unveiling the transformative nexus of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and economic growth on co2 emission in mint countries

This study explores the nexus between energy efficiency, renewable energy, and economic growth and its impact on co2 emissions in the mint countries of mexico, indonesia, nigeria, and turkey from 1990 to 2023. 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 co2 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 co2 emissions and improve ecological quality through energy efficiency and renewable energy. the nexus between economic growth and co2 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 co2 emissions highlights a deficiency in nuclear energy generation to effectively mitigate co2 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 2030 sustainable development goals (sdgs) for environmental quality and sustainability.