Forestation, renewable energy and environmental quality: Empirical evidence from Belt and Road Initiative economies

The project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was initiated by China to enhance the level of economic cooperation among partner economies. The study empirically evaluates the link between renewable energy consumption, forest area and emissions of CO2 among 33 partner economies of BRI for the period of 1986–2018. Study utilizes cointegration and heterogeneous Granger causality framework to explore the long-run and causal linkage among variables. Empirical evidence suggests that expansion in renewable energy consumption and increase in forestation will help to reduce the emissions of CO2 among the economies of BRI. However, the estimated findings of Granger causality reveal feedback causation between renewable energy consumption and forest area and unidirectional causation running from per capita income to environmental quality. The study signifies the importance of investment in renewable energy projects and forest management areas among the partner economies of BRI. •The study analyzes link between renewable energy, forestation and CO2 emission.•Cointegration and heterogeneous Granger causality approaches are used.•Renewable energy and forestation are inversely related with CO2 emission.•Feedback causality is observed between renewable energy usage and forest area.