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Exploring necessary and sufficient conditions for carbon emission intensity: a comparative analysis

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Abstract

This research investigates the factors influencing carbon emission intensity in 94 countries during 2018 using two qualitative methods: necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The study covers variables related to economics, human geography, energy, and institutions, showing significant variations among them. The NCA model identifies economic complexity and fossil energy consumption as necessary conditions for high-carbon emission intensity. On the other hand, the fsQCA model reveals sufficient conditions for both high- and low-carbon emission intensity, presenting different causal combinations of variables. For high-carbon emission intensity, nine causal solutions are identified, emphasizing the roles of economic growth, urbanization, fossil energy consumption, and institutional quality. Reducing carbon emission intensity requires addressing economic complexity and reducing reliance on fossil energy consumption. Policymakers should focus on sustainable economic development, environmentally friendly urbanization, and transitioning to renewable energy sources. This research’s originality lies in its qualitative approach, going beyond traditional regression methods to explore necessary and sufficient conditions for carbon emission intensity. It offers valuable insights into the complex interplay of variables, providing multiple causal configurations for both high- and low-carbon emission intensity.

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Funding

The research is supported by the postdoctoral project grant of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), Economics Department (Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences). The research is supported by the CeBER, R&D unit, funded by national funds through FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., project UIDB/05037/2020. UCILeR is an R&D Unit accredited and funded by the FCT–Portugal National Agency within the scope of its strategic project: UIDB/04643/2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Emad Kazemzadeh & Narges Salehnia

  2. Faculty of Economics, and Centre for Business and Economics Research (CeBER), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    José Alberto Fuinhas & Nuno Silva

  3. University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research (UCILeR), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Matheus Koengkan

Authors
  1. Emad Kazemzadeh
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  2. José Alberto Fuinhas
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  3. Narges Salehnia
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  4. Matheus Koengkan
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  5. Nuno Silva
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Contributions

E.K.: writing-original draft and editing, validation, data curation, and project administration, conceptualization, formal analysis, and visualization; J.A.F.: introduction and editing; N.S.: supervision and editing; M.K.: discussion and editing; N.M.S.: data and methodology and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Narges Salehnia.

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Appendix

Appendix

Please see Tables 8 and 9.

Table 8 Variable definition
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Table 9 Country list (94 countries)
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Kazemzadeh, E., Fuinhas, J.A., Salehnia, N. et al. Exploring necessary and sufficient conditions for carbon emission intensity: a comparative analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 97319–97338 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29260-8

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