Do Public–Private Partnership Investment in Energy and Technological Innovation Matter for Environmental Sustainability in the East Asia and Pacific Region? An Application of a Frequency Domain Causality Test

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Environmental sustainability is an important issue for current scholars and policymakers in the East Asian and Pacific region. The causal and long-run effects of technological innovation, public–private partnership investment in energy, and renewable energy consumption on environmental sustainability in the East Asian and Pacific regions have not been comprehensively explored while taking into account the role of economic growth using quarterly data for the period 1992–2015. Therefore, the present study aims to close this literature gap using econometric approaches, namely Bayer–Hanck cointegration, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) tests. Furthermore, the study utilizes the frequency domain causality test to capture the causal impact of public–private partnership investment in energy, renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and economic growth on CO2 emissions. The advantage of the frequency domain causality test is that it can capture the causality between short-term, medium-term, and long-term variables. The outcomes of the ARDL, FMOLS and DOLS show that renewable energy consumption and technological innovation mitigate CO2 emissions, while public–private partnership investment in energy and economic growth increase CO2 emissions. Moreover, the frequency causality test outcomes reveal that technological innovation, public–private partnership investment in energy, and renewable energy consumption cause CO2 emissions, particularly in the long-term. Thus, as a policy recommendation, the present study recommends promoting renewable energy consumption by focusing more on technological innovation in the East Asia and Pacific regions.