Nuclear energy and carbon emissions in South Africa: new evidence from threshold and wavelet quantile regression

Abstract

This study applies threshold and wavelet quantile regression to investigate the relationship between nuclear energy and carbon emissions in South Africa. The findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between the two variables. The paper used lag GDP as the threshold variable, and the threshold value is 28.983. This threshold value determines the lower and upper regimes. The findings indicate that below the threshold, nuclear energy has a negative effect on carbon emissions, whereas above the threshold, there is a positive effect. With the application of WQR, the results reveal that in the short term, there is a negative effect of nuclear energy on carbon emissions, but the effect is weak. However, in the medium to long term, there is a strong negative effect. The findings may suggest that policymakers are encouraged to promote nuclear energy development cautiously, ensuring that it remains below the threshold level to prevent adverse environmental impacts.