Articulating CO2 emissions limiting roles of nuclear energy and ICT under the EKC hypothesis: An application of non-parametric MMQR approach

Limiting toxic elements from being exposed to the world’s atmosphere has been the biggest challenge among environmental researchers and stakeholders. Climate change conferences have been counselling the global economies to take serious steps toward profound decarbonization to keep the universal temperature below 1.5 °C. In this context, the direction of environmental research has changed, and researchers are more focused on tracing how to limit pollution and keep it below the threshold level. In this milieu, nuclear energy can make a big difference along with other alternatives to fossil energy. Therefore, we extend the extant literature by exploring the dynamic effects of atomic energy and ICT on carbon emissions (CO2) for top nuclear energy countries using data from 1990 to 2017. To obtain robust findings, we deploy a novel non-parametric econometric approach (i.e., method of moments quantile regression). The results suggest that nuclear energy is a sustainable alternative to historical fossil fuel as it curbs CO2 emissions in the lower, middle, and upper quantiles. Furthermore, our findings corroborate that ICT penetration through the internet, mobile and telephone plays a vital role in improving environmental quality. Moreover, we unveil that linear economic growth jeopardizes the environment by unleashing harmful gases. The findings also support the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis by confirming the negative association between the polynomial economic growth (squared-GDP) and CO2 emissions among the designated nations. Also, the Granger causality test reaffirms the causal nexus among selected series that runs from nuclear energy and technological innovation to CO2 emissions, indicating that any policy shock in both series leads to environmental degradation. We, therefore, advocate that the designated territories keep enriching their energy baskets with nuclear energy and boost ICT penetration to achieve a 100% decoupling of economic growth from pollution.