Estimating the role of urban development in environment quality: Evidence from G7 countries

This study investigates the role of urbanization in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission in the case of the Group of Seven (G7) countries, except Germany. The conventional environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) was revised by augmenting and controlling for urbanization for this purpose. The results of this study confirm the long-term effects of urbanization on CO 2 emission in the selected G7 countries. Only France and Italy seem to manage environmental issues when promoting urbanization; this is because urban development exerts negative effects on the climate levels in these two countries, while it generates positive impacts in the case of the other G7 countries. The inverted U-shaped and revised EKC is also successfully confirmed for only France and Italy among the others.