Public-private partnerships investment in energy as new determinant of CO2 emissions: The role of technological innovations in China

This paper explores the relationship between ‘public-private partnerships investment in energy sector and carbon emissions’ considering the vital role of technological innovations in carbon emissions function for China. In doing so, we apply bootstrapping autoregressive distributed lag modeling (BARDL) for examining the cointegration between carbon emissions and its determinants. The empirical results reveal that public-private partnerships investment in energy impedes environmental quality by increasing carbon emissions. On contrary, technological innovations have negative effect on carbon emissions. The relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions is inverted-U shaped i.e. environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Exports are positively linked with carbon emissions. Foreign direct investment impedes environmental quality by stimulating CO2 emissions. The empirical findings provide new insights for policy makers to direct public-private partnerships investment in energy for the betterment of environmental quality in China. •Public-private partnerships investment in energy impedes environmental quality.•Technological innovations have negative effect on carbon emissions.•The relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions is inverted-U shaped.•Exports are positively linked with carbon emissions.•Foreign direct investment impedes environmental quality by stimulating CO2 emissions.