Towards carbon neutrality in Europe: The role of technology exports, renewable energy consumption, and resource productivity

This study investigates the roles of technology exports, resource productivity, and renewable energy consumption in advancing carbon neutrality in European Union (EU) countries, with a particular focus on examining their individual effects as well as their interactive dynamics. Using panel data from 2007 to 2023, the analysis employs the fixed-effects (FE) and Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) techniques to ensure robustness and reliability. The findings reveal that technology exports and renewable energy consumption significantly reduce emissions, with technology exports showing a stronger effect in low-emission contexts and renewable energy being particularly impactful in high-emission regions. Resource productivity exhibits mixed results, reducing emissions in low-emission countries but potentially increasing them in high-emission settings due to rebound effects. Interaction terms reveal that the synergy between renewable energy and resource productivity is more effective in low-emission countries. The robustness of the results is confirmed by substituting CO2 with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, the paper recommends policies to promote high-technology exports, incentivize renewable energy adoption, and improve resource efficiency. • The paper assesses how technology exports, resource productivity, and renewable energy drive EU carbon neutrality. • Technology exports and renewable energy reduce emissions but with stronger effects in low-emission and high-emission regions, respectively. • Resource productivity lowers emissions in low-emission countries but may raise them in high-emission ones. • Renewable energy and resource productivity work best together in low-emission countries.