Abstract
Innovation in renewable energy generation, transmission, or distribution-related technologies (IREGT) is an effective way to deal with environmental pollution. Even though previous studies have focused on renewable energy generation in the USA, the impact of IREGT on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) remains widely unexplored. Recognizing this gap, this study inspected the IREGT-CO2e nexus in the USA, with international collaboration in green technology development (ICGTD), trade openness (TO), renewable energy consumption (REC), and gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) as control variables from 1990Q1 to 2018Q4. The study applied the canonical cointegration regression (CCR), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method, and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) approach to assess the long-run association among variables. First, the findings validated the cointegration relationship among IREGT, ICGTD, TO, REC, GDPPC, and CO2e. Second, the results indicated that the IREGT, REC, and ICGTD had benefited the USA in mitigating CO2e. Third, GDPPC and TO were positively connected to CO2e. Fourth, the Granger causality depicted that GDPPC, TO, and ICGTD Granger caused CO2e in the USA, while IREGT and CO2e had a bidirectional relationship. The study’s findings encourage the government should devise policies to induce higher research institutions and private enterprises to engage in IREGT.