Emmanuel Udo - Department of Banking and Finance. University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, Nigeria.
OKEZIE IKEH - Department of Banking and Finance University of Nigeria Enugu Campus
Abner Prince - University of Abuja Business School
Victor Edet - Nile University of Nigeria
James Emiesefia - Department of Economics Nile University of Nigeria Abuja
Boniface Akpan - Department of Economics Akwa Ibom State University
Enobong Akpan - Department of Economics Akwa Ibom State University

This study explores the nexus between energy efficiency, renewable energy, and economic growth and its impact on CO۲ emissions in the MINT countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey from ۱۹۹۰ to ۲۰۲۳. Despite the significance of energy efficiency in environmental policy formulation, the heavy reliance on fossil energy in these countries has led to significant environmental challenges due to concerns about climate change. Previous studies have predominantly used the symmetric model, arguing for a linear nexus and neglecting possible asymmetric contributions between renewable and nuclear energy on economic growth and urbanization as CO۲ emission stimulators. This study adopted the asymmetric panel non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (PNARDL) model to argue for an asymmetric nexus. The key findings revealed an asymmetric nexus indicating that green energy sources reduce CO۲ emissions and improve ecological quality through energy efficiency and renewable energy. The nexus between economic growth and CO۲ emissions supports the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, indicating that ecological quality deteriorates during the early phase of economic growth and improves as the economy evolves to prioritize environmental quality. The negative nexus between nuclear energy and CO۲ emissions highlights a deficiency in nuclear energy generation to effectively mitigate CO۲ emissions. Based on these findings, the study recommends prioritizing renewable energy policies, streamlining the regulatory approval process for nuclear energy projects, and providing incentives for investment in nuclear power infrastructure to achieve the ۲۰۳۰ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for environmental quality and sustainability.

Energy efficiency, Renewable Energy, MINT countries, Asymmetric Panel PNARDL, CO۲ emission