Effects of biomass energy consumption on environmental quality: the role of education and technology in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries

摘要

This study investigates the impact of biomass energy consumption, education, and technological innovation on environmental quality by controlling for the role of economic growth and financial development in the function of environmental quality. Second-generation econometric methods were used to solve the issues of heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence in the study variables. The Westerlund and Edgerton (2008) cointegration technique confirmed the existence of a long-run equilibrium among the variables in the presence ofstructuralbreaks.Thepanelquantileregression results indicate that biomass energy use and technological innovation reduce environmental quality. Similarly, economic growth increases carbon emissions in the environment. Education and financial development contribute to reduce carbon emissions.