The dynamic of the United States' Co2 emissions: An empirical multidimensional analysis

In recent years, energy policies have enhanced electricity generation from renewable energy sources (RES). The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the determinants of carbon emissions and to provide an evaluation of policy effectiveness in promoting energy efficiency. We implement a Dynamic Factor Analysis (DFA) to select a smaller number of common dynamic factors that summarize the multidimensional determinants of CO2 emissions. The novelty of this paper lies on the estimation of the determinants of emission trend that uses a high number of control variables observed over a long time period. The results show that the CO2 trend is influenced by economic development in the short run. The negative signs of demographic and energy factors reveal the existence of a path through environmental sustainability in the U.S. The growth of the population and of energy emissions is accompianed by a a decrease of CO2 emissions in the long run.