Toward Sustainability: Dynamics of Total Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Aggregate Income, Non-Renewable Energy, and Renewable Power

Question #1

I found the article "Renewable Power, Carbon Pricing Policy and a Low-Carbon Economy" to be an interesting, timely, and well-written contribution to the field of environmental economics. In fact, I will most assuredly be citing this paper in a forthcoming paper of mine. I suggest this paper be published after a few small things are addressed.

Response to #1

Many thanks for the comments from Reviewer. All comments and suggestions has been carefully considered to be used to improve the article and how to integrate them into the article.

Question #2

[1]Carbon intensities are mentioned in the beginning of the paper and then ignored afterwards. I think that a brief discussion of carbon intensities and their relationship with carbon emissions would benefit this paper. An interesting and relevant paper that should be discussed is:

Cary, M. (2020). Molecules of inefficiency: How tariffs impact carbon intensities, carbon dioxide emissions, and the environment. Science of The Total Environment, 713, 136531.

Response to #2

1. The definition of carbon intensities are in the section of introduction right after it first appearance in the article. Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon emissions associated with a unit of income. However, the present study is on the effects of aggregate variables. The total carbon dioxide emissions and aggregate income are the variable under investigation. Since the design of this article is to address the nexus between the selected variables, additional inclusion of a new variable, such as “carbon intensities”, would not be at the focusing objectives in the analysis.

2. The ideas of the paper mentioned by Cary (2020) added to support the arguments on the effects of tariffs.

Question #3

[2] I would be interesting in seeing what happens if year fixed effects are included in the long run models. Or, if there is a reason for not including these, I would be interested in learning why not.

Response to #3

The using of long-run data can reveal the evidences from a time-fixed model. However, renewable power is of high heterogeneity between countries; various different new technologies initiated and adopted in different countries. The renewable energy becoming an effective source of electricity and common reliable data of renewable power I found in the data sources are much available after 1990, even though some countries possess earlier reliable data. Therefore, this paper used data starting from 1990. Year fixed effect analysis uses dummies to capture common time trend by a time fixed-effects model. It seems relevant after technology of renewable power entering the mature stage, and more effective data being generated. This model is much applicable in the future if renewable energy becomes technologically mature and widely adopted by countries.   

Question #4

[3] Have you considered running an additional set of regressions for carbon intensities? Here you could use the ratio of carbon emissions to the measure of GDP you use. If this is doable, the results would be interesting to many people working in this field.

Response to #4

The dynamic nexus of the variable of intensities is also important. However, if this paper also included these analysis, the article would be too long. The author would like to write another article on the nexus of carbon intensities with corresponding renewable power intensities, and non-renewable energy intensities later on.

Question #5

Congrats on writing an excellent paper!

Response to #5

Thank you very much!

Question #1

The structure of the paper is uneven. The analysis section is too long, while the literature review of the paper is inadequate.

Response to #1

The structure of this article is rearranged. The analysis is cut to be shorter. A section of literature review is added.

Question #2

No sufficient justification is provided on why 18 out of 32 EU countries were chosen. In the text it is only mentioned “The 18 countries of the EU and 32 countries of the OECD are studied because of data availability, especially for renewable power”.  However, the Eurostat provides sufficient data for all EU counties especially for renewable power.

Response to #2

Both OECD and EU countries are investigated in this research. The EU is most devoted to developed renewable energy, and the data of renewable power is quite thoroughly in Eurostat. However, the purpose of this article is to get common empirical evidences from advanced energy leader countries in OECD, the rich developed countries, and in the EU, the most devoted countries to combat climate changes. The renewable energy to effectively fit-in the electricity grid and common reliable data of renewable power I found in the data sources for OECD in BP are much available after 1990, even though some countries possess earlier reliable data.

Question #3

No information is provided on which are the chosen countries. A table with the 18 countries of the EU and the 32 countries of the OECD would be useful.

Response to #3

The lists of countries are provided.

Question #4

The conclusion section contains some parts that are more appropriate to the discussion section. The conclusion section should only contain conclusions based on the results of the study and the limitations of the study.

Response to #4

The relevant parts are moved to the discussion section (6) Current carbon tax border adjustment policy. 

Question #5

The article needs to be revised.

Response to #5

Many thanks for the comments from Reviewer. All comments and suggestions has been carefully considered to be used to improve the article and how to integrate them into the article.

Question #1

Thank you for sharing your research. In general, the manuscript deals with an actual topic and is interesting, but it requires extra improvements for its quality and presentation.

Response to #1

Many thanks for the comments from Reviewer. All comments and suggestions has been carefully considered to be used to improve the article and how to integrate them into the article.

Question #2

·       There is no literature review. Previous studies dealing with the topic must be reviewed and provided in a separate section. Also, the results of the analysis should be connected to previous literature.

Response to #2

A new section of literature review are added in this article.

Question #3

·       The methodology and the results should be provided in separate sections.

Response to #3

The original long section of analysis is separated into two sections: methodology and results.

Question #4

·       Essential results of different countries should be provided.

Response to #4

Thank you for your suggestion. The article is aimed to investigate two groups of countries to get common empirical evidences. It is also interesting and important to study on the effects of individual country and taking the domestic energy resources and policy into consideration. If this paper also included these analysis, the article would be too long. The author would like to write another article concerning individual countries in the near future.

Question #5

·       The limitations of this work should be added in Conclusions section.

Response to #5

Thank you. The limitations of this article is added in the section of conclusion.

Question #6

·       The title of the paper should be revised to reflect the content of the work. 

Response to #6

Thank you! The title is renamed to reflect the content.

Question #7

·       Full explanation of concept is needed before using abbreviation for the first time (e.g. line 68). Please check carefully all the article.

Response to #7

Thank you. Line 68 and the whole article is fully checked and corrected the abbreviation.

The third round suggestions and comments from Reviewer

The methodological rationale of the study should be fundamentally reviewed.

What is the purpose of dividing countries into two groups (EU-18 and OECD) if to the OECD belongs the same EU-18 countries?

Question 1

The methodological rationale of the study should be fundamentally reviewed.

Response to Question 1

The methodological literature are added in literature review.

This part of is added in Line 292-341.

Question 2

What is the purpose of dividing countries into two groups (EU-18 and OECD) if to the OECD belongs the same EU-18 countries?

Response to Question 2

The EU countries is the most devoted countries to mitigate climate changes. The dynamics of the selected variables in EU countries would be of importance for climate mitigation policy. The wealthy OECD economies are also investigated for higher propensity to develop the advanced green technology – the renewable power.

This part of is added in Line 139-143.