The Impact of Energy Innovation on Carbon Emission Mitigation: An Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

Over the past decades, the world has experienced an unprecedented increase in carbon emissions resulting in the emergence of climate change as a significant policy concern. Currently, environmental and energy policymakers are assessing carbon emission mitigation strategies through the lens of energy innovation. However, research linking energy innovation to carbon emissions remains limited in the literature. In this research, we deploy the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model to investigate the impact of energy innovation on carbon emissions in 26 OECD countries for the period 1974–2017. Our results from the fixed effect panel quantile regression revealed that energy innovation reduces carbon emission at the lower quantiles (10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th) while it increases carbon emissions at the 70th and 80th quantile. Our results also indicate that population size, energy intensity, and service and industrial sectors increase carbon emissions, while urbanization and affluence mitigate carbon emissions. The policy implications are discussed.