Does international cooperation affect CO₂ emissions? Evidence from OECD countries

Area of Science:

• Environmental Economics
• International Relations
• Climate Change Studies

Background:

• Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions pose a significant threat to global climate stability.
• International cooperation is increasingly recognized as a crucial factor in addressing environmental challenges.
• The specific impact of political globalization on CO2 emissions growth requires detailed empirical investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the relationship between international cooperation, proxied by political globalization, and CO2 emissions growth.
• To examine the robustness of this relationship across different measures and control variables.
• To explore the varying impacts of economic and emissions factors across different levels of pollution.

Main Methods:

• Panel quantile regressions with fixed-effects were employed.
• Data spanned 36 OECD economies from 1970 to 2016.
• Indices of political globalization served as the primary measure of international cooperation.

Main Results:

• Political globalization was found to significantly decrease CO2 emissions growth.
• The negative impact of political globalization on CO2 emissions was robust across sub-indices and control variables.
• While income and initial emissions levels influenced CO2 growth more in highly polluting nations, political globalization's effect was stable across quantiles.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced political globalization and international cooperation can play a vital role in mitigating CO2 emissions growth.
• Policy interventions aimed at fostering global collaboration may be effective in combating climate change.
• The findings underscore the importance of international cooperation in achieving climate change mitigation goals.