The Impact of Energy Intensity, Energy Productivity and Natural Resource Rents on Carbon Emissions in Morocco

The Moroccan government has always advocated reducing energy intensity so as to reach the target of the sustainable development. The current study presents the connection between CO2 emission, energy intensity (EI), natural resource rents (NRRs), energy productivity (EP), and renewable energy (RE) by employing annual time-series data from 1990–2020 for Morocco. Using the ARDL model, the empirical findings illustrate that (i) increasing EI significantly contributes to carbon emissions, (ii) higher consumption of natural resources adversely affects CO2 emissions, and (iii) EP and RE are the key factors to mitigate carbon emissions in both the short term and long term, suggesting that these two factors strengthen the considerable impact of EI and the consumption of natural resources on carbon emissions. Nevertheless, the negative environmental effects are moderately neutralized by adopting significant clean and green energy consumption within the country. The outputs of the robustness test verify the reliability of the regression results. Moreover, a one-way Granger causality running from EI, EP, RE, and NRR to CO2 emissions indicates that any variation in these variables will cause CO2 emissions. The present study offers the latest insights by adding EP and RE into country development and will support government policy makers in decisions related to efficiently abating CO2 emissions.