Innovation technology and environmental sustainability in the case of Tunisia

This study examines the relationship between innovation and environmental sustainability in Tunisia over the 1971-2014 period. For this reason, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) with break-point method and the Granger causality tests are performed. In the current study, the total patent is considered as a measure of innovation. Our outcome goes in the direction of non-acceptance of the Kuznets hypothesis. In addition, the impact of energy consumption on CO2 emissions is positive. Moreover, even if the effect of technological innovation is directly insignificant, it indirectly contributes to lessen the effect of energy consumption. Furthermore, in the long and short terms, there are feedback links between economic growth and energy consumption, between pollution and both economic growth and energy consumption. In the long and short runs, there is also a one-way impact going from technological innovation variable to energy consumption one while there is no causality between technological innovation on the one hand and economic growth and CO2 emissions on the other hand. Consequently, policy makers should stimulate innovatively and enhance technologic capacity in Tunisia.