Impact of Afforestation, Energy Productivity, Renewable and Nuclear Electricity Generation on CO2 Emissions: Empirical Findings from the BRICS Countries

Global warming and climate change have considerably enhanced worldwide environmental concerns since the 1970s. Therefore, researchers have extensively researched the nexus between renewable energy utilization and CO2 emissions in the literature. However, the influence of afforestation and energy productivity along with renewable and nuclear electricity generation on CO2 emissions has not been explored sufficiently in the associated literature regarding the multiple effects of these actors on the decarbonization process. Thus, this article analyzes the short- and long-term effects of afforestation, energy productivity, renewable and nuclear electricity production on CO2 emissions in the BRICS states over the 1993–2021 term via robust bootstrap cointegration and causality tests. The findings confirm a cointegration interplay among CO2 emissions, afforestation, energy productivity, renewable and nuclear electricity generation. Further, the cointegration coefficients demonstrate a negative influence of afforestation, energy productivity, renewable electricity generation on CO2 emissions in most of the BRICS states in the long term, but a negative effect of nuclear electricity production only in China and the Russian Federation. The findings of causality examination also uncover that afforestation, energy productivity, and generation of renewable and nuclear electricity are effective tools in reducing CO2 emissions, but their long-term effects are found to be relatively higher than short-term effects. These findings indicate that promotion of afforestation, along with energy productivity and electricity from renewables and nuclear sources is highly useful for curbing CO2 emissions in the short and long term.