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Contribution of hydro energy production, economic complexity and technological innovation in achieving an environmentally sustainable Asia
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Human activities threaten the future of the ecosystem by emitting pollution to the air, water, and soil. Considering the increasing ecological footprint (EF), the study focuses on investigating the role of life expectancy and hydropower consumption by controlling also income, trade openness, and globalization on the environment under the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Turkey during 1971–2018. In this context, the study performs recently developed augmented autoregressive distributed lag (AARDL) and dynamic ARDL (DARDL) methods. The results show that (i) life expectancy increases the environmental pressure; (ii) hydropower consumption has no effect on the EF; (iii) globalization and trade openness reduce the EF; (iv) the EKC hypothesis is valid, but the estimated turning point lies between USD 19,914 and USD 20,571, which is far from the sample period in Turkey. From the overall results, it can be concluded that Turkey cannot solve environmental problems with insufficient income levels, an increasing elderly population, and ineffective use of hydropower. Hence, Turkey should rely on income much more, use hydropower much more efficiently, and benefit from the spillover effect of technological innovations related to globalization and foreign trade to significantly reduce the EF.
The environment has become a growing concern for many countries, as pollution and other environmental degradation can harm human health, economic growth, and overall well-being. This paper probes into the asymmetrical implications of economic complexity and freedom on ecological quality in four South Asian countries from 1995 to 2019. Using Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag methodology approach, our findings indicate that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are intensified by economic freedom both in the long and short term, while negative and positive shocks to economic complexity increase CO2 emissions in the long term. However, a negative economic complexity shock increases CO2 emissions, whereas a positive shock has the opposite effect in the short run. Moreover, our results confirm the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the long run. Furthermore, we find that renewable energy usage and the interaction of FDI and renewable energy usage can help reduce environmental damage in both the short and long run. The findings suggest that countries should focus on attracting foreign direct investment that promotes the use of renewable energy. Additionally, policies aimed at encouraging renewable energy use should be implemented. It is important to note that as economic freedom and complexity increase, there is a corresponding increase in CO2 emissions. Therefore, South Asian policy makers are advised to prioritize the reduction in fossil fuels, the promotion of energy-saving technologies and efficient production, and trade that encourages the transition of renewable energy sources to reduce CO2 emissions.
In today’s world, where urbanization is at its pinnacle, has created a significant economic gap between rural and urban populations in developing economies and substantially influenced environmental degradation. This study investigates the relationship between urbanization and environmental degradation via carbon emissions among developing countries along the Belt and Road route from 1990 to 2019 while using economic production, energy consumption, and trade openness as control variables. The study engages current econometric methodologies to uncover accurate and reliable findings, and the outcomes reveal that the panel under investigation is cross-sectionally dependent and heterogeneous. Therefore, the AMG, CCEMG, and DCCEMG estimators are employed to examine the effect connection between the variables. The outcomes unveil that urbanization, economic production, and energy consumption escalate environmental degradation, but trade openness is confirmed as a trivial determinant of environmental degradation. Furthermore, the causal connections between the variables disclose bi-directional causalities between urbanization and environmental degradation and between energy consumption and environmental degradation. Nevertheless, uni-directional causalities are affirmed, spanning from economic production to environmental degradation and from trade openness to environmental degradation. Finally, policy implications are discussed.
Renewable energy system development and improved operation can mitigate climate change. In many regions, hydropower is called to counterbalance the temporal variability of intermittent renewables like solar and wind. However, using hydropower to integrate these renewables can affect aquatic ecosystems and increase cross-sectoral water conflicts. We develop and apply an artificial intelligence-assisted multisector design framework in Ghana, which shows how hydropower’s flexibility alone could enable expanding intermittent renewables by 38% but would increase sub-daily Volta River flow variability by up to 22 times compared to historical baseload hydropower operations. This would damage river ecosystems and reduce agricultural sector revenues by US$169 million per year. A diversified investment strategy identified using the proposed framework, including intermittent renewables, bioenergy, transmission lines and strategic hydropower re-operation could reduce sub-daily flow variability and enhance agricultural performance while meeting future national energy service goals and reducing CO 2 emissions. The tool supports national climate planning instruments such as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by steering towards diversified and efficient power systems and highlighting their sectoral and emission trade-offs and synergies.
Hydrogen applications range from an energy carrier to a feedstock producing bulk and other chemicals and as an essential reactant in various industrial applications. However, the sustainability of hydrogen production, storage and transport are neither unquestionable nor equal. Hydrogen is produced from natural gas, biogas, aluminium, acid gas, biomass, electrolytic water splitting and others; a total of eleven sources were investigated in this work. The environmental impact of hydrogen production, storage and transport is evaluated in terms of greenhouse gas and energy footprints, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity potential, and eco-cost. Different electricity mixes and energy footprint accounting approaches, supported by sensitivity analysis, are conducted for a comprehensive overview. H2 produced from acid gas is identified as the production route with the highest eco-benefit (−41,188 €/t H2), while the biomass gasification method incurred the highest eco-cost (11,259 €/t H2). The water electrolysis method shows a net positive energy footprint (60.32 GJ/t H2), suggesting that more energy is used than produced. Considering the operating footprint of storage, and transportation, gaseous hydrogen transported via a pipeline is a better alternative from an environmental point of view, and with a lower energy footprint (38 %–85%) than the other options. Storage and transport (without construction) could have accounted for around 35.5% of the total GHG footprint of a hydrogen value chain (production, storage, transportation and losses) if liquefied and transported via road transport instead of a pipeline. The identified results propose which technologies are less burdensome to the environment.
We augment the existing knowledge on the role of economic complexity in the environment and sustainable development debate by examining the effect of economic complexity on environmental degradation (measured by ecological footprint, CO2 emissions, N2O emissions and greenhouse gas emissions) contingent on income, using data from 35 OECD countries between 1998 and 2017. With the fixed effects model estimator, we find that income facilitates economic complexity to mitigate ecological footprint, CO2 emissions, N2O emissions and greenhouse gas emissions. Also, we fit a partial linear functional-coefficient model to find that income influences economic complexity to exert a nonlinear effect on ecological footprint, CO2 emissions, N2O emissions and greenhouse gas emissions. We find that economic complexity leads to an increase in ecological footprint, CO2 emissions, N2O emissions and greenhouse gas emissions at lower income levels but gradually dampens them as income rises. Finally, by applying the Method of Moments Quantile regression to control for distributional heterogeneity, we also find that the mitigating-effect of economic complexity on ecological footprint, CO2 emissions, N2O emissions and greenhouse gas emissions is transmitted through income across quantiles. The policy implications are discussed.
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.
The discussion concerning whether and how economic complexity (ECI) affects ecological footprint (EFP) has gained researchers’ consideration, while there are slight empirical evidence to support the subject matter. In the support of theoretical argument, this study provides empirical evidence by investigating the impact of ECI on EFP along with the role of disaggregated energy consumptions by using a panel dataset of G-7 economies between 1996 and 2019. To this end, we applied panel techniques of Fully-Modify OLS and Dynamic-OLS models for cointegration analysis. The results obtained from Fully-Modify OLS and Dynamic-OLS models reveal that ECI deteriorates environmental quality by increasing EFP, while renewable energy reduces ecological pollution by decreasing EFP. In addition, the increasing demand for non-renewable energy and economic growth both degrades environmental quality in G-7 countries. More interestingly, the non-linear (ECI²) relationship between ECI and EFP confirms a U-shaped association (EKC hypothesis), which suggests that after achieving a certain threshold level, economic complexity mitigates environmental degradation in G-7 economies. The empirical results also suggest that other control variables such as population growth, inflation rate, foreign direct investment, and total trade intensity lead to environmental degradation by increasing ecological footprint. Based on empirical results, the following important policy implications are drawn; first, G-7 economies should speed up the level of economic complexity along with renewable energy consumption to protect environmental quality and maintain sustainable growth and development. Secondly, the governments of G-7 countries should introduce greener technologies and promote production that are environmental friendly for drastic reduction in environmental unsustainability.
This paper assesses the nexus between natural resource rent, hydropower energy consumption and ecological footprint for environmental sustainability incorporating with economic performance by using yearly data from 1970 to 2017. To this end, the long run steady-state relationship among investigated variables has been analyzed by using newly established Residual Least Squares (RALS) method and confirmed for Turkish economy. The directions and magnitudes of the effects of these variables on ecological footprint were tested by using Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) technique. The findings, except hydropower energy consumption, reveal statistically significant and positive effects of investigated variables on ecological footprint. Moreover, the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis was also affirmed between economic performance and ecological footprint. The causal relationship among these variables were also tested by using VECM Granger causality test The unidirectional Granger causality relationships were found that they are running from ecological footprint, and natural resource rent to economic performance, from natural resources to ecological footprint and from natural resource rent to economic performance in Turkish economy. Additionally, the bidirectional causal relationship has been detected among economic performance and ecological footprint in Turkey. The findings highlight the importance of investigated variables on ecological footprint in Turkey.
The economic structure of countries can influence economic growth, energy demand, and environmental footprints. However, the literature on economic complexity and ecological footprint (EFP) nexus is scarce. Besides, democracy is an important factor that may affect environmental policies and environmental sustainability. Hence, this paper investigates the effect of democracy, economic complexity, and renewable energy technology budgets on the EFP in G7 countries controlling income and financial development from 1985 to 2017. The findings from Westerlund (2008) and other cointegration methods depict cointegration among variables. The long-run estimates from the CUP-FM method unfold that economic complexity contributes to reducing the EFP. However, greater democratic accountability boosts the EFP figures rather than reducing them. On the flipside, renewable energy technology budgets and financial development are evidenced to mitigate EFP. Moreover, the study unveils a U-shaped linkage between economic growth and EFP, which indicates that an increase in income level will boost EFP. Further, the study found causality from economic complexity, democracy, and renewable energy budgets to EFP. Based on these findings, it is pertinent for the G7 countries to increase the manufacturing of sophisticated and complex products. In addition, enhancing renewable energy technology budgets is essential to ensure environmental well-being.
In the last 3 decades, developing economies continuously have increased their manufacturing industries with an impressive
growth rate. Rising the trend of globalization, these underdeveloped economies are receiving economic growth at the cost of
environmental degradation. In this context, this study investigates the impact of globalization and human capital on carbon emissions (CO2) in the 78 developing economies from 1990 to 2016. Our findings based on robust system generalized method of moments (GMM) indicate that human capital and political globalization significantly reduce environmental degradation while economic, social, and overall globalization decrease the environmental quality. Furthermore, our empirical results support the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. However, globalization (without interactive term with human capital) appears to have no significant association with CO2emissions, while (with an interactive term) it
appears to have a significant negative influence on environmental quality. Moreover, our results are robust to various robustness
checks; I have performed for scrutiny the consistency of our findings. This study also offers useful policy implications for stakeholders, policymakers, and governments for promoting environmental sustainability.
An increase in energy consumption indicates increased economic activity; whether it leads to prosperity depends on the sustainability and stability of the energy source. This study has selected the top ten highly carbon emitting countries to assess renewable energy consumption dynamics for 1991 to 2018. The development of renewable energy ventures is not an overnight transformation. Further, it also entails an infrastructure development gestation which may increase CO2 emissions for the short term. To assess this non-linear pattern with CO2 and its heterogeneities, renewable energy consumption and its three types (Wind, Solar and Hydropower) are used. The empirical results estimated with a pooled mean group (PMG) method indicate that renewable energy consumption and hydropower follows inverted U-shaped behavior, with wind and solar energy consumption behavior also U-shaped. Forest area and patents are responsible for carbon remissions, while economic growth is responsible for increasing carbon emissions in sampled countries.
Achieving environmental sustainability has become a global initiative whilst addressing climate change and its effects. Thus, this research re-assessed the EKC hypothesis in China and con-sidered the effect of hydroelectricity use and urbanization, utilizing data from 1985 to 2019. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing method was utilized to assess long-run cointegration, which is reinforced by a structural break. The outcome of the ARDL bounds test confirmed cointegration among the series. Furthermore, the ARDL revealed that both economic growth and urbanization trigger environmental degradation while hydroelectricity improves the quality of the environment. The outcome of the ARDL also validated the EKC hypothesis for China. In addition, the study employed the novel gradual shift causality test to capture causal linkage among the series. The advantage of the gradual shift causality test is that it can capture gradual or smooth shifts and does not necessitate previous information of the number, form of structural break(s), or dates. The outcomes of the causality test revealed causal connections among the series of interest.
The literature analyzing the ecological impacts of financial development (FD) documents mixed results. In addition, very limited researches consider the role of technological innovation in ecological sustainability even though technological innovation is indispensable to achieve technological advancement, which may help in sustainable development and ecological sustainability. Therefore, this work probes the effects of technological innovation, financial development, and economic growth (GDP) on the ecological footprint (EF) controlling urbanization and employing a STIRPAT framework. The analysis of data from West Asia and Middle East nations from 1990 to 2017 revealed cointegration in the model. The long-run coefficients produced by the continuously updated fully modified technique revealed that a 1% upsurge in technological innovation decreases EF by 0.010%. Interestingly, technological innovation is helpful to decrease EF and enhance economic growth in the West Asia and Middle East (WAME) countries. However, a 1% rise in FD boosts the level of EF by 0.0016% inferring that FD stimulates ecological degradation. Likewise, urbanization in the WAME countries raises EF levels and contributes adversely to ecological quality. In addition to this, the study revealed the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the selected countries accounting for technological innovation, FD, and urbanization in the model. The causal analysis provided evidence of unidirectional causality from FD to EF and bidirectional causality between technological innovation and EF. The study recommends more investment in research and development and strong collaboration between the universities and industries to promote the level of technological innovation for both sustainable development and ecological sustainability. In addition, urban sustainability policies are necessary without decreasing the urbanization level.
This paper examines the relationship between renewable, non-renewable energy, natural resources, human capital, and globalization on ecological footprint from 1990 to 2016 for developing countries. We apply Westerlund co-integration technique to check the long-run relationship among the variables. The long-run elasticity of the model is analyzed through MG, AMG, and DCCE. For the robustness check of the long-run relationship among the variables, we use FMOLS and DOLS approach. The direction of causal relationship is determined through Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test. Our findings revealed that economic growth, non-renewable energy, natural resource, and urbanization are inducing the ecological footprint of developing countries and reducing the environment's quality. To cope up with this situation, developing countries are bound to use more fossil fuel energy. The use of non-renewable energy consumption leads to increase the extraction of natural resources like coal and oil. However, renewable energy reduces the ecological footprint or improves environmental quality. Similarly, human capital and globalization have negative effects on ecological footprint. The results of causality test reveal that there are feedback effects between ecological footprint with economic growth, globalization, and natural resources. This study suggests that these developing countries should focus more on the investment in the renewable energy sector, improve quality education, and make stringent environmental policy for protecting the nations from ecological issues.
With regard to environmental degradation in Japan, the world's third-largest economy, limited studies have been performed to illustrate the ecological aspects of the country's core and recent economic policies such as globalization, technological innovation, and renewable energy usage policies. Given this motivation, this research reveals a new perspective on the connection between CO2 emissions and GDP growth, renewable energy, technological innovation and globalization in Japan by employing wavelet statistical tools. The paper employs series of wavelet tools for datasets covering the period from 1990Q1 to 2015Q4. The empirical outcomes demonstrate proof of the interaction between renewable energy use, economic growth, technological innovation, globalization and CO2 emissions in both time and frequency. The empirical results of the wavelet analyses reveal that globalization, GDP growth, and technological innovation increase CO2 emissions in Japan, while renewable energy usage mitigates CO2 in the short and medium terms. The results demonstrate the significance of implementing policies effectively coordinated by the policymakers to curb the significant environmental degradation in Japan. Moreover, Japan should actively support renewable energy development and create a more competitive climate for investment in the renewable energy market.
The wide application of various energy resources in economic development is allegedly responsible for deepening environmental deterioration in terms of increasing pollution emissions and other negative consequences including climate change. This current work investigates the interdependent correlation between energy consumption (both fossil fuel energy consumption and renewable energy consumption) and economic complexity among Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (hereafter LMC) countries, from 1991 to 2017. As for empirical analysis, a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model was employed. Outcomes of this research confirm the existence of a unidirectional relationship between energy consumption and economic complexity index. It is verified that renewable energy usage is a possible alternative to traditional energy and is able to increase economic complexity. This current research proposed to contribute as a pioneering exploration on LMC countries by adding original observations into existing studies. Finally, we will discuss policy implications of this work.
The scholars of environmental economics have attempted the investigation of the impact of foreign direct investment-growth nexus, but they have missed the essential role played by technological innovation and financial development regarding the environmental costs. The notable economic growth and the consequent speedy process of urbanization in BRICS countries have brought about colossal escalation of energy needs leading to environmental degradation. The present study endeavors to explore the effect of foreign direct investment, technological innovation, and financial development on carbon emissions in BRICS member countries, with data from 1990 to 2017. The results verify a strong cross-sectional dependence within the panel countries. The Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator shows that foreign direct investment, technological innovation, and financial development in the BRICS countries possess a negative and statistically significant long-run association with CO2 emissions, while economic growth, trade openness, urbanization, and energy use are found to contribute statistically significant and positive with carbon emissions. The current study chose to employ the Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality test for examining the direction of causality. Findings reveal a bidirectional long-run causality running among financial development, economic growth, trade openness, urbanization, energy use, and CO2 emissions; on the contrary, unidirectional causality is found between foreign direct investment and carbon emissions. Consequently, for the BRICS member countries, the development of industries, financial institutions, and development of technological innovation are required to attract quality foreign direct investment. Moreover, urbanization contributes enormously to environmental degradation and necessitates urgent policy responses in these countries.
The present paper investigates the effects of hydropower energy consumption on economic growth and CO2 emissions in the BRICS countries, spanning the period 1990–2016. To achieve this aim of the study, we employ the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and panel quantile regression (PQR) estimations. The results confirm that hydropower energy consumption has a positive association with economic growth in the long run and short run, and negative association with CO2 emissions in the long run. Further, our panel quantile regression showed that the effects of independent variables on economic growth and CO2 emissions are heterogeneous across the quantiles. Specifically, the effect of hydropower energy use significantly promotes economic growth across all quantiles (expect 10th quantile), while hydropower energy use has a negative and positive impact on CO2 emissions in the lower and higher quantiles, respectively. Given these findings, our study offers substantial value to empirical literature and also provides important policy implications.
This study is among the first attempts to examine the effect of economic complexity as an indicator of sophisticated and knowledge-based production structures on CO 2 emissions for 55 countries over the period of 1971-2014. The countries considered fall into three different income groups, namely high income, higher middle income, and lower middle income. The study employs the panel quantile regression methodology and tests the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by including economic complexity and other control variables such as energy consumption, urbanization, and trade openness in its model. The results show that economic complexity has significant impacts on the environment. Based on the analysis, economic complexity has increased the environmental degradation in lower and higher middle-income countries, and has controlled CO 2 emissions in high-income countries. Since economic complexity plays a significant role in environmental damage, it is crucial for low-and middle-income countries to adjust their current industrial and production policies to promote economic growth and at the same time protect the environment.
This work aims to contribute to the existing literature by investigating at the impact of financial development on ecological footprint. To achieve this goal, we have employed Driscoll-Kraay panel regression model for a panel of 59 Belt and Road countries in the period from 1990 to 2016. The findings suggest that financial development increases ecological footprint. Moreover, economic growth, energy consumption, foreign direct investment (FDI), and urbanization pollute the environment by increasing ecological footprint. In addition, several diagnostic tests have been applied to confirm the reliability and validity of the results. From the outcome of the study, various policy implications have been proposed for Belt and Road countries to minimize the ecological footprint.
The rapid pace of financial and societal progress has generated a multitude of environmental challenges. In light of this perspective, this work endeavours to analyze the effect of income inequality (GINI), natural resources (NAT), human development (HC), and quality of institutions (IQ) on EF in N-11 countries from 1990 to 2018. The cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) method is employed to explore the long-term and short-term relationships, which effectively address panel data problems such as slope homogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The empirical findings indicate that improvements in NAT, HC, URB, and IQ have a positive effect on the environment. Income inequality exacerbates social disparities, thereby exerting a detrimental impact on the ecosystem. Based on these results, the study recommends allocating more financial resources to human development and promoting institutional quality to mitigate the ecological footprint. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of sustainable utilization of natural resources to ensure their long-term availability and minimize ecological impact. Simultaneously, addressing income inequality is crucial in effectively managing environmental challenges and fostering long-term ecological sustainability.
Multiple human activities influence the physical environment, interacting with humans and their surroundings. Our existence depends on various natural resources harvested or extracted from the environment, such as food, materials, and energy. This paper examines the environmental impact modeling and efficient use of nuclear and renewable energy while considering the roles of energy efficiency under the assumptions of EKC and LCC hypotheses in BRICS countries from 1990 to 2018. The long-run estimates are based on LM-Bootstrap Cointegration tests and Drisscoll-Kraay regressions. Financial development has been observed to have a negative relationship with the load capacity factor. However, interestingly, financial development has been found to have a positive relationship with CO2 emissions. Our findings indicate that the load capacity factor negatively correlates with economic growth in the long run—an increase in economic growth results in a reduction in load capacity. The long-term impact of economic expansion is a decline in environmental quality. Moreover, economic growth square is positive in the load capacity factor and negative in the case of CO2 emissions. This situation reflects the EKC and LCC hypothesis in the BRICS countries. When income increases, environmental quality initially decreases, and once a certain level of income is reached, ecological sensitivity and green technologies increase the load capacity factor. The negative coefficient value in the case of economic growth and the positive coefficient value of the square root of economic growth determines the LCC hypothesis, which is U shape relationship. On the other hand, the negative coefficient value of economic growth followed by the positive coefficient value of the square root of economic growth determines the existence of the EKC hypothesis in the BRICS countries, which is an inverse relationship. Research limitations and future directions are discussed.
This study examines the significance of technological industry and forest on environmental footprints. As control variables, we included renewable energy, and urbanization for econometric estimations. Contrary to what has been published in the literature, the forest coefficients are negligible. In contrast, the current study confirms the importance of technology and renewable energy in reducing environmental footprints, indicating that environmental degradation can be reduced by shifting toward technological industry and changing the energy market by increasing the percentage of sustainable energy. In Saudi Arabia, on other hand, urbanization is the source of increased environmental footprints. In short-run estimations, the studied variables are insignificant to have an impact on environmental footprint. According to Vision 2030, the findings are similar to policies, particularly for forestation, need to be adjusted. The role of forest remains insignificant, indicating that forestation must be addressed urgently. The findings are intriguing and have significant policy implications for environmental policymakers.
Over the last few decades, environmental hazards have grown as a result of the increasing ecological pressure exerted by humanity, as calculated by its ecological footprint (EFP). Green technology innovation (GTI), renewable energy consumption (REN) and environmental taxes (ET) now represent the best approaches to attaining sustainable development without harming the environment. In this context, the main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of GTI, ET, REN, TO and GDP on the EFP in Italy during the period 1994–2019. We employ a novel dynamic simulated ARDL (DYARDL) model to evaluate the short and long-run run connections among the above variables. Our study also utilizes the frequency domain causality (FDC) test to analyze the direction of causality. The results of the study clearly indicate the existence of a long-term cointegration among variables. Further, the results demonstrate that GTI, ET, and REN significantly enhance the quality of the environment by lowering the EFP. However, TO and GDP have a positive significant influence on EFP and degrades the environment. Finally, FDC test results also confirmed that GTI, ET, REN, TR, and GDP granger cause EFP. The results obtained suggest that government and policy makers should promote the investment in green innovation and renewable energy sectors to accomplish the ecological sustainability.
Carbon emissions and ecological footprint (EF) have been criticized recently for being used in some empirical studies as a stand-in for assessing pollution. Ecological footprint ignores how nature meets ecological needs or biocapacity and solely represents environmental deterioration brought on by human demand for natural resources. As a result, the current study deviate from prior studies by utilizing load capacity factor (LF), as a gauge of ecological quality. The LF takes into account both the demand and supply sides of nature. Therefore, the current study fills the gap in the literature by utilizing LF, which permits a thorough ecological quality evaluation through the simultaneous analysis of EF and biocapacity. Utilizing the newly created Bootstrap Fourier Granger causality in quantiles (BFGC-Q) test, this paper evaluates the impact of urbanization, renewable energy, natural resources and economic growth on environmental proxies (EF, LF, and CO 2) for China during 1990Q1-2018Q4. The BFGC-Q offers a thorough and flexible approach for evaluating causal linkages, unlike the FTY causality test, which does not reveal information about non-linear causalities and tail-causal interrelationships. Empirical findings show that REC, URB and NR promote ecological quality while GDP decreases ecological quality. Based on the findings, the paper formulates vital policy ramifications for China to accomplish SDGs 7, 8, 11 and 13.
The most important challenge for both developed and developing countries is to ensure sustainability while struggling with environmental degradation. CO2 emissions as a proxy for environmental degradation can be considered an obstacle to sustainability. There exist several significant works in the literature on the effects of solar energy use on environmental degradation/sustainability. In this study, the effects of the use of solar energy within different time and frequency dimensions on CO2 emissions were examined with the methodology of the continuous wavelet transform. The paper investigated the association between solar energy consumption and total energy-related CO2 emissions in the USA through Morlet wavelet analysis, which is one of the most advanced time-frequency analysis methods for the period 1990:1–2022:6. In the wavelet coherency computations, geothermal energy consumption, hydroelectric energy consumption, industrial production, and manufacturing industry production variables were also included as control variables. Empirical findings demonstrate that solar energy consumption can have reducing effects on CO2 emissions at lower frequencies (longer-term cycles) and sub-time periods (2014:1–2022:1) in the USA. The findings can guide the energy and environmental policies of developed and developing countries that aim to struggle with global warming and/or climate change through the increase in solar energy usage.
The present study aims to examine a step toward a sustainable environment in top Asian Countries by incorporating the role of higher education and technology innovation. The sample data were collected from (1995 to 2019). However, the most-suited methodological approach i.e., the CS-ARDL technique is used to assess the long-run and short impact of these variables on each other; in addition, the modern theory of the EKC model is applied in the study to enhance the credibility of the results. As per the short-run estimation, determinants of higher education, GDP², and technology innovation are negatively associated with the environment (CO2 emission). Although the long-run results of CS-ARDL signify that technology innovation (GIN) represents a −0.312∗∗∗ coefficient value which indicates a negative and significant relationship with the environment, whereas, HE & GDP shows a positive association with the environment (CO2 emission) having the coefficient values of 0.249∗∗∗ and 0.437∗∗∗, respectively. While the factor of GDP² is negative in the long-run and positive in the short run, thus the EKC model is supported under this theoretical framework. Based on these explorations, the relevant implications are prescribed by the authors to get a sustainable environment in these top Asian countries.
The present paper explored the effect of renewable energy, financial development, and technological innovation on the ecological footprint in Brazil using a yearly dataset stretching between 1990 and 2018. The research leverage dynamic autoregressive distributed lag, Bayern and Hank cointegration, and frequency domain causality to explore these interrelationships. The ARDL bounds test outcome confirms a long-run connection between ecological footprint and its drivers. Besides, we employed the Bayern and Hank cointegration, and the outcome resonated with the ARDL bounds test result. Moreover, the dynamic ARDL outcomes disclosed that economic progress worsens the ecosystem whilst renewable energy, trade globalization, and technological innovation lessen the ecological footprint. In addition, no significant interrelationship was found between financial development and ecological footprint. Moreover, with the exemption of financial development, all the exogenous variables can forecast the ecological footprint in Brazil. The study proposes that policymakers in Brazil should undertake investments in research and development in order to achieve technological innovation. Furthermore, since technological innovation has been shown to contribute significantly to lowering the ecological footprint, it is possible to assume that enhancing current technology is the ultimate remedy to Brazil's ecological problems.
This paper aims to emphasize economic complexity, tourism, information and communication technology (ICT), renewable energy consumption and foreign direct investment (FDI) as the determinants of carbon emissions.
These economies rely on the tourism sector, and Asian countries rank among the top tourism economies worldwide in terms of tourism receipts. This study uses a series of empirical estimators, i.e. cross-sectional augmented auto-regression distributive lag and panel cointegration, to validate the main hypotheses.
The econometric results confirm an inverted U-shaped association between economic complexity and carbon emissions, validating the economic complexity index induced environment Kuznets curve hypothesis for the selected Asian economies.
Finally, the empirical results admit articulating some imperative policy suggestions to attain a sustainable environment on behalf of outcomes.
Furthermore, ICT and renewable energy consumption are environment-friendly indicators, while FDI and the international tourism industry increase environmental pressure in selected countries. In addition, this study also explores the interaction between renewable energy and ICT with FDI and their effects on carbon emissions. Interestingly, both interaction terms positively respond to the environmental correction process.
Because ICT with FDI may not reduce environmental pollution unless the energy used in FDI projects is greener. Moreover, in Asian economies, industrial and other sectors could increase environmental quality via the role of ICT in FDI.
South Asian economies have experienced considerable growth over the last two decades, which has brought with it a number of problems. Despite the rapid growth, income inequality has increased in South Asia and political instability continues mainly due to territorial disputes between Pakistan and India. In addition to these factors, the increase in population and energy consumption has also contributed to the environmental problems in South Asia. Therefore, there is a need to analyze the role of income inequality and political stability in environmental degradation and thus take measures to prevent irreversible environmental consequences. In this background, this study examines the role of income inequality and political stability on environmental degradation in four South Asian countries (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh). For this purpose, the study employs second-generation panel data approaches on a Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology model (STIRPAT). Based on annual data for the period 2002-2016, the empirical results show that economic growth, income inequality, urbanization, and financial development increase the ecological footprint, while political stability and renewable energy utilization help to reduce environmental degradation. The findings of the panel causality test also suggest unidirectional causality from urbanization, renewable energy, economic growth, and income inequality to ecological footprint. According to these findings, ensuring political stability, reducing income inequality, and promoting renewable energy are essential policy instruments for sustainable and green development in four South Asian countries.
This empirical research scrutinizes the nexus between information and communication technologies (ICT), renewable energy, economic complexity, human capital, financial development, and ecological footprint for E-7 and G-7 countries over the period from 1995 to 2018. We use four variables (Mobile cellular subscription, fixed broadband subscription, fixed telephone subscription, Internet consumers) for the ICT index prepared through principal component analysis. For empirical analysis, after testing the cross-sectional dependency, this study performs the second-generation method. From the E-7 countries' perspective, the empirical results reveal that ICT, economic complexity, and human capital increase the pollution level while renewable energy significantly reduces it. The estimated financial development coefficient is established to be statistically insignificant. In G-7 countries, all potential factors significantly improve the environmental quality except financial development. Moreover, ICT and human capital interaction significantly reduce the ecological footprint level in both panel countries. Therefore, we can observe that there is a wide discrepancy exists between these countries. The only common thing is that in these countries, bidirectional causality is discovered between ICT, human capital, and ecological footprint. Based on these empirical findings, several practice policy implications for ICT, renewable energy, economic complexity, human capital, financial development, and ecological footprint are discussed.
The increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and environmental degradation (ED) is a serious concern for the various economies, and a similar issue is observed in Asia. This paper investigated the role of clean energy from renewable sources, urbanization, and economic growth in determining the level of GHG emissions from 1995 to 2018 for ten Asian States through a cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lagged (CS-ARDL) model. Meanwhile, the current research also examined the cross-sectional dependence, unit root properties, and co-integration between the study variables. The study findings confirmed that clean energy and GDP² played their constructive role in reducing GHG emissions in the natural environment or targeted economies. In contrast, urbanization and economic growth caused more GHG emissions both in the long and short run. Furthermore, the robust check through augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated effect means group (CCEMG) also confirmed that clean energy and GDP² have a good sign for lowering ED compared to GDP and urbanization. The study findings could support policymakers, specifically in the field of energy economics and environmental sustainability. Therefore, it is highly recommended that some strong policy implications are needed to reduce environmental issues through controlling the negative impact of economic growth and urbanization. This study contributes in the literature of GHG emission with respect to economic growth, urbanization and clean energy and guided the regulators while formulating policies related to control the GHG emission.
This research examines the impact of hydropower industry growth on carbon dioxide releases in twenty-eight nations under the European Union (EU 28) dated from 1990 to 2018. Utilizing panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), the outcomes show that carbon dioxide releases decreased and growth in hydropower production and good governance. While fossil-fuel, economic growth, and urbanization discovered carbon dioxide releases were fluctuating. The results show carbon dioxide releases in EU28 nations can be efficiently lessened thru expanding the quantity of hydropower output in resource sustainability and security agenda. In time, it will add to discussing environmental pollution and climate change. The assessed outcomes were regards as strong as they were authenticated by the panel's dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) and pooled ordinary least square (pooled OLS). This report endorses for EU28 nations to escalate the part of hydropower dynamics combination towards carbon dioxide release reduction. Politicians and governors under EU28 nations must increase investment in producing hydropower output to boost renewable energy sources and availability. The EU28 nation's government will be able to stress in usefulness and continuity of hydropower output and good governance to attain power assurance, sustainability, and lessened reliance on conventional oil.
Amid rising socio-economic and environmental concerns across countries, it is imperative to keep on evolving and regularly adapting innovation and latest technologies. In the same pursuits, economic complexity demonstrates the sophistication of technology which is highly associated with environmental quality and renewable energy transition. Therefore, the present study is intended to explore the roles of economic complexity and renewable energy in pollution alleviation and precisely in alleviating carbon emissions in the BRICS countries. In doing so, this study applied novel Method of Moments Quantile regression using annual data from 1995 to 2018. The overall results produce emissions mitigating effects of economic complexity and renewable energy mainly at higher emissions quantiles. The interaction of both variables suggests that economic complexity leads to renewable energy transition, which reduce carbon emissions more pronouncedly. These results suggest that there is a need to strategize the pathway for the potential investments to be made in the sector of renewable energy along with the areas of technology, innovation, human resource development and R&D which eventually improve economic complexity and environmental sustainability.
This study extends the debate on environmental performance in PIIGS countries by examining the dynamic association between economic complexity, foreign direct investment, renewable energy, urbanization, and carbon emissions in 1990–2019. The dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) estimator is applied for empirical analysis. The empirical evidence reveals the association between economic complexity and CO2 emissions is inverted-U and further N-shaped. This confirms the presence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypotheses in the region. The empirical results also authenticate the pollution HAVEN hypothesis since high FDI is the culprit to increase environmental degradation in the PIIGS economies. The participation of renewable energy is found to inhibit CO2 emissions. Urbanization exerts huge pressure on environmental quality. Finally, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test explores a bidirectional causal link between economic complexity and CO2 emissions. These findings advocate policymakers to propose comprehensive energy and economic policies by targeting cleaner production exercises, not only for environmental quality but also to accomplish the objectives of 17 sustainable development goals targets.
JEL classification: P18 Q28 P48 Keywords: Solar energy consumption (SEC) CO 2 emissions Quantile-on-quantile (QQ) estimation a b s t r a c t Renewable energy plays an important role in the modern economic growth paradigm. As a perpetual source, solar-based renewable energy has the ability to reduce CO 2 emissions, which has been neglected in prior empirical studies. We have analyzed the asymmetric association between solar energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in the top ten solar energy-consuming countries (). Using data from 1991 to 2018, a novel methodology , 'Quantile-on-Quantile (QQ)', is applied. The results explore the mode of how quantiles of solar energy consumption asymmetrically affect the quantiles of CO 2 emissions by providing an adequate framework to comprehend the overall dependence structure. The empirical findings demonstrate that solar energy consumption reduces CO 2 emissions at different quantiles for all selected countries except France. The overall relationship is stronger at higher quantiles of CO 2 emissions for various countries. The outcomes suggest that the intensity of asymmetric relationship in solar energy-CO 2 emissions nexus differs with countries that need individual caution and attention for governments in formulating the policies connected to solar energy and the environment. Our empirical evidence also emphasizes that solar energy should be integrated for sustainable growth and environmental quality.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between hydroelectric energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the USA from 1980:1 to 2019:8 by using the wavelet transform model. This research revealed that (a) in the short runs (at higher frequencies), hydro energy uses intensified CO2 emissions for the periods 1990:01-1992:12, 1994:01-1994:12, and 2002:07-2007:11, and (b) during the longer periods (at lower frequencies), however, hydro energy consumption diminished CO2 emissions for the periods 1983:01-2001:12 and 2011:01-2017:03.
The paper explained as well why hydro energy can yield adverse and affirmative contributions to Greenhouse gas emissions by emphasizing the role of energy generation from hydro plants in shorter runs and longer runs in the USA considering all sub-samples of the sample period 1980:1-2019:8. This research eventually suggests some energy policies to enhance the positive environmental influences of hydropower energy production in the USA.
According to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI, 2018), Japan was the number 1 most complex economy in the world. In addition to this complexity, Japan pledges to reduce emissions by boosting cleaner energy sources. This study simulates two policies to highlight a path for Japan in achieving this ambitious energy and environmental target. The novel dynamic autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) model and Kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) are adopted over panel data from 1970 to 2018. Empirical evidence from the ARDL and dynamic ARDL models shows that CO2 emissions have a significant long-term relationship with GDP per capita, renewable energy, and economic complexity index while air transport is significant in the short run. Putting it more elaborately, a unit increase in GDP per capita increases the emission by 0.84% to 0.96% in the long run and 0.46% to 0.48% in the short run. As regards renewable energy, a unit increase in it decreases the carbon emission by 0.07% and 0.04% in the long-run and short-run respectively. Also, an increase in the economic index diminished the emission by 0.81% in the long run. Moreover, economic complexity moderates the role of GDP in environmental degradation as it also has a significant impact on carbon emission. Evidence from the simulation exercise shows that a -26% shock in coal rents may influence emissions in the current year, but this dissipates over a period of 20 years until 2038. A similar result also holds if a policy to invest in renewable energy is implemented. Furthermore, evidence from the Kernel-based regularized least-squares shows that both coal rents and renewable energy may present similar policy outcomes. Policymakers are to maintain the balance between GDP per capita and ECI while trying to eradicate the adverse impact of the environment through the utilization of energy from renewable energy sources. Further policy directions are also highlighted.
Economic growth, accompanied by rising energy demand in ASEAN countries have been unprecedented over these few years. On the other hand, the energy consumed in the ASEAN region is predominantly non-renewable, which could have implications for sustainable development. Previous studies that have investigated the energy-growth-environment nexus for this region are inefficient in terms of the proxies used to measure environmental quality and the estimation techniques adopted. As such this study explores the influence of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and urbanization on a more reliable environmental indicator (ecological footprint) from 1990 to 2016, while controlling for trade. First-and-second-generation unit root and cointegration tests are applied amidst evidence of cross-sectional dependence. Findings reveal that economic growth, trade, and non-renewable energy contribute significantly to environmental degradation in ASEAN countries. This suggests that the region is growing at the expense of its environment, while also indulging in emission-intensive trade. Further findings show a one-way causality from urbanization to non-renewable energy consumption. Policy directions and implications of the findings for sustainability are discussed.
The relationship between natural resources and the ecological footprint has critical environmental implications. However, as critical as it is, this domain is insufficiently examined by researchers, and shows ambiguous results. Moreover, these studies do not address the role of technological innovation in shaping the ecological footprint, in an open and explicit manner. Therefore, realizing the need for a more critical evaluation of the intricacies involved in studying the ecological footprint, this study analyzes the linkages between natural resources, technological innovations, economic growth, and the resulting ecological footprint in emerging economies. Drawing on the data from 1984 to 2016, we employed the second-generation panel cointegration methodologies to study the findings of this research. Results of Pesaran's CD test and P&Y's slope homogeneity test confirm the existence of a slope heterogeneity across countries, and correlation amongst cross-sectional units. Moreover, Cointegration results confirm a stable, long-run relationship between the ecological footprint, natural resources, technological innovations, and economic growth. In the long run, natural resources and economic growth increase and expand the ecological footprint, while technological innovations are helpful in abating environmental degradation that takes place a result of this phenomenon. Furthermore, the quadric term for economic growth showed a negative impact on the ecological footprint, i.e., in the presence of the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Additionally, the results from CS-ARDL were reconfirmed by utilizing the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) method. Also, the result of the Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality test shows that any policy to target natural resources, technological innovations, and economic growth significantly alters the ecological footprint and vice versa. Our key findings lead towards the manifestation and emphasis of the importance of appropriate policies for restoring natural resources and at the same time, upgrading technological innovations in order to attain sustainable development goals.
Environmental degradation is an important threat to sustainable development. Economic growth and fossil fuel-based energy consumption are main factors causing environmental pollution. The use of renewable energy as an alternative for fossil fuels can help to reduce environmental pollution, and thus, sustainable development can be achieved. From this point of view, hydropower is the most widely used renewable energy source in several countries. However, the effects of hydropower energy on the environment are controversial. To add a new dimension to the discussion, this study investigates the relationship between hydropower energy consumption, ecological footprint and economic growth for the top six hydropower-consuming countries within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The study employs newly developed cointegration and causality tests with smooth structural changes over the period 1965-2016. The findings of the Fourier bootstrap ARDL procedure demonstrate that no cointegration exist between the variables. Therefore, the EKC hypothesis is not valid for Brazil, China, Canada, India, Norway and the US. Furthermore, the findings of the Fourier Toda-Yamamoto causality test suggest unidirectional causality running from hydropower energy consumption to economic growth in Brazil, and bidirectional causality between these variables in China. In the case of the top six hydropower-consuming countries, no evidence was found for a causal relationship between hydropower energy and ecological footprint. Overall, these results are important for policy makers. Hydropower energy plays a crucial role in China and Brazil's economic growth policies. On the other hand, hydropower energy consumption and economic growth do not have a role in mitigating the ecological footprint in six countries. For this reason, different types of renewable energy consumption should be taken into consideration by countries for the solution of environmental problems.
Although it is widely accepted that renewable energy consumption is vital for environmental sustainability, the environmental effectiveness of individual renewable energy types is often overlooked. Therefore, this paper examined the multivariate relationship between disaggregated renewable energy (hydroelectricity, wind, solar and biomass) consumption, economic growth and environmental pollution for the period from 1991 to 2014 in G-7 (The Group of Seven) countries. The study used both augmented mean group estimator and panel bootstrap causality method to consider the cross-sectional dependence and country specific heterogeneity across G-7 countries. Empirical findings indicate that increasing biomass energy consumption was efficient to reduce carbon emission in France, Germany, Japan and the United States; increasing hydroelectricity usage was efficient to reduce carbon emission in Italy and the United Kingdom; wind energy consumption reduced emission in Canada and solar energy usage was efficient on reducing emission in France and Italy for observed period. Moreover, in case of panel, it is found that increasing hydroelectricity, biomass and wind energy consumption reduced carbon emissions while the impact of solar energy consumption is statistically insignificant in G-7 countries. In addition, the hydroelectricity consumption was found the most efficient renewable energy source to reduce environmental pollution for the panel of G-7 countries.
Global energy demands and environmental concerns are a driving force for use of alternative, sustainable and clean energy sources. Solar and wind are among the most promising sources and have been developing steadily in recent years. However, these energy developments are not free of adverse environmental consequences, which require appropriate reclamation procedures. The environmental issues caused by solar and wind plants were reviewed in this paper by summarizing existing studies and synthesizing the principles that could underlie development of reclamation practices. The major environmental drawback of solar and wind energy plants are bird mortality, biodiversity, and habitat loss; noise; visual impact; and hazardous chemicals used in solar panels. Available mitigation measures to minimize these adverse environmental impacts, and appropriate reclamation protocol for the disturbed ecosystems, including key research needs are discussed. We include socio-economic perspectives of solar and wind energy, such as policy related to re-powering initiatives, decommissioning, and reclamation liability. The intent of this paper is to provide current perspectives on environmental issues associated with solar and wind energy development, strategies to mitigate environmental impacts, and potential reclamation practices to solar and wind energy planners and developers.
The dilemma of rising environmental pollution in recent decades has raised the demand for clean energy sources. However, some newly developed energy sources, such as biomass energy, may or may not contribute to reducing environmental stress. This study investigates biomass energy consumption and environmental pollution in BRICS countries by applying the generalized system method of moment (GMM) model for empirical estimation from 1992 to 2013. The results show that biomass energy consumption behaves as a clean energy source in reducing environmental pollution. The study also found support for the presence of an N-shaped relationship between income and pollution and found that trade openness is the only factor that contributes to pollution in BRICS countries. These results can assist policymakers in considering biomass energy as a clean source of energy in the effort to achieve both energy security and environmental sustainability.