Factors driving CO2 emissions: the role of energy transition and brain drain

This investigation explored the impacts of energy transition and brain drain on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. A panel of seventy-five countries from 2006 to 2020 and the panel quantile regression were used to realize this investigation. The empirical results from the panel quantile regression indicated that the brain drain, trade openness, and economic growth increase CO2 emissions per capita. At the same time, the energy transition, energy efficiency, and urbanization mitigate the environmental degradation in this group of countries. Moreover, the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test indicated the presence of unidirectional causality from brain drain to CO2 emissions. The same test also suggests that the brain drains at all levels except 75th has positive and expressive effects on CO2 emissions—mainly in quantiles 10th and 25th, and the energy transition at all levels decreases CO2 emissions, being this effect more intense as quantiles levels up. This research contributes to the literature twofold. First, the study contributes to the literature by finding that brain drain provokes environmental degradation, which is more pronounced when CO2 emissions per capita are low. Second, this analysis assesses the impact of brain drain and energy transition on CO2 emissions of countries with similar convergence patterns. Indeed, it has the novelty of using criteria to include the countries in the panel. This criterion selects the countries by identifying which are more homogeneous and thus reduces the noise caused by divergent countries in the panel. Therefore, this research also opens the door to exploring energy transition based on countries with similar convergence patterns.