Kuznets Environmental Curve: Testing the Relationship between Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation in Qatar as a Case Study

The present study tackles the validity of the occurrence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in the Qatari economy by examining the dependability between economic growth and environmental degradation. The study focuses on analyzing the impact of GDP, population, and energy consumption on CO2 emissions during the period from 2000 to 2022. The results of the study indicate that there is a non-linear relationship between economic growth and emissions, as an inverted U-shaped curve appears. Emissions increase in the early stages of growth due to intensive industrialization and increased energy consumption due to huge capital investments in Qatar. These emissions decrease thanks to the shift to service sectors and the use of clean technologies. Data analysis suggests that population has had an unexpectedly negative impact on emissions, possibly due to sustainable urbanization policies and the use of clean natural gas in electricity generation. However, electric power consumption is associated with increased emissions due to the burning of natural gas.