The determinants of CO2 emissions in MENA countries: a responsiveness scores approach

This paper examines the relationship among carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, GDP, and energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries by using a Responsiveness Scores (RS) approach. Empirical results over the period 1971–2013 suggest that GDP per capita and energy consumption show positive RSs, while trade and urban population negative ones. Moreover, energy consumption and urban population reveal moderate increasing returns to scale, while GDP per capita exhibits decreasing positive returns. Furthermore, three-way factors analysis sets out that most of the countries lays on regions with moderate negative Total Responsiveness Scores (TRS). This means that when all factors are jointly increased, CO₂ emissions have a moderate decrease. In addition, some GCC countries present a different pattern compared to the average pattern of MENA countries. Finally, radar plots indicate that, overall, RS pattern over factors is moderately heterogeneous within GCC countries, with larger variability appearing in the response to urban population and GDP.     

经济增长与农业碳排放关系的实证研究

研究首先基于农业投入与生产视角的6个主要方面碳源,测算了1993-2008年我国农业生产活动所导致的碳排放量,分析发现我国农业碳排放总量和强度分别年均增长率为4.08%、2.38%,但环比增速总体上处于阶段性下降态势。化肥、农药、农膜、农用柴油、灌溉、翻耕等导致碳排放年均递增率分别为3.45%、4.65%、7.20%、4.77%、1.22%、0.38%。进一步综合运用协整理论及误差修正模型,实证我国经济增长与农业碳排放之间的关系。结果表明：我国经济增长与农业碳排放总强度,以及经济增长与化肥、农药、农膜、农用柴油、翻耕等5类碳源导致的碳排放强度之间存在协整关系,且人均GDP每增加1%,农业碳排放总强度与化肥、农药、农膜、农用柴油、翻耕等碳源的碳排放强度分别增加1.72%、1.61%、1.18%、0.40%、2.48%和1.31%。最后,据此提出相关政策建议。     

Analysis of household energy consumption and related CO2 emissions in the disregarded villages of Lijiang City,China

Energy is one of the most important elements required for poverty alleviation and socioeconomic development, and it has a particularly strong impact on households in rural areas. An extensive survey on household energy consumption patterns that interrelates socioeconomic and demographic factors was conducted in the disregarded villages of Lijiang City by using the stratified random sampling technique for 120 households. This study focuses on household energy consumption and the related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the study area. Firewood, biogas, and electricity were identified as the main energy sources of the rural households. This study demonstrates that 100% of the households use firewood, 52% use biogas, and 95% use electricity as fuel types. On average, each household consumed 1752 kg of firewood, 280 m³ of biogas, and 392 kWh of electricity annually. All households generated an annual average amount of CO₂ emissions of 3851 kg, of which 85.08% come from firewood, 7.66% from biogas, and 7.26% from electricity. Family size, income, and educational level were found to be the major factors that influence CO₂ emissions. The results of this study may be useful in explaining the energy consumption characteristics in the rural areas of Lijiang City and are expected to be useful in policy formulation for energy consumption and environmental protection.     

Tourism effects on the environment and economic sustainability of sub-Saharan Africa

This paper integrates tourism, economic growth, and environmental issues in a multivariate format. Unlike recent research on this topic, a panel data of selected sample nations of sub-Saharan Africa is adopted by using cointegration and panel regression models. The current research discovers both long-run equilibrium and short-run dynamics between economic growth, tourism, energy use, and carbon emissions in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, tourism and energy use show a highly significant direct impact on economic growth. In addition, tourism, energy use, and economic growth yield a highly significant positive effect on carbon emissions. Dissecting the region into oil producers and non-oil producers further suggests that the economic growth of sub-Saharan Africa has been accomplished by strong growth in tourism and energy use. However, there is highly significant evidence that in oil producing countries, CO₂ emissions are directly affected by energy use and economic growth and not by tourism. For non-oil producing countries, tourism and energy use but not economic growth incur a highly significant positive impact on carbon emissions.     

A decomposition analysis of CO2 emissions: evidence from Malaysia’s tourism industry

The most important question raised from issues of environmental degradation is how economic activities bring about changes that will result in pollution. In the pursuit of tourism economy, contrary to popular interest, the travel and tourism (T&T) industry may cause environmental damages through the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from energy consumption in areas such as transportation and delivery of amenities. Given this major concern, this paper attempts to investigate the linkage between tourism and CO₂ emissions in Malaysia between 1981 and 2011. In particular, this study fills the knowledge gap by taking a closer look at the impact of international tourist arrivals on CO₂ emissions by sector – electricity and heat generation and transport. Results from the bound test method suggest that there exists a long-run relationship among the variables under consideration when CO₂ emissions become the dependent variable. The original result is similarly robust to alternatives, which are CO₂ emissions from sectors of electricity and heat generation and transport. Furthermore, the vector error correction model causality analysis indicates a causal relationship between tourism and CO₂ emissions by transport and electricity and heat generation. Subsequently, several tourism-related policies are drawn from these findings.