Economic and Social Factors Contributing to CO2 Emission

This research studies the economic and social factors of carbon emissions in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over period 1995-2014. More especially the thesis studied the link between CO2 emissions and four socio-economic variables (per-capita GDP, urbanization, fossil fuel energy consumption and international trade). A long run relationship is confirmed by Kao (1999), Pedroni (1999) and Johansen (Maddala and Wu, 1999) panel cointegration tests. Fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) outcomes specify the following. The relationship among CO2 emission and GDP is non-linear in OPEC countries, it follows the inverted U-shape suggested by the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Urbanization is responsible for a significant proportion of carbon emissions in OPEC countries. Fossil fuel energy consumption is a significantly positive driver of carbon emission. A large proportion of carbon emissions within OPEC member countries is due to international trade. Keywords: OPEC, Carbon emissions, GDP per-capita, Energy consumption, Urbanization, International trade, FMOLS.