How to bend down the environmental Kuznets curve: the significance of biomass energy

Sources of renewable energy have received wide attention in the literature because of serious threats to the environment. However, some renewable resources, including biomass energy role is debatable in the energy economics literature. This empirical work focuses to analyze the role of biomass energy in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions using the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Pakistan over the period from 1980 to 2015. The bound testing approach suggests there is cointegration among study variables. The study uses an auto-regressive distributed lag model (ARDL) with a structural break in the series. To summarize the findings of the study, it can be inferred that biomass energy increase CO₂ emissions. In addition, biomass energy helps to form a U-shaped relationship between income and CO₂ emissions that support the EKC hypothesis. Also, the feedback hypothesis is found between biomass energy and CO₂ emissions. The findings would guide policymaker with practical guidelines to formulate policies to utilize a high amount of biomass energy in a sustainable manner.

     

Carbon dioxide emissions,output, and energy consumption categories in Algeria

This study examines the relation between CO₂ emissions, income, non-renewable, and renewable energy consumption in Algeria during the period extending from 1980 to 2011. Our work gives particular attention to the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) with break point method outcome demonstrates the positive effect of non-renewable type of energy on CO₂ emissions consumption. On the contrary, the results reveal an insignificant effect of renewable energy on environment improvement. Moreover, the results accept the existence of EKC hypothesis but the highest gross domestic product value in logarithm scale of our data is inferior to the estimated turning point. Consequently, policy-makers in Algeria should expand the ratio of renewable energy and should decrease the quota of non-renewable energy consumption.     

A global prospective of environmental degradations: economy and finance

Finance plays a crucial role in a fast-growing economy that can lead to environmental degradation. The present study utilizes balanced panel data of 105 countries for the time span 1980–2016 to investigate empirical linkage among environmental degradations: economy and finance. It also unfolds the nonlinear impact of economy and finance on environmental degradation. Existing literature on environmental issues mainly focuses on individual case studies uncovering particular regions, but the comprehensive analysis is not available. To fill this gap, panels were classified into five divisions: global, regional, income-based, OECD-based, and carbon emission. The cross-sectional dependence test is applied to identify the degree of cross-sectional dependence among concerned 16 divisions. The second-generation panel models (CADF and Westerlund cointegration, DOLS, and DH heterogenous causality) are employed on a sample set to compute to unit root, cointegration, and long-run and short-run dynamics among concerned variables, respectively. The findings infer the inverted EKC and U-shaped EKC in 10 and 3 out of 16 divisions with respect to environmental degradation—economy nexus, respectively, while 8 and 2 out of 16 divisions indicate the inverted EKC and U-shaped EKC, respectively, in terms of environmental degradation—finance nexus. In 12 out of 16 divisions, the energy consumption uplifts the CO₂ emissions. The DH causality affirmed a bidirectional causality among economy, finance, and energy consumption, respectively.

     

Economic complexity,ICT, biomass energy consumption,and environmental degradation: evidence from Iran

Economic complexity, biomass energy consumption, and information communication technology (ICT) have diverse impacts on energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Nevertheless, analysis of these variable effects is not addressed in the previous literature; the antiqueness of this article is stuffing this gap. This study assessed the relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, biomass consumption, economic complexity index (ECI), ICT, and CO₂ emissions in Iran in 1994–2018. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and the quantile regression (QR) econometric technique were used to investigate the factors affecting CO₂ emissions in the tails of the conditional distribution. The share of each influential factor was predicted through the variance decomposition analysis (VD) for the next 10 years. The empirical results showed a long-run relationship between the variables. So, the variables of biomass consumption, ECI, and ICT improve the quality of the environment in Iran by reducing CO₂ emissions, and the per capita GDP variable increases CO₂ emissions. Results suggest no evidence indicating the presence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC); however, QR demonstrated the existence of EKCs in the lower quantiles of the conditional distribution. The ECI will have the most share to change the CO₂ emissions in the future. The income threshold should be determined at the turning point of the EKC to increase economic development. Moreover, investing in increasing biomass consumption is vital. Policymakers also need to consider strict added value for the export of products.

     

Testing the relationship between globalization and carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan: does environmental Kuznets curve exist?

Over the last few decades, the atmospheric carbon dioxide emission has been amplified to a great extent in Pakistan. This amplification may cause global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation in Pakistan. Consequently, ecological condition and human life may suffer in the near future from these indicated threats. Therefore, an attempt was made to test the relationship between globalization and carbon dioxide emissions in case of Pakistan. The study covers the time series data over the period of 1975–2014. We employed modern econometric techniques such as Johansen co-integration, ARDL bound testing approach, and variance decomposition analysis. Results of the Johansen co-integration test show that there is a significant long-run relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and globalization. The long-run elasticities of the ARDL model show that a 1% increase in economic globalization, political globalization, and social globalization will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.38, 0.19, and 0.11%, respectively. Further, our findings reveal that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis prevails an inverted U-shaped relationship between carbon dioxide emission and economic growth. Therefore, the EKC hypothesis is valid in the presence of globalization. The diagnostic test results show that the parameters of the ARDL model are credible, stable, and reliable in the current form. Finally, variance decomposition analysis displays that economic, political, and social globalization are contributing significantly to carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan.

     

Does the level of renewable energy matter in the effect of economic growth on environmental pollution? New evidence from PSTR analysis

This study investigates the relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth in the context of renewable energy in OECD countries using the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model for 1995–2018. The study finds the value of the threshold variable, calculated as the share of renewable energy use in total energy consumption, to be 7.825%. In this context, economic growth affects the environment negatively and increases environmental pollution when the share of renewable energy use in energy consumption is below the threshold. When this share is above the threshold, it reduces environmental pollution by affecting the environment positively. In addition, the findings reveal a non-linear inverted U-shaped relationship between the environment and economic growth in the context of renewable energy, and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is valid. Therefore, the widespread use of renewable energy is a solution to reducing environmental pollution. Accordingly, it is very important for policymakers to both highlight and encourage renewable energy use. Furthermore, countries need to both invest in this area and focus on R&D to increase renewable energy production.

     

Re-examining the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for India via the multiple threshold NARDL procedure

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Irrespective of the vast array of empirical evaluations pertaining to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, both for India and other...     

The effects of economic growth and innovation on CO2 emissions in different regions

Economic growth and economic energy consumption have received greater attention due to its contribution to global CO₂ emissions in recent decades. The literature on CO₂ emissions and innovation for regional differences is very scanty as there is not enough study that considered different regions in a single analysis. We adopt a holistic approach by incorporating different regions so as to assess how innovation contributes to emission reduction. The study, therefore, examined the effects of innovation and economic growth on CO₂ emissions for 18 developed and developing countries over the period of 1990 to 2016. The study used panel technique capable of dealing with cross-section dependence effects: panel cross-sectional augmented Dickey-Fuller (CADF) unit root to determine the order of integration, Westerlund cointegration tests confirmed that the variables are co-integrated. We employed panel fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and panel dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) to estimate the long-run relationship. The results show that energy consumption increases CO₂ emissions at all panel levels. However, innovation reduces CO₂ emissions in G6 while it increases emissions in the MENA and the BRICS countries. Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is valid for the BRICS. The pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) and pollution halo effect were confirmed at different panel levels. Based on the findings different policy recommendations are proposed.

     

Roadmap for climate alliance economies to vision 2030: retrospect and lessons

The United Nations Climate Conference 25, held in December 2019, reached a significant agreement against implementing the Paris agreement come 2020. Bound by the contract, 189 countries who are party to the deal agreed to constrain worldwide temperature to ascend to 1.5° Celsius. To this end, the present study attempts to investigate the readiness of selected countries in the European Union to implement the agreement, which will better the quality of the global environment. In line with this, this study appraises the connection between economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, on emissions in 11 countries in the European Union from 1990 to 2016. The study utilises the Pooled Mean Group-Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) model estimator and Dumitrescu and Hurlin Panel Causality analysis to analyse the long-run and short-run impact and direction of causality among these factors, respectively. The long-run study's empirical results show a U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and a negative connection between renewable energy use and emissions in the EU-11 countries. In the short-run, non-renewable energy use worsens CO₂ emissions while renewable energy use leads to a fall in emissions. Similarly, causality tests show a feedback mechanism between emissions and renewable energy use and between non-renewable energy and renewable use. Also, there is unidirectional causality from income to CO₂ emissions, non-renewable energy use to CO₂ emissions. The investigation recommends an expanded proportion of renewable energy sources in the EU countries’ energy mix to cut down on emissions.

     

Retesting the EKC hypothesis through transmission of the ARMEY curve model: an alternative composite model approach with theory and policy implications for NAFTA countries

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - We investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the NAFTA countries. In this investigation, we approach this...     

Conditional effect of governance quality on the finance-environment nexus in a multivariate EKC framework: evidence from the method of moments-quantile regression with fixed-effects models

This paper investigates the mitigating effect of governance quality on the finance-environment nexus in a multivariate EKC framework in 123 selected countries during the 1990–2017 period. We mainly employ the method of moments-quantile regression (MM-QR) with the fixed-effects model, among others. First, the MM-QR estimator reveals that financial development reduces environmental quality more significantly in countries with initially higher levels (the 75^th and 90^th quantiles) of CO₂ emissions than in other countries (the 25^th and 10^th quantiles). Second, the attenuating effect of governance quality on the finance-environment nexus is more remarkable in nations with low initial levels (the 25^th and 10^th quantiles) of CO₂ emissions. Third, we find that the marginal positive effect of financial development on CO₂ emissions is smaller under a good regulatory framework than under corruption control and the rule of law, especially in the top emitters (the 75^th and 90^th quantiles). Fourth, unlike oil, which has a considerable negative impact on the environmental quality of the major emitters, renewable energy usage reduces CO₂ emissions in countries in all quantiles, primarily in the lowest quantiles. Fifth, the findings also show that urbanization dramatically worsens environmental quality in all economies, particularly those in the lowest quantiles. Finally, we confirm that the EKC hypothesis holds in all countries across different quantiles. The study’s final section discusses policy implications for sustainable development in all countries.

     

Policy insight from renewable energy,foreign direct investment (FDI), and urbanization towards climate goal: insight from Indonesia

This study is premised on Indonesia’s climate goal amidst good economic performance. To test the environmental implication of this macroeconomic performance of Indonesia, we adopt Indonesian quarterly data of 1990Q1–2018Q4 for empirical analysis. Relevant instruments in the economic performance of Indonesia such as urbanization, foreign direct investment (FDI), and renewable energy source are all adopted for accurate estimations and analysis of this topic. Different approaches (structural break test, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing and Granger causality) are all adopted in this study. Our analysis and policy recommendations are based on the short-run and long-run ARDL dynamics and Granger causality. Findings from ARDL confirmed negative relationship between carbon emission and renewable energy source, FDI, and urbanization. Also, a U-shape instead of inverted U-shaped EKC is found confirming the impeding implication of Indonesian economic growth to its environmental performance if not checkmate. From Granger causality analysis, all the variables are seen transmitting to urbanization in a one-way causal relationship. Also, FDI and renewable energy prove to be essential determinants of the country’s environment development; hence, FDI is seen transmitting to both energy sources (fossil fuels and renewables) in a one-way causal relationship. Renewable energy is as well seen having two ways causal relationship with both carbon emission and fossil fuels. This result has equally exposed the significant position of the three instruments (urbanization, FDI, and renewable energy source) in Indonesian environment development.

     

Effects of urbanization and nonrenewable energy on carbon emission in Africa

This study investigates the impact of urbanization and nonrenewable energy consumption on carbon emissions. The context of the analysis is 54 African Union countries from 1996 to 2019. For estimation, we use panel quantile regression (PQR) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS). Our regression results demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between urbanization and CO₂ emission. Further, our empirical results confirmed that nonrenewable energy consumption increases environmental pollution in African Union countries. The outcomes demonstrate the EKC hypothesis because at the initial stage of development, when economic growth increases, environmental pollution increases; after a threshold point, environmental pollution decreases as economic growth increases. It can find an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and CO₂ emission. The findings also show that urbanization should be planned; otherwise, it can lead to environmental degradation in the long run. Africa continent takes strict action and builds a blueprint for efficient and effective energy production and consumption. The only solution to achieve green growth in Africa is to shift from fossil fuel energy supply to renewable energy supply.

     

Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve of PM2.5 concentration: evidence from prefecture-level and above cities of China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this paper, the panel data of China’s four municipalities and 223 prefecture-level cities were used to investigate whether the EKC hypothesis...     

Value addition in the services sector and its heterogeneous impacts on CO2 emissions: revisiting the EKC hypothesis for the OPEC using panel spatial estimation techniques

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the context of 12 members of the OPEC by utilizing data on both the aggregate...     

Environmental Kuznets Curve and Trade Openness in Turkey: Bootstrap ARDL Approach with a Structural Break

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is examined with the newly developed bootstrap autoregressive...     

氯代有机溶剂共降解研究进展

本文综述了有机氯溶剂的微生物共降解过程。多种多样的微生物能够通过共代谢途径降解有机氯溶剂。共降解是由微生物细胞内的关键酶进行的。影响共降解的主要因素包括关键酶的诱导 ,毒性抑制和自我恢复以及能量供应等。本文对共降解过程的机理和相关的数学模型进行了综合分析。在此基础上 ,提出了一个能够揭示共降解过程各种因素之间内在逻辑关系的结构模型 ,对于从细胞和酶两个层次上认识共降解过程具有重要的指导意义。     

Influence of tourism,governance, and foreign direct investment on energy consumption and CO2 emissions: a panel analysis of Muslim countries

The empirical linkages from tourism, governance, and FDI have been quantified on CO₂ emission and energy use over 2002–2014 for a panel of 13 Muslim countries. To this end, we have examined the data for cross-sectional dependence (CD) and panel heterogeneity and employed panel algorithms, which account for both CD and panel heterogeneity. The results from Pedroni, Westerlund, and Kao tests supported the existence of a cointegration association between the chosen variables. In the CO₂ model, we observed that tourism positively, and governance negatively, influences the CO₂ emission. However, in the case of the energy model, the results of tourism pose a negative relationship, and governance indicates a positive relationship with energy use. The results supported the pollution haven phenomenon, finance, and energy triggered pollution in the study area. Further, the research supported a two-way causality between tourism and CO₂, where there is a unilateral causality from governance to CO₂. Similarly, a unidirectional causality was obtained from energy towards tourism. Lastly, the key policy recommendations based on the outcomes of the study are encouraging clean energy investment, enhancing good governance, and sustainable tourism development for improving environmental quality.

     

Assessing energy, environmental, and economic tradeoffs in intermodal freight transportation

This paper presents an energy and environmental network analysis model to explore tradeoffs associated with freight transport. The geospatial model uses an intermodal network built by the authors to connect various modes (rail, road, water) via intermodal terminals. Routes along the network are characterized not only by temporal and distance attributes, but also by cost, energy, and emissions attributes (including emissions of carbon dioxide, particulate matter, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen). Decision-makers can use the model to explore tradeoffs among alternative route selection across different modal combinations, and to identify optimal routes for objectives that feature energy and environmental parameters (e.g., minimize carbon dioxide emissions). The model is demonstrated with three case studies of freight transport along the U.S. eastern seaboard.     

Does agriculture-induced environmental Kuznets curve exist in developing countries?

Even though the economic growth and the increased agricultural production bring welfare increment, they could also load significant environmental costs to society. This study aims to investigate the existence of agriculture-induced EKC hypothesis in 47 developing countries during 1976–2017 by using dynamic panel data estimators. According to the long-run findings of the DOLS and the FMOLS estimators, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship that exists between income and the CO₂ emissions, while agricultural production has a negative impact on environmental quality. In addition, the PMG estimator is also employed for robustness check. Likewise the DOLS and the FMOLS findings, the long-run results of the PMG estimator also support the existence of agriculture-induced EKC for developing countries. The empirical findings of this study provide stimulus results of policy makers to re-consider their current production infrastructure of agricultural sector to achieve sustainable development.