Özet:

Industrializing countries often prioritize high rates of economic growth as their primary economic goal. However, this ambition often leads them to overlook the environmental impacts of extensively using fossil fuels in their production processes. Especially considering the higher number of developing countries compared to developed ones, the need to control global greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change has become one of today's most significant issues. With this purpose, the study investigates the relationship between carbon emissions resulting from energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness, and per capita primary energy consumption in Türkiye, classified as a developing country, within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The study examines the period from 1970 to 2021 and tests the validity of the EKC hypothesis in the Türkiye context using the Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (A-ARDL) approach, which was introduced to the literature by McNown et al. (2018) and Sam et al. (2019). Based on the empirical findings, when considering carbon emissions resulting from energy consumption, the EKC hypothesis is found to be valid in Türkiye. Additionally, it has been observed that the explanatory variables of trade openness and per capita primary energy consumption also contribute to increased carbon emissions. As a conclusion, the study recommends investing in environmentally friendly technologies, emphasizing pollution control, rigorously implementing regulations, raising public awareness on environmental issues, and shaping economic growth according to the principles of environmental sustainability. These recommendations are directed to public authorities and policymakers as guidelines for effective decision-making.

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