Evaluation the environmental effects of renewable energy and international trade through carbon footprint: A case of selected Middle East and North African countries

The concept of renewable energy is a distinguished subject for many researchers. The energy crises caused by fossil fuels throughout history, as well as their negative impact on the environment, have led to an increase in studies related to renewable energy. Despite the significant potential of renewable energy sources in the Middle East and North Africa countries, only a small fraction of it is currently being utilized. In this study, the effects of trade openness and renewable energy consumption on the carbon footprint (CF) size of Middle East and North African countries were investigated using panel data methodology. The empirical part of the study utilized annual data from 1990 to 2017 for the variables. According to the empirical results, a long-run equilibrium relationship was found among the variables, and it was determined that renewable energy consumption had a negative effect while the trade openness variable had a positive effect on the carbon footprint, as indicated by the estimated coefficients of the cointegration estimators.