The Effect of the Kyoto Protocol on Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between income and environmental degradation is discussed. In this study, the Kyoto Protocol is investigated by using Pooled Mean Group Estimator based on Error Correction Model by Pesaran, Shin and Smith, Cross-Sectional Augmented Distributed Lag estimator by Chudik et al. (2016), Cross-Sectional ARDL estimator based on ARDL model by Chudik et al. (2016) and Dynamic Common Correlated Effects Estimator model by Chudik and Pesaran (2015) to cover the gaps in the Environmental Kuznets Curve literature. Kyoto Protocol’s effects for developing countries and developed countries are analyzed for the period between 1980 and 2014, and 1971 and 2014, respectively. Since no significant relationship between GDP and CO2 is found for developed and developing countries in the analysis, it is concluded that Kyoto Protocol did not have a significant effect on CO2 emissions for the relevant countries in the study. This study contributes to the current literature by verifying no significant effect of Kyoto Protocol on CO2 emissions as compatible with most up-to-date studies. The limitations of this study are the studied countries and the period studied for these studied countries.