Assessing the Impact of Democratic Institutions and Administrative Capacity on National Carbon Emissions Reduction

ABSTRACT Addressing climate mitigation goals at a national level is crucial for their overall success. This paper builds upon existing literature that identifies the national institutional setting, such as democratic polity, as a significant factor influencing a nation's commitment to, and the effectiveness of, carbon emissions reduction. However, we argue that democracy is a more complex concept than the oversimplified notion of “level of democracy.” Therefore, this paper investigates the role of various features of democratic institutions—including equal elections, citizen participation, and deliberative democracy—in sustainable development. Furthermore, the political will of a state must be effectively translated and implemented through its national administrative system. This paper underscores the importance of national administrative capacity, with a particular focus on the level of corruption, in achieving carbon emissions reduction. Using panel data for 163 countries from 1990 to 2016, this study shows that at the country level, equal elections, citizen participation, and deliberative democracy are negatively correlated with carbon emissions. Corruption is always associated with an increase in carbon emissions. Furthermore, as levels of corruption rise, the positive impact of various democratic institutions on carbon reduction decreases. Our research suggests that in the process of reducing carbon emissions, countries should maintain the positive aspects of democratic institutions; in addition, governments should also focus on improving administrative capacity, particularly the ability to control corruption, in order to translate institutional advantages into better performance in reducing carbon emissions.