CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development in GCC countries: Dynamic simultaneous equation models

This study investigates the dynamic causal relationships among carbon emissions, financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from 1980 through 2011. Annual time series data and an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model are used. The main contribution of this paper is that it has investigated the causes of carbon emissions by taking into account the role of financial development and economic growth in GCC countries. The results suggest long-run and causal relationships among carbon emissions, financial development, gross domestic product (GDP), and energy use in all GCC countries except United Arab Emirates (UAE). Moreover, there is long-run unidirectional causality running from carbon emissions to energy use in the case of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar. Furthermore, a one-way causal relationship from financial development to carbon emissions in the context of UAE, Oman, and Kuwait is found. The evidence suggests that financial systems should take into account environmental aspects in their current operations in these countries. The results of this study may be of great importance for policy and decision makers in developing energy policies for GCC countries that contribute to curbing carbon emissions while preserving economic growth.