Rediscovering the EKC hypothesis for the 20 highest CO2 emitters among OECD countries by level of globalization

In an era of globalization, climate change is considered a huge threat to humanity. With this in mind, and while countries continue to seek economic growth, the question arises: what are the repercussions of globalization on the environment? Through an analysis of the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation, assessing the Environmental Kuznets Curve using the economic, social, and political dimensions, and the de jure and de facto measures of globalization, this study provides evidence for the influence of expanding globalization on environmental performance for 20 of the highest carbon-dioxide-emitting countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The countries were divided into high-globalized countries and low-globalized countries, according to their ranking of overall globalization. In order to provide robust results, the Driscoll-Kraay estimator was performed from 1990 to 2016. The results reveal evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for the high-globalized group, but not for the low-globalized group. Political globalization is shown to be a tool for mitigating environmental degradation, while economic globalization is harmful for it. Furthermore, there is evidence of different effects of de jure and de facto globalization.