Green logistics and circular economy in alleviating CO2 emissions: Does waste generation and GDP growth matter in EU countries?

The integration of Green Logistics (GL) and Circular Economy (CE) have been recognized as critical concepts for achieving sustainable economic and environmental performance. However, there is a lack of understanding on the combine impacts of CE and GL in alleviating CO2 emissions in pioneering nations relying on these concepts. This study examines the role of CE and GL sustainable in curbing CO2 emissions of 13 developed European Union (EU) countries from 2000 to 2020. The neoclassical growth and IPAT models, including the pool mean autoregressive distributed lags (PMG-ARDL) and the vector error correction model (VECM) are employed to estimate the short- and long-run effects and heterogeneous causal relationships. The long-run results reveal that CE and GL can mitigate CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, while the generation of municipal waste (GMW) has negative impact on the environment. Moreover, the long-run relationship between economic growth, CE, GL, and GMW validates the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The study also confirms a bidirectional causality between CE, GL, and CO2 emissions over the long run. This study proposes a model for assessing the impact of CE and GL initiatives on environmental performance and sustainability in both pioneering developed regions and emerging economies yet to embrace green growth concepts.