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The Middle East and North African (MENA) economies experienced substantial economic fluctuations due to variations in carbon emissions and energy use. For this purpose, the present study examines the factors influencing carbon emissions in MENA economies, particularly economic growth and energy use. To this end, this study disaggregates economic growth into three sectors (agriculture, industry, and services) and energy use into renewable and non-renewable, and examines their environmental impacts by including the roles of urbanization and trade openness in the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. This study uses panel data from 16 MENA countries over the period 1990-2018 to estimate the short-run and long-run coefficients and the Granger causality between the variables. The empirical results using the Mean Augmented Group (AMG) and the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCE-MG) revealed that (i) the signs of GDP per capita and its squared scores validate the EKC hypothesis only at the aggregate level; (ii) the coefficients of sectoral GDP show that the industry and services sectors have the highest contributions to carbon emissions in the MENA region; (iii) non-renewable energy increases emissions, whereas renewable energy lessens them. The outcomes of the Granger causality confirm (i) a bidirectional relationship between emissions and per capita GDP as well as sectoral GDP, between CO 2 emissions and renewable energy, and between per capita GDP and renewable and non-renewable energy however; (ii) a unidirectional causal impact running from non-renewable energy to CO 2 emissions is found in the short term. The study calls for effective policies to focus on curbing emissions in secondary and tertiary economic sectors by growing the part of renewable energy in the total energy mix., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

While global warming and climate change associated with increasing carbon dioxide are widely seen to be one of the most serious worldwide dangers to population health, little is known regarding "how" country alters the linkage between increasing CO2 emissions and population health outcomes. Current literature on the health effects of CO2 emissions recommends various factors that may establish a more robust link, including health expenditure and research and development. Therefore, the purpose of this inquiry is to examine the effectiveness of health expenditure and R&D in improving health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions. Using data for Saudi Arabia over the period 2000-2018, the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) technique shows that (i) health and R&D expenditures decrease infant mortality and increase life expectancy; (ii) health and R&D expenditures reduce CO2 emissions in all the estimated models; (iii) health and R&D expenditures can improve health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions; and (iv) health and R&D expenditures have both direct and indirect effect on health outcomes. Policy implications and limitations are also discussed., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This article seeks to examine the impacts of renewable and non-renewable energy on carbon dioxide emissions for 14 Middle East and North Africa economies using fully modified least-squares and vector error correction model techniques. Different sectoral outputs (agricultural, industry, and services) are considered in the analysis to find the influence of each sector on carbon emissions and to validate the environmental Kuznets curve model at both aggregate and disaggregate levels. The fully modified least-squares estimates show that renewable energy enhances environmental quality, whereas non-renewable energy deteriorates it. We also find that the industry sector has the highest contribution to environmental degradation. The results of the vector error correction model technique show a two-way linkage between CO 2 emissions and renewable energy and between CO 2 emissions and non-renewable energy in both short and long runs. At the sectoral level, we also find a two-way linkage between agricultural value added and CO 2 emissions, a unidirectional relationship running from emissions to industry value added, and a unidirectional linkage running from services value added to CO 2 emissions in both short and long runs. Therefore, governments must focus their actions on environmental policies of a green and inclusive economy that combine tools of environmental economics with those of the ecological economy. This can be considered a call for policymakers to take relevant and quick policies and actions towards low-carbon energy to reach these dual objectives., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This inquiry contributes to the previous literature by analyzing the empirical linkage between the development of the financial sector and carbon emissions in the presence of good governance. Specifically, we examine the ability of good governance in moderating the negative effect of financial development on environmental quality in Saudi Arabia over the period 1996-2016. Different indicators of financial development and governance quality are included in the analysis. Using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimator, we find (i) the exostence of unconditional effects of the three indicators of financial sector development on increasing carbon emissions in most models; (ii) the indicators of governance quality increase carbon emissions in most models; (iii) the net effects on CO 2 emissions are negative from the complementarity between the indicators of financial sector development and political and institutional governance, meaning that the development of financial sector reduces carbon emissions if it is accompanied by good institutional and political governance., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The new sustainable development goals (SDGs) call for actions to close the gap between the protection of the environment and the socio-economic development. To shed light on the link among economy, society, and ecology, this study assesses the ability of renewable energy to moderate the effects of CO 2 emissions on human development and economic growth for 31 transitional economies. Our findings substantiate that: (i) CO 2 emissions have unconditional negative effects on human development and economic growth; (ii) the net impacts on human development and economic growth are positive from the interplay between renewable energy and CO 2 emissions, i.e. renewable energy reduces the influences of per capita CO 2 emissions on human development and economic growth; (iii) renewable energy interacts with CO 2 intensity and CO 2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption to negatively influence economic growth and human development. To dampen these net negative effects, corresponding renewable energy thresholds were computed and discussed. Theoretical and empirical contributions, implications to policymakers, and practitioners are also discussed., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)