Realizing a Low Carbon Future

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Sustainability discusses the impact of various macroeconomic indicators on carbon emissions and footprints. Carbon-based pollutants are considered the main contributors to global warming and climate change. Increases in carbon emissions threaten living species by causing ozone-layer depletion, higher temperatures on continents, and climate change. Moreover, these threats are expected to put economic pressure on countries in the future. In this context, various aggregates such as the 1972 Stockholm Conference, the Rio Conference, the 1997 Kyoto Climate Conference, the 2003 Milan Climate Conference, and the 2015 Paris Climate Conference have been held to reduce carbon-related pollution, and scientists have empirically analyzed the determinants of carbon emissions.

The analysis of macroeconomic determinants of carbon pollution is very important for policymakers. Can renewable energy, green patents, human capital, low-carbon technologies, and the like reduce carbon emissions and footprint? Can environmental quality be improved and carbon pollution minimized if fossil-fuel consumption, heavy industry production, urbanization, foreign trade, financial development, etc., are regulated in a more environmentally friendly manner? Many researchers have searched for answers to these questions, but have not yet reached a clear consensus.

Environmental economists have often studied the determinants of carbon pollutants using econometric analysis. More recently, researchers have studied environmental degradation, in particular, indicators such as CO₂ emissions and carbon footprint, using various methods based on Fourier approximation and wavelet transforms. Carbon-pollution prevention can help achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as SDG-11 Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG-13 Climate Change. In this context, this Special Issue welcomes studies that examine the determinants of CO₂ emissions and carbon footprint, particularly in the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve and the pollution haven hypothesis. With these studies, the factors that countries and societies can contribute towards the "Low Carbon Future" are discussed. The Special Issue evaluates the studies discussing this issue using time series or panel data analysis.

In particular, selected topics and keywords will include, but are not limited to:

• CO₂ emission.
  
• Carbon footprint.
• Ecological footprint.
• Time series analysis.
• Panel data analysis.
• Sustainable development goals.
• Low carbon technologies.
• Fourier approximation.

Dr. Mehmet Akif Destek
Dr. Ugur Korkut Pata
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• CO₂ emissions
• carbon footprint
• ecological footprint
• time series analysis
• panel data analysis
• sustainable development goals
• low-carbon technologies
• Fourier approximation