Environmental impacts of aquaculture, marine shipping, and blue R&D in Nordic countries

Abstract Aquaculture is flourishing in the Nordic region, namely in Norway and Denmark since their coastline geographic positioning. Conversely, despite the potential for utilizing marine resources and wind energy through extensive research and development (R&D), these countries nonetheless face ongoing environmental challenges due to large-scale aquaculture and maritime operations. Nevertheless, there has been insufficient focus on comprehending the consequences of aquaculture production, marine shipping, wind energy generation, and blue R&D on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions so far. Thus, this work aims to address this research gap in the context of Norway and Denmark between 2000Q1 and 2021Q4 by employing "quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) and wavelet coherence (WC)". The QQR results demonstrate that aquaculture production in Denmark harms the environment at lower quantiles but becomes positive at higher quantiles, indicating that the aquaculture operation leads to an increase in GHG emissions. Aquaculture production in Norway has a detrimental effect on GHG emissions across several quantiles. The results can be attributed to the stringent regulation and promotion of sustainable aquaculture techniques in Norway. Maritime shipping exhibits a positive effect on the emissions of GHG in both nations. Moreover, blue R&D appears to be more significant in Norway compared to Denmark when it comes to decreasing GHG emissions. Finally, wind energy generation has varying effects on GHG emissions across different quantiles for both countries. It is recommended that both countries encourage the implementation of sustainable aquaculture practices by making significant investments in blue R&D for a healthier environment.