econometric analysis of the effects of globalization, technology innovation and renewable energy consumption on co2 emissions: evidence from top five co2 -emitting countries

Introduction: anthropogenic co2 emission is a pressing global challenge wreaking serious health, environmental and socioeconomic havocs which require urgent attention. given these undesirable outcomes and the enormous contribution of some set of countries to global co2 emissions; this study investigated the effects of globalization, technology innovation and renewable energy consumption on co2 emissions in top 5 co2-emitting countries across the globe.materials and methods: to achieve the study objective, annual co2 emission, globalization, technology innovation, renewable energy and economic growth data of the top 5 co2-emitting countries spanning from 1990 to 2022 was analysed using panel autoregressive distributed lag modelling technique and dumitrescu-hurlin panel causality test.results: findings revealed existence of long-run relationship among co2 emission, globalization, technology innovation, renewable energy consumption and economic growth in top 5 co2-emitting countries. particularly, renewable energy consumption was found to have negative effect on co2 emission while globalization and technology innovation were found to have positive direct effects on co2 emission. however, the interaction effect of globalization and technology innovation on co2 emissions was found to be negative. findings also revealed mutually reinforcing causal relationship between economic growth and co2 emission; and between technology innovation and co2 emission.conclusion: the findings underscore the fact that urgent prioritisation of renewable energy consumption and international relationships which encourage the transfer, development and adoption of environment-friendly technological innovations will reduce co2 emission and its undesirable environmental, health and socioeconomic effects in top 5 co2-emitting countries.