Effect of clean energy on CO₂ emissions in G-20 countries using STIRPAT approach

This paper analyses the effect of clean fuel technology for cooking and electricity on CO₂ emissions in G-20 countries over the period from 2000 to 2022, using data from the World Bank. The study applies an extended form of the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model for this purpose. The paper incorporates access to clean fuel technology for cooking and access to electricity as a technology component of the model. It presents results using Fixed Effect Model with robustness check using Driscoll-Kraay estimator and the Second-Generation Panel (SEP) models i.e. the Common Corrected Error (CCE) estimator and the Pesaran and Smith (1995) model. The second-generation models help understanding short-run and long-run scenarios. The paper finds out that population, per capita income, and trade openness have a positive and significant impact on CO₂ emissions per capita, whereas the provision of clean fuel technology for cooking and access to electricity have a significant and negative impact on CO₂ emissions per capita Therefore, these empirical results recommend that the wide coverage clean fuel technology for cooing such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) will result in decrease in the level of emissions. Along with the adoption of cleaner and sustainable electricity generation, it can eventually lower CO₂ emissions and further contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal-7.