The role of tertiary education on CO₂ emissions: evidence from 151 countries

This study examines the relationship between tertiary education and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per capita based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. Growing concerns over environmental degradation linked with economic development have ignited a debate on the specific conditions under which economic prosperity and environmental preservation can be attained at the same time. In this regard, the role of education has been widely explored, but existing literature on the EKC model has been inconclusive. Using the data from 151 countries from 1991 to 2019, this study aims to empirically test if tertiary education alleviates environmental degradation, i.e., whether tertiary education contributes to the downslope of the EKC for CO₂ emissions. Our empirical findings reaffirm the EKC and suggest that tertiary education contributes to decreasing CO₂ emissions per capita in countries with higher GDP per capita. Thus, tertiary education seems to be one of the keys to explaining the inverse u-shape of the EKC. The policy implications of this research are twofold. First, global efforts to alleviate environmental problems can be buttressed indirectly by basic social policies such as tertiary education promotion. Second, the implementation of a domestic environmental policy could be effective when intertwined with tertiary education.