List of European and non-European countries.

Currently, the world faces an existential threat of climate change, and every government across the globe is trying to come up with strategies to tackle the severity of climate change in every way possible. To this end, the use of clean energy rather than fossil fuel energy sources is critical, as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pave the way for carbon neutrality. This study examines the impact of the energy cleanability gap on four different climate vulnerabilities, such as ecosystem, food, health, and housing vulnerabilities, considering 47 European and non-European high-income countries. The study considers samples from 2002 to 2019. This study precedes the empirical analysis in the context of a quadratic relationship between the energy cleanability gap and climate vulnerability. The study uses system-generalized methods of the moment as the main technique, while panel quantile regression is a robustness analysis. Fixed effect and random effect models have also been incorporated. The study finds that the energy cleanability gap and all four climate vulnerabilities demonstrate a U-shaped relationship in both European and non-European countries, implying that when the energy cleanability gap increases, climate vulnerability decreases, but after reaching a certain threshold, it starts to increase. Development expenditure is found to be negatively affecting food and health vulnerabilities in European nations, while it increases food vulnerability and decreases health vulnerability in non-European nations. Regarding industrialization’s impact on climate vulnerabilities, the study finds opposite effects for the European and non-European economies. On the other hand, for both groups, trade openness decreases climate vulnerabilities. Based on these results, the study recommends speeding up the energy transition process from fossil fuel energy resources towards clean energy resources to obtain carbon neutrality in both European and non-European groups.

当前，全球正面临气候变化带来的生存性威胁，世界各国政府均致力于通过一切可行手段应对气候变化的严峻形势。为此，相较于化石能源，使用清洁能源至关重要——其可减少温室气体排放，为实现碳中和铺平道路。本研究以47个欧洲及非欧洲高收入国家为研究对象，探讨能源清洁度缺口（energy cleanability gap）对四类典型气候脆弱性的影响，包括生态系统脆弱性、粮食脆弱性、健康脆弱性与住房脆弱性，研究样本的时间跨度为2002年至2019年。本研究以能源清洁度缺口与气候脆弱性间的二次关系为分析框架开展实证研究，以系统广义矩估计法（system-generalized methods of moment）作为核心实证方法，同时采用面板分位数回归开展稳健性检验，并纳入固定效应与随机效应模型进行辅助分析。研究结果显示，无论欧洲还是非欧洲国家，能源清洁度缺口与四类气候脆弱性均呈现U型关系：即随着能源清洁度缺口扩大，气候脆弱性会先下降，但当缺口突破某一临界值后，气候脆弱性反而会逐步上升。研究发现，发展支出对欧洲国家的粮食脆弱性与健康脆弱性均存在负向影响；而在非欧洲国家中，发展支出会提升粮食脆弱性，却降低健康脆弱性。关于工业化对气候脆弱性的影响，研究发现欧洲与非欧洲经济体呈现出截然相反的作用效果。另一方面，两类经济体的贸易开放度均能降低气候脆弱性。基于上述研究结果，本研究建议加快推进从化石能源向清洁能源的能源转型进程，以助力欧洲与非欧洲两类经济体实现碳中和目标。