**Jie Zhang 1, Majed Alharthi 2, Qaiser Abbas 3,\*, Weiqing Li 4,\*, Muhammad Mohsin 5, Khan Jamal <sup>6</sup> and Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary <sup>7</sup>**


Received: 22 August 2020; Accepted: 29 September 2020; Published: 10 October 2020

**Abstract:** Energy consumption and its efficiency are significant factors for economic growth and environmental stress. This study postulates the occurrence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC) by using the Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Furthermore, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is used to measure energy efficiency, energy intensity, and environment to view the trajectory of EKC for the underline economies. For this purpose, a panel dataset from 1990–2013 of 15 developing countries is analyzed to verify the objectives mentioned above. The results of the panel ARDL support EKC's theory for underline economies, as GDP positively impacts carbon emissions, while the square of GDP is negatively related. The DEA-based results found relatively low environmental conditions in these emerging economies due to high energy intensity and low energy efficiency. This outcome suggests that renewable energy sources must be treated as an essential factor for achieving sustainable economic goals without environmental degradation.

**Keywords:** environmental Kuznets curve; CO2 emission; energy efficiency; economic growth; panel ARDL; DEA
