Switching to Hydropower renewable energy to mitigate the effects of the carbon emissions in South and East Asian economies

Abstract

Energy is the most essential tool for production and distribution of economic goods. It is also considered as crucial input of economic development. The World Energy Committee states that there are several environmental risks linked to energy production from non-renewable sources such as coal, gas, and petroleum etc. One of the associated risks is high per capita carbon emissions. To reduce such risk economy should switch to the renewable energy sources that characterize less or no carbon emission. This paper investigated the dynamics of coal, gas and hydroelectric energy within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve. The study used the Arellano and Bond (1991) dynamic panel model using the GMM framework developed by the Hansen (1982). The empirical results of the study confirm the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and that coal and gas are significant contributors to carbon. Results suggest that the hydel energy can play an essential role in mitigating the carbon emissions and improving climate emissions in case of South and East Asian Countries