review and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
This study did not use any kind of human participants or human data, which require any kind of approval.
Consent for publication
This study did not use any kind of individual data such as video and images.
Competing interest
The authors declare no competing interest.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Ilhan Ozturk
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(DOCX 53298 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, Y., Wu, H. & Zhu, H. Time-frequency relationship between R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions in G7 countries: evidence from wavelet coherence analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 51908–51927 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14369-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14369-5