Research Information System
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, vol.16, no.2, pp.476-487, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
As a result of economic growth, demand for energy increases as well as raw materials. The fact that
energy sources are mostly fossil fuels has increased interest in causation between growth and environmental
pollution. As global warming and climate changes gain importance in recent years, environmental pollution
continues to be discussed in the economic literature. As Turkey’s economy grows rapidly, its increasing
energy needs are often met with fossil fuels because they are cheaper than other options. This study analyzes
the availability of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, which analyzes an inverse U-shaped
relation among carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita and output for Turkey in the period 1961–2018.
The study used the autoregressive distributed lag to demonstrate the short- and long-term relationship
between CO2 emissions per capita, real income per capita, industry and trade openness. The conclusions
do confirm that there is a quadratic relation between income and CO2 emissions, supporting EKC relation
in the long term. The results also demonstrate that the CO2, which is a major component of greenhouse
gases, are mainly specified by income in the long term and short term. The contribution of industry to CO2
is minimal in the long run, while trade openness does not have any effect.