Determinants of carbon emissions cycles in the G7 countries

This paper investigates the relationships between economic growth, energy consumption, exports, tourism, geopolitical risk, and carbon dioxide (hereafter cited as “CO₂”) emissions in Group of Seven (hereafter cited as “G7”) countries from 1990 to 2021. Cross-sectional correlation tests, unit root tests, cointegration analysis, regression analysis, panel data estimation, and Granger causality tests are performed. The empirical results show that energy consumption and geopolitical risk negatively affect environmental quality. In addition, globalization exacerbates the problem of ecological degradation. At the same time, the increase in export levels and emerging tourism development are conducive to reducing CO₂ emissions. It is recommended that policymakers pay attention to the role of the digital economy and technological innovation in shaping the energy consumption patterns, carbon emissions, and geopolitical risks in G7 countries, encourage digital transformation, use technological innovation in energy efficiency to drive economic growth, use the digital economy to promote sustainable tourism, decouple it from high carbon emissions, challenge the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve (hereafter cited as “EKC”) framework, and jointly promote dual sustainable development of the economy and environment.