Error-correction based panel estimates of the relationship between CO2 emissions, energy usage and output in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

This study examines the causal relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and real output within a panel vector error correction model for six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates over the period 1980–2009. In the long-run, there is a dynamic relationship between carbon emissions and income, which confirms the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for GCC countries. The short-run dynamics results reveal a bi-directional causality between carbon and energy usage but reject the existence of EKC.