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This paper examines the further question of whether water-related environmental innovations affect water stress in three main sectors such as agriculture, industry and services. The sample consists of 30 OECD countries for the period 2000–2019. This paper employs the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) with fixed effects to analyze the effects of water-related innovative activities across different quantiles of water stress for all three sectors separately. The empirical results indicate that water-related innovations positively affect water stress in the agricultural sector in the lower and middle quantiles, while it has a negative effect in the middle and higher quantiles for the services sector and the higher quantiles for the industrial sector. These findings reveal nuanced effects of water-related innovations on water stress across sectors. Furthermore, the study suggests that while innovations in the industrial and services sectors can mitigate water stress beyond a certain threshold level, the agricultural sector appears to benefit comparatively less from such innovations. These findings underscore the importance of complementing water-related innovations with appropriate regulatory measures, to address informal practices such as losses and leakages in agricultural irrigation. Ultimately, this study provides valuable insights for policy makers to formulate targeted environmental policies and strategies, especially in the context of climate change adaptation, thereby enabling a more effective allocation of resources to mitigate water stress within each sector. • The relationship water-related environmental innovations affect water stress in three main sectors. • Water-related environmental innovations are closely related to water stress. • Environmental innovations has an important nonlinear role for water stress. • Environmental innovation has different impacts depending the level of water stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the impact of environmental innovation on energy sector-based CO 2 emissions using a large dataset for 32 OECD countries covering the period 1997–2018. To detect the nonlinear relationship between variables, this paper adopts a panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model, which can estimate both the threshold level endogenously and the smoothness of the transition from one regime to another. The findings indicate that environmental innovation has a reducing effect on CO 2 emissions from the energy sector up to a certain level of innovation is insignificant (1st regime), then it has a reducing effect (2nd regime), and above this level environmental innovation has an increasing effect on carbon emissions (3rd regime), suggesting the existence of a rebound effect. These findings point out that environmental innovations alone are not a solution to struggle environmental problems and should be supported by environmental policies to reveal their environmental reflections. This paper not only makes an important contribution to the empirical literature, but also reveals important policy implications, particularly to achieve climate change targets. • Environmental innovation – energy sector based CO 2 emissions nexus is investigated in 32 OECD countries. • The panel smooth transition regression model is adopted. • The threshold effects of environmental innovation on energy sector-based CO 2 emissions are found. • The results point out that the rebound effects of environmental innovation should be considered in the policy making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades have shown that human activities damaged environmental quality and biodiversity. As accepted the need of sustainable development, there should be balance between economic, social and environmental issues in the long term. Ecological footprint is an important indicator that shows how human activities reduce environmental quality among a specific region or country. In addition, human capital is mostly used indicator to estimate economic and environmental development level. In this study, it is aimed to explore the effect of human capital on fishing footprint for 10 Mediterranean Countries during the period 1995–2018. According to empirical evidences, it is concluded that for relatively low human capital level, human capital has negative effect on sustainability and in the relatively high level, it has positive effect on sustainability. • The significant link between human development and fishing footprint is explored. • Up-to-date panel cointegration method, CCE (the Common Correlated Effects) and PMG (Pooled Mean Group) are used. • The human capital reduces fishing footprint • It is proven that human capital is an important tool to reduce environmental pollution [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of environmentally related taxes on environmental performance in the EU-15 countries during the period of 1995–2016 by utilizing an innovative non-linear model, which is the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model. Although the effectiveness of environmental taxes has been discussed before, the potential effects of these taxes on ecological balance sheets as a measure to reflect human pressures on the environment/ecosystem have not been fully investigated. This paper, therefore, deals with total ecological balance and its main components, which are based on the major types of ecologically productive areas such as cropland, grazing land, forest area, and fishing grounds. The results indicate that revenues from environmentally-related taxes as a share of GDP significantly lower the ecological deficits after exceeding a certain threshold level, but not cropland balance accounts. Thus, well-designed environmental taxes on the optimal level have the potential to reduce environmental problems/ ecological imbalance, if not implemented in conjunction with policies such as tax exemptions, refunds or tax allowances that limit their impact. • Environmental taxes – ecological balance nexus is investigated in the EU-15 countries. • The panel smooth transition regression model is adopted. • The non-linear threshold effect of environmentally related taxes on ecological balance indicators is found. • Environmental pressure tends to decrease with environmental taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is a man-made fluorosurfactant and global pollutant. PFOS a persistent and bioaccumulative compound, is widely distributed in humans and wildlife. Therefore, it was added to Annex B of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in May 2009. Curcumin is a natural polyphenolic compound abundant in the rhizome of the perennial herb turmeric. It is commonly used as a dietary spice and coloring agent in cooking and anecdotally as an herb in traditional Asian medicine. In this study, male rats were treated with three different PFOS doses (0.6, 1.25 and 2.5mg/kg) and one dose of curcumin, from Curcuma longa (80mg/kg) and combined three doses of PFOS with 80mg/kg dose of curcumin by gavage for 30days at 48h intervals. Here, we evaluated the DNA damage via single cell gel electrophoresis or comet assay and micronucleus test in bone marrow in vivo. PFOS induced micronucleus frequency and decreased the ratio of polychromatic erythrocyte to normochromatic erythrocyte in bone marrow. Using the alkaline comet assay, we showed that all doses of the PFOS strongly induced DNA damage in rat bone marrow and curcumin prevented the formation of DNA damage induced by PFOS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]