Impact of Positive and Negative Fluctuations in Environmental Policy Stringency on Energy Security.

Energy security risk has been rising worldwide, which calls for profound policy efforts. Considering this, we intend to investigate the impact of environmental policy stringency on energy security risk in the top five energy-consuming countries. Hence, the study directly addresses multiple sustainable development goals. It addresses energy security issues from a unique lens and describes a course of action regarding energy resource conservation. The long-run results from the panel nonlinear ARDL method show that positive fluctuations in environmental policy stringency are responsible for low energy security risk. A 1% increase in the positive fluctuation of environmental policy stringency decreases energy security risk by 0.84% to 1.09%, respectively. Next, a negative fluctuation in environmental policy stringency does not affect energy security risk. The short-run results conclude that neither positive nor negative shocks in environmental policy stringency impact energy security risk. The results are consistent across certain robustness checks. We propose to impose strict environmental regulations to plummet energy security risk in the selected countries. Long-term policy stringencies need to be revisited and strengthened for a secure future for global energy resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]