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Climate change affects the world economy, environment, and human well-being, jeopardizing overall sustainability. The escalating impacts of climate change emphasize the necessity to assess the moderating influence of environmental policy stringency (EPS) on the association of energy transition (ET) and GHG emissions from 1990 to 2020 across 36 OECD countries. Further, this study incorporates the direct impact of energy transition (ET), environmental-related technology (ERTs), green innovation (INV), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on GHG emission. For this purpose, study employs an extensive range of econometric techniques, including DOLS, FMOLS, CCR, and MMQR approaches to evaluate data attributes. The findings of MMQR demonstrate that interaction of ET*EPS contributes to lower GHG emissions from −0.271% to −0.300% across all quantiles (20th to 80th). This indicates that the implementation of environmental policies fosters adoption of energy transitions to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, particularly to reduce GHG emissions. Further, environmental-related technologies (ERTs) and green innovation (INV) decrease GHG emissions by 0.15%–0.13% and 0.967%–2.049%, respectively, across all quantiles, thus encouraging environmental sustainability. The heterogeneous effect of ERTs is due to varying levels of adoption of environmental technologies in sample countries. The findings highlight the crucial need for integrating environmental policy strictness and energy transition measures to effectively mitigate GHG emissions. It highlights the significance of adaptive, responsive policies that are in line with SDGs 7 & 13, which concentrate on sustainable energy practices and integrated climate action in OECD economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the dismal performance of BRICS nations in terms of governance, this study examines the relationship between governance indicators and carbon emissions. By employing DOLS and FMOLS cointegration techniques from 1996 to 2022, we find that effective governance helps in reducing environmental pollution. Specifically, indicators namely government effectiveness, political stability, the rule of law, voice and accountability, regulatory quality, and control of corruption show a favourable impact in mitigating carbon emissions. Additionally, our findings reveal that both foreign direct investments and trade openness contribute positively in lowering carbon emissions by introducing advanced technologies and sustainable practices. Conversely, rapid industrialization and population growth exacerbate carbon emissions due to increased reliance on fossil fuels and higher energy demand. Our study underscores the need for enhanced governance, green investments, and stringent environmental regulations to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability in BRICS nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surge in economic growth and increased agricultural output can augment societal well-being whilst proliferating environmental stressors. So, the study tests the validity of the "agriculture-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis" (AEKC) by assessing the varied environmental proxies that have yet to be accounted for earlier in the case of BRICS economies. Furthermore, most studies have utilised "first-generation econometric approaches" as the "cross-sectional dependency" has not been deemed in estimation. On account of this, the research employed "second-generation CIPS and CADF unit root test", "Westerlund cointegration test", "fully modified ordinary least square" (FMOLS) and "dynamic ordinary least square" (DOLS) to test the validity of AEKC in "BRICS countries" for 30 years. A positive association between agriculture and "ecological footprint" has been found which evidences the presence of an "inverted U-shaped AEKC" in BRICS nations. Another finding shows that the favourable impact of agriculture towards climate change can be moderated by illustrating the interaction effect of "human capital" and "renewable energy" with "agriculture". Lastly, the investigation brings forth the policy repercussions and acumens for the BRICS governments and policymakers in halting climate change by using renewable energy in agriculture and building human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for Central Asia by allowing for the possibility of linear, U-shaped and N-shaped forms, and considering the impact of ecological footprint, climate change adaptation and energy consumption. We employ a fully modified ordinary least squares framework for cointegrating polynomial regressions, and include obtained long-run relations in a panel Vector Error Correction model. The findings suggest that the linear EKC form is more coherent for Central Asia compared to the N-shaped EKC form. We link this to the fact that the Central Asian countries are in the first stage of the EKC. We observe that Gross domestic product, ecological footprint, energy consumption and climate change adaptation positively impact carbon dioxide emissions in the long-run. Moreover, there is bidirectional causality from GDP and climate change adaptation to CO 2 emissions, while causality is unidirectional between emissions and energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores empirically the nexus of environmental quality, measured by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and human-health-capital formation, using covariates: real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, inflation, and unemployment rate. This study uses a health expenditure approach and data from a panel of seven ASEAN countries from 1995 to 2020 within the health production function framework. The method of fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) is implemented to estimate the long-run parameters and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin (Econ Model 29:1450–1460, 2012) test for the direction of causality. The empirical results reveal that high CO2 emissions raise health expenditure as do inflation and unemployment rate. While rising income makes higher healthcare costs affordable, this fact might persuade policymakers to adopt measures to cut CO2 to improve human-health-capital formation and thus to support long-run sustainable economic growth through healthy human capital formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most serious problems facing modern society is income inequality. The richest 10% of the world's population currently takes home 52% of income and 71% of the world's population lives in countries where inequality has increased (World Economic Forum). In recent years, globalization and the technological progress have promoted the consolidation of globalization in most countries, generating a direct and indirect impact on people's quality of life. Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG10) states that reducing inequalities should be a policy of governments' priority to achieve sustainable development. This research examines the impact of informational and cultural globalization, research and development, and urban concentration on income inequality using the theoretical framework of Kuznets' equity-income hypothesis (1955). In the methodological strategy, we use linear and non-linear methods: threshold regressions and second-generation cointegration techniques of panel data. The results show a threshold effect in real per capita output, informational and cultural globalization. The cointegration results demonstrate an equilibrium relationship between the five series at the different levels of development. The FMOLS model results show that informational and cultural globalization, R&D, and urbanization have a heterogeneous impact on income inequality. Policymakers can take advantage of the opening of markets to adopt new technologies and promote job creation in urban areas to achieve SDG 10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper finds a causal relationship between telecommunication infrastructure and economic growth in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries. The analysis considers 56 OIC countries, and data was taken from 2001 to 2019. Telecommunication infrastructure computed from telephone subscribers, mobile cellular subscribers, mobile money accounts, and internet access is the main explanatory variable. We utilized panel data analysis. We utilized fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares estimation techniques for long-run estimation. To check the causality between the variables, we use the Granger causality test. The empirical findings elaborate that there is a unidirectional relationship between telephone subscribers, mobile cellular subscribers, mobile money accounts, and economic growth. Similarly, internet users and economic growth have a bidirectional relationship. Our findings indicate that there is a need to constitute integrative policies to improve technology inflow for the growth of the economy. An increase in the telecommunication infrastructure will encourage economic growth and improve the living standards of the masses in OIC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the asymmetric impact of oil price (OP) on the ecological footprint (EF) in the major oil-producing African countries over the period 1988–2018. Results from the dynamic seemingly unrelated regression (DSUR) and the countrywise FMOLS regressions establish the asymmetric impact of OP on EF in the countries. Both GDP per capita and non-renewable energy (NRE) consumption are also affirmed as drivers of environmental degradation, while renewable energy consumption is found to be a promoter of environmental sustainability. Furthermore, a unidirectional causal relationship is found from OP to EF, GDP and NRE, while feedback is reported between EF and GDP. Therefore, the study proposes the need for diversification of the energy mix in these countries through the formulation of policies that would drive renewable energy usage without slowing down growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of intensifying climate change-induced environmental problems, understanding the causal relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and socioeconomic factors is crucial for achieving sustainable development. This study investigates how the causal relationships between renewable energy, information and communication technology (ICT), logistics networks, economic growth, industrialization, and energy intensity impact sustainable development using a panel dataset drawn from 104 countries and covering 2006 to 2019. Methodologically, panel unit root, panel co-integration, and Granger causality tests are employed as robust econometric techniques. The results of the panel unit root and co-integration tests confirm the stationarity of the variables and reveal significant long-term relationships among them throughout the empirical analysis period. Notably, the panel FMOLS and DOLS estimates indicate a positive effect of RE and ICT on reducing CO2 emissions, whereas GDP and energy intensity have a negative impact on CO2 emissions reduction. Moreover, the pairwise Granger causality test findings indicate bidirectional causal relationships between RE and CO2, IND and CO2, ICT and RE, IND and RE, GDP and ICT, as well as IND and ICT. The study recommends providing policy support, including for technological development and innovation, towards establishing a system that fosters sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of natural resource exploitation on environmental sustainability in Southeast Asian economies, while testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) inverted U-shaped hypothesis, a model which suggests an initial increase in environmental degradation with economic growth followed by a decrease at a certain level of income. Utilizing World Development Indicators data from 1995 to 2018, the research dissects the long-term influence of various resource rents, namely coal, oil, and forest. The research highlights the indispensable role of renewable energy in maintaining ecological balance. Results indicate that while coal rent exacerbates environmental degradation, forest and oil rents prove eco-friendly, although this is only confirmed in fully modified OLS estimation. The study underscores the importance of forest rents in achieving environmental sustainability. Renewable energy emerges as vital for promoting sustainable low-carbon practices. In line with the EKC hypothesis, the study finds that economic growth initially increases carbon emissions, but eventually reduces them. It calls for appropriate measures to manage resource exploitation, ensure renewable energy availability, alleviate energy poverty, and curb deforestation, thereby mitigating ecological damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prolonged issue of environmental degradation, especially in developing countries, has urgently called for a solution by first identifying the source of the problem. Poverty has been identified as among the core cause of environmental degradation. But we also foresee the prospect of migrations from poor countries as an additional force that leads to the worsening of environmental deterioration. Empirically, this paper investigates the effect of migration on the environmental deterioration of 29 developing countries for the period between 1980 and 2019. Adopting the panel cointegration approach, the paper finds evidence that deterioration seems to be higher in countries with a higher level of migration. Although the results could be undesirable to the host countries, the best and win–win solution could be achieved by the government of the host countries, either with or without the assistance of the United Nations, to introduce more assistance to support their life and educate their citizens to be more environmentally savvy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off between environmental degradation and unemployment has been recently termed as Environmental Philips Curve (EPC). This research attempts to investigate the presence of EPC in the Indian context utilizing time series data for the period 1990–2019. Besides contributing to the meagre empirical literature on this issue, the present study makes a novel contribution by introducing a gender dimension to this investigation. In particular, this study investigates whether the nexus between environmental degradation and unemployment is different for men and women. We examine the presence of the EPC by estimating a model that considers growth in CO2 emission as a function of economic growth, trade openness, and gender segregated unemployment rates. Our findings based on autoregressive distributed lag, fully modified ordinary least squares, and dynamic ordinary least squares estimators generate robust evidence for a negative impact of male unemployment rate on growth in CO2 emission that validates the existence of the Environmental Philips Curve for the male unemployment rate. However, there is no trade-off between environmental quality and women's employment. In fact, the results point to a favourable effect of reduction in female unemployment on environmental quality. The results of the Block Exogeneity test indicate a unidirectional causality from male unemployment rate to environmental degradation. However, a bidirectional causal relationship exists between female unemployment and environmental degradation. The existence of a trade-off between environmental quality and male employment suggests that India is yet to find viable technologies that can curtail pollution without compromising its livelihood. An optimistic conclusion emanating from our findings is the existence of a virtuous cycle between female employment and environmental quality. An integrated approach to improve environmental quality and increase women's economic activity may facilitate a speedy realization of sustainable development goals for India as both the goals complement and reinforce each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental sustainability challenges posed by coal mining as a critical revenue and energy source for South Africa have been sparsely explored in the literature. Therefore, the current study examines the role of technological innovation (TI) in the coal mining (CM)-ecological footprint (EF) nexus in South Africa from1981 to 2017. Results from FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR establish that CM contributes significantly to environmental degeneration in South Africa. Furthermore, the findings reveal that while TI has a separate positive influence on environmental sustainability, the interaction between CM and TI leads to a declining EF. This implies that TI mitigates the negative impact of CM on the environment. Hence, it is concluded that coal production in the country should be embedded in environment-sustaining technological process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic and natural factors lead to substantial environmental degradation. This shift is aligned with the country's overall development, resulting in high demand for energy resources and a dramatic shift in human activities that contribute to haze pollution. Some of the countries in the South Asian region are ranked between one and twenty on the list of countries with the highest levels of PM2.5 pollution. The member countries have taken many steps to tackle global warming, but concern about haze pollution was found limited. Moreover, very little research was conducted on haze pollution, which led us to conduct this research in this region. This study used the panel data from 1998 to 2018 and a set of econometric models like long-term cointegrating relationship, fully modified ordinary least squares, and vector error-correction model Granger causality tests to examine the major drivers like anthropogenic and natural factors that might elevate haze pollution. Furthermore, our empirical results depict that (1) there is a long-term cointegrating relation between haze and the factors studied. (2) Energy consumption, urbanisation, and economic growth are the primary drivers of environmental degradation. (3) Rainfall has the most substantial influence on reducing haze pollution. The study concluded that (a) if the countries continue to develop at the same pace, all factors studied will continue to drive haze pollution to rise. (b) A decrease in PM2.5 pollution requires improvements in regional rainfall through vegetation, reducing reliance on fossil fuel-based energy sources, and increasing environmental education. (c) Slowing down the drive for urbanisation would not be cost-effective in reducing haze pollution in the region in the short run. Thus, reducing haze by adjusting the factors studied would not be easy in the short run and require the careful adoption of long-term policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral resources are indispensable in manufacturing clean energy equipment, and this technology is going through a flourishing era at the stake of climate change. However, the extraction of these mineral resources poses several environmental concerns. This article aims to evaluate the effects of mineral resources, energy intensity, urbanization, and economic development on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. For this purpose, this study sampled 33 African mineral resources endowed countries with available data from 1990 to 2015. The empirical analysis focused on the main panel and its subpanels—low income (LI), lower middle income (LMI), upper middle income (UMI) panels—to capture the income inequality effects. We employed the heterogeneous fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares models to generate robust and reliable long-run parameters. The estimation results suggest that mineral resources endowment worsens carbon diffusion in the panel countries, such as LI, LMI, and overall. Similarly, energy intensity increases CO2 emissions for LMI, UMI and overall panels. As for urbanization, it has a bicephalous inference that harms the environment at the panel level of LI countries while it decarbonizes at the level of LMI, UMI, and overall panels. The LI, UMI, and overall panels support a U-shaped curve rather than an EKC. Moreover, CO2 emissions have a feedback Granger causality relationship with all its determinants. The findings have useful policy insights for green policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. This study examines the Paris agreement and other explanatory variables such as net energy imports, and consumption of three significant fossil fuel impacts on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in three selected European countries, including Germany, Spain, and France. We employed fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) regression methods to evaluate the effects based on panel data from 1995 to 2019. The results suggest that the impact of the Paris agreement is negligible. According to the FMOLS model, the Paris agreement reduces CO2 emissions by roughly 1%. It seems that the Paris agreement is less effective than it was hoped to be. For consumption of three primary fossil fuels and net energy import effects on the CO2 emissions, the results are as expected to be because any increase in the parameters will grow in carbon dioxide emissions in both models. It is worth mentioning that the most crucial factor in CO2 emissions is the crude oil consumption that has an immense impact on both models. In the other words, a 1% increase in the usage of crude oil will release 0.56% CO2 in the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is need of the hour to investigate the impacts of climate parameters on agricultural production in a developing region of South Asia. Therefore, this work attempts to explore the climatic indicators on agricultural production for selected South Asian countries over the annual data of 1961–2016. This study estimates the impacts of rainfall, temperature, rural population, land under cereal production, and CO2 emissions (ECO2) on agricultural production. For empirical analysis, we applied second-generation unit root tests. After examining the order of integration of time series, we check for the co-integration among the variables. Before the co-integration test, we check for cross-section dependence among the variables. CD and LM tests confirm the existence of cross-section dependence. Afterward, we apply the Westerlund co-integration test to confirm the strong association among the variables. Further, we applied two methods for long-run coefficients of independent variables. Dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) tests were applied to cross-check the findings. Our findings show that rural population and rainfall are negatively associated with agricultural production. Moreover, temperature, land area under cereal production, and ECO2 are positively associated with agricultural production. Our findings shed light on some important policy implications for South Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades, researchers have extensively examined the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Despite their early focus on the ecological impacts of anthropogenic development, associated conclusions differ and often conflict. In this study, we conducted a state-of-the-art review of this topic and shed light on the methodological challenges that the literature attempted to overcome so far. Since China is going through structural economic changes and environmental reforms, we relied on this illustrative case and developed an augmented-EKC framework to investigate whether this hypothesis holds between export product diversification and environmental pollution, stratifying by carbon energy content: renewable (Model 1) and fossil energy (Model 2). Quarterly data are collected over the most available and recent period (i.e., 1990Q1-2018Q4) and computed by applying the Quadratic Match-Sum Method (QMS) on annual series. Besides, per capita income and foreign direct investments are included as additional factors to the baseline models specifications. The empirical analysis comprises the Clemente–Montanes–Reyes unit root test with structural break and additive outlier, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test for cointegration, the Granger causality test, and dynamic (DOLS) and fully modified OLS (FMOLS) estimators, followed by robustness checks confirming the stability of the coefficients exhibited in the two autoregressive settings. For both models, empirical results failed to support the existence of an inverted-U-shaped relationship among export product diversification and carbon release from fuel combustion in China. Also, as income grows, low-carbon resources seem improving export diversification and vice versa. Related findings are thought to bring robust inferences able to complement the existing literature and open a fruitful research direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, environmental degradation has become a universal challenge, and for sustainable environment quality, a true and broader proxy is vital. Pakistan is an ecological deficient country in the world, being the sixth-largest economy (population-wise). This study investigates the prime sources of environmental degradation through ecological footprint in Pakistan. The yearly time-series data spanning 1972 to 2020 is utilized for a set of regressors as fossil fuel energy consumption, trade openness, arable land, industrial share to GDP, economic growth, and population growth. We use various econometric techniques, the bounds test, ARDL (short and long run) model, FMOLS, and Granger causality test. Bounds test confirms the existence of cointegration among variables included in our model. The ARDL estimates suggest that fossil fuel energy consumption, trade openness, and population growth are the leading factors affecting the environment. Fossil fuel consumption and population growth significantly damage the environment in the short and long run. Contrasting to that, trade openness is substantial to the environment quality. The FMOLS approves the robustness of the cointegrating findings. Moreover, a unidirectional causal relationship from economic growth to the ecological footprint (GDP → EFP). And also, the ecological footprint of arable land (EFP → AL) is witnessed. At the same time, bidirectional causality is found between growth rate and fossil energy consumption (GDP ↔ FEC). Lastly, we recommend some policy options to improve environmental quality in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to examine the impact of climate change on wheat and rice yield in Punjab, India, during 1981–2017. The study employs fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and pooled mean group (PMG) approaches. The Pedroni cointegration has established a long-run relationship of climate variables with rice and wheat crops. FMOLS and DOLS models show that minimum temperature has a positive effect on both wheat and rice. In contrast, the maximum temperature is found to be negatively contributing to both crops. Rainfall has a significant adverse impact on the production of wheat. In the study period, seasonal rainfall has been found detrimental for the production of wheat and rice crops, indicating that excess rainfall proved counterproductive. Moreover, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test has revealed a unidirectional causality running from minimum temperature, rainfall, and maximum temperature for rice and wheat production. The findings of the study suggest that the government should invest in developing stress-tolerant varieties of wheat and rice, managing crop residuals to curb other environmental effects, and sustaining natural resources for ensuring food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research scholars have diverted their attention towards the effect of biomass energy use on ecological footprints. Although recent research has investigated this association, the link between ecological footprints and biomass energy consumption has not provided consistent results. Therefore, this research attempts to fill the gap by examining the ecological footprints-biomass energy consumption nexus in the context of environmental Kuznets curve over the period of 1990–2016 in South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) countries. Moreover, this work incorporates globalization, natural resources, and economic growth (GDP) for empirical analysis. In doing empirical analysis, we applied some econometric analysis to deal with the issue of cross-sectional dependence in the data. The outcomes of fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares estimations show that biomass energy consumption increases ecological footprints in SAARC countries. Moreover, globalization and GDP are also increasing ecological footprints. Environmental Kuznets curve cannot be validated in estimated countries. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test confirms one-way causality from biomass energy usage to ecological footprints. On the base of empirical results, several policy implications are suggested for SAARC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic changes are posing serious threats to crop production and food insecurity across the globe. This study explores the dynamic relationship between changing annual temperature and production of major crops such as wheat, rice, bajra, jowar, maize, barley, gram, sugar cane, mastered oil, and cotton in Pakistan from 2000 to 2019 through an eclectic production model. The estimated result of panel econometric analysis revealed a significant negative effect of rising temperature on selected crop production in the long run with an insignificant impact in the short run. Among other explanatory variables, the area under cultivation and fertilizer input have significant positive effects in both the long run and the short run. Improved quality seeds revealed insignificant effects and urging authorities to enhance quality research to develop climate change resilient crops. This study urges Pakistan to improve agriculture technology along with adopting other greenhouse gas mitigation, such as forestation and clean energy, and water conservation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between environmental degradation, health, and institutional quality in 17 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. We use a panel cointegration analysis to determine the long-run relationship over the period 1996–2018, using both FMOLS and DOLS methods. Our results suggest that environmental degradation affects negatively the health status in the long run in MENA countries. However, the effect of environmental degradation on health can be ameliorated through the presence of good institutional quality. Therefore, policymakers in MENA countries should enhance the role of good governance in order to ensure the successful implementation of environmental laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution has become a threat to human health in urban settlements, ultimately leading to negative impacts on overall economic system as well. Already developed nations and still developing countries both are at the risk of air pollution globally. In this scenario, this work aims to investigate the associations of asthma (AS) and acute upper respiratory infection (ARI) patients with satellite-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) and meteorological factors, i.e., relative humidity (RH), temperature (TEMP), and wind speed (WS). We applied second-generation unit root tests to provide empirical evidence. Two sets of unit root tests confirmed mix order of integration, and the other Westerlund co-integration test further showed strong linkages between estimated variables. Fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) tests were applied, only to explore that TEMP and WS lower the number of AS and ARI patients, but RH and AOD increase the number of patients. Therefore, in accordance with these findings, our study provides some important policy instruments to improve the health status in megacities of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of energy consumption in environmental degradation and checks the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) for the South Asian economies. The model is also controlled for population growth. The dynamic panel data model is estimated through Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) rigorously. The results reject the possibility of the existence of EKC but ensure the prevalence of PHH. The study suggests that the South Asian countries should focus on attracting clean foreign investment, whereas the renewable energy production is critical for climate change mitigation. The study also stresses the financial institutions' active role in providing easy loans for promoting research and development in environmentally friendly production practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 emissions are the leading causes of deterioration in air quality and global warming. Likewise, it has been shown that clean energy reduces air pollution, so this would be a way out of environmental pollution. Some previous studies have focused on knowing the determinants of environmental pollution; however, they have omitted the State's role. Thus, this study explores the long-term nexus between CO2 emissions and renewable energy, energy efficiency, fossil fuels, GDP, property rights from 1995 to 2019 in nine developed countries. The results reveal a long-term equilibrium relationship in developed European countries, but not in developed non-European countries. The main results show that renewable energy and energy efficiency are negatively correlated with CO2 emissions. In developed European countries, a 1% increase in renewable energy consumption represents a 0.03% decrease in CO2 emissions. Finally, some policy measures are suggested to achieve environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure is a basic physical structure that is essential for the facilitation of society in terms of the provision of the basic framework that is required for the economy's output. The transport infrastructure is one of the most promising tools for generating economic growth and development because of its constructive impact on multidimensional aspects of society. The carbon emissions emanating from different sectors are used to capture the environmental quality in Pakistan and its association with road infrastructure of the country. Transportation is the main source of carbon emissions (GHGs), and road transport is the biggest emitter that accounted for more than 70% of emissions from GHGs in 2014 in Pakistan. We have used fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) approaches to analyze the role of carbon emissions (aggregate and disaggregate forms) along with road infrastructure on economic growth for the period of 1972–2017. Moreover, before the main analysis, the co-integrating relationships are also analyzed in this study. Our findings pronounce that there is a positive observable relationship between road infrastructure and economic growth. However, the impact of carbon emissions (irrespective of aggregate or disaggregate forms) is negative on economic growth. The findings suggest that the improvements in economic growth can be achieved through road infrastructure structure development but at cost of deterioration of environmental quality (increase in carbon emissions). Although emissions diminish economic growth over time but on the other side, the economic incorporation increases through the investment in road infrastructure which is of assistance for the construction and manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport sustainability is an important foundation for achieving sustainable development in an economy. Particularly, environmental policies cannot overlook the growing importance in the transport sector as the economy expands. In this context, it is necessary to investigate the relationship between transport energy consumption (TEN), transport economic growth (TGDP), and transport CO2 emissions (TCE) to formulate the reasonable and specific transport policies. This paper investigated the long-run elasticity and causality between TEN, TGDP, and TCE for the case of China using the panel data covering 30 provincial regions during the period 2004–2016. Firstly, the stationary of each variable series was examined using the panel unit root test. Secondly, the cointegrating relationship in bivariate models was investigated by employing the panel Pedroni cointegration test. Thirdly, based on the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), the long-run elasticity coefficients in bivariate models were estimated. Finally, the panel Granger causality test based on the vector error correction model was utilized to determine whether the causality existed between the variables. The empirical results indicated that: (1) each variable was found to be integrated of order one, and the cointegrating relationship existed in all bivariate modes. (2) The panel FMOLS tests revealed that the long-run elasticity of TCE to TEN was almost equal to the long-run elasticity of TEN to TCE; the long-run elasticity of TCE to TGDP was significantly higher than the long-run elasticity of TGDP to TCE; and the long-run elasticity of TEN to TGDP was significantly higher than the long-run elasticity of TGDP to TEN. (3) Importantly, the bidirectional causal relationships existed between the TEN, TGDP, and TCE both in the short-run and in the long-run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the long-run equilibrium relationship between CO2 emissions, economic growth, and industrial production. In parallel, the energy-led growth hypothesis has been investigated for a selected group of 23 small island states globally chosen from different continents. Data used in the analysis covers the period 1977–2017 on an annual basis and is retrieved from the World Bank open data and national statistical authorities. FMOLS and DOLS panel estimation techniques have been implemented throughout the study, and FMOLS cointegration results reveal that there is a significant and economically sound relationship between industrial production, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emissions among the selected small island nations. Dynamic OLS panel estimation results also provide empirical evidence that industrial production is a significant determining factor for carbon dioxide emissions for the so-called small island states. Vector error correction estimations also provide strong empirical evidence that economic growth causes carbon dioxide emissions with a significant coefficient in the short-run. Panel Granger causality results also indicate that there is a significant bidirectional causal relationship between industrial growth and carbon dioxide emissions among the selected 23 small island states. As a result, the energy-led growth hypothesis for small island states has been validated in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the seventh Sustainable Development Goal which is clean energy at affordable prices depending on technological innovation is one of the most strategic objectives of Egypt, aiming at mitigating carbon dioxide emissions and enhancing sustainable economic growth (IRENA 2018b). Based upon this goal, the study explores the relationships among carbon dioxide emissions, technological innovation, alternative energy resources, economic growth, and financial development in Egypt over the period 1971–2014. Auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), Stock and Watson dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and Toda-Yamamoto approaches are employed. The results show the existence of cointegration among the variables. Moreover, empirical results show that while technological innovation and alternative energy resources improve environmental quality, financial development and economic growth deteriorate it. The findings obtained from Toda-Yamamoto approach reveal the existence of bi-directional causal relation between environmental degradation and economic growth. Also, environmental degradation causes technological innovation and financial development causes environmental degradation and economic growth. Thus, several policy implications should be suggested to policymakers as enhancing the development of technological innovation especially in renewable energy sector to improve environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of Russia’s WTO accession on Russia’s foreign trade policy with top 40 trading partners. The paper conducts a panel data estimation based on a gravity model for bilateral trade patterns in agricultural and industrial commodities between Russia and 40 trading partners during two separate periods: 2000-2011 and 2012-2015. The paper arrives at two key conclusions. First, economic size, trade remoteness and bilateral exchange rate have a stronger effect on the agricultural trade flows between Russia and its trading partners before the WTO accession of Russia, while economic size, trade remoteness and trade openness show a stronger impact on agricultural trade flows after Russia’s accession to the WTO. Second, economic size, trade remoteness and bilateral exchange rate have a stronger effect on the industrial trade flows between Russia and its top trading partners before the WTO accession, while economic size, trade remoteness and trade openness show a stronger impact on industrial trade flows after the accession. To the best of the author's knowledge, no study has looked at the Russia’s foreign trade with its top trading partners before and after WTO accession of Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the causality between economic development (GDP), oil and gas consumption and in the case of eight countries over the period of 1980–2011. This study used the fully modified OLS. The findings support the conservative hypothesis; there is a relationship of causality going of the energy to the economic growth for the group countries except South Africa. The effect of oil and gas varies from a country to another one. The results provide evidence of feedback causality in Tunisia and Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Causality between the ratio of domestic private credit to GDP and growth in real GDP per capita is investigated in a country-by-country time-series framework for 24 OECD economies over the period 1980-2013. The proposed threefold methodology to test for causal linkages integrates (1) lag-augmented VAR Granger causality tests, (2) Breitung-Candelon causality tests in the frequency domain, and (3) testing for causal inference based on a fully modified OLS (FMOLS) approach. For 12 of 24 countries in the sample, the three tests yield uniform results in terms of causality presence (absence) and direction. Causality running from credit depth to economic growth is found for the UK, Australia, Switzerland, and Greece. The findings lend no support to the view that financial development shifts from a supply-leading to demand-following pattern as economic development proceeds. The aggregate results mesh well with the current discussion on 'too much finance' and disintermediation effects. However, idiosyncratic country determinants also appear significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies have estimated the income elasticity of health care expenditure to identify whether health care is a necessary or luxury product. However, the issue has received less attention in developing countries, especially in Asian economies. The current study for the first time has used the panel data covering 36 Asian countries for the period 1995-2013 for revealing the nature of health care as a product. Along with conventional econometric techniques we have addressed the issue of cross section dependence and used Westerlund (2007) panel cointegration test which is robust against cross section dependence and heterogeneity for detecting the presence of panel cointegration. By applying Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic OLS (DOLS) it was found that the long run elasticity of Health Care Expenditure (HCE) with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is less than unit implying that the health care can be regarded as necessary in nature for these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technology (ICT) and economic complexity are two concepts that have been extensively used in the recent literature. However, studies linking these two concepts are still at a premature stage and few existing studies have focussed on the role of the internet in a short-term context. Indeed, ICT measures the percentage of the population with access to the internet while economic complexity quantifies the set of productive capabilities and know-how embedded in the production process. This study aims to examine for the first time the long-term effect of ICT (quality and quantity) on economic complexity in a large panel of 112 countries over the period 1986-2017. The detailed analysis explores the long run and directional relationships using the homogeneity test, the cross-sectional dependence test, stationary tests in the presence of cross-sectional dependence, the panel cointegration test, dynamic OLS (DOLS), fully modified OLS (FMOLS), and the Granger panel causality test. The study finds long-run relationships between ICT, economic complexity, per capita GDP, government spending, and natural resources. Cointegration regression shows that the quality and especially the quantity of ICT, economic growth, and government spending have a positive and significant effect on economic complexity in the long run. Similarly, the results show that natural resource rent significantly impedes economic complexity. Finally, the results of the Granger causality test confirm the existence of a bidirectional relationship between ICT and economic complexity., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43546-023-00467-8., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Using recently developed panel unit root and panel cointegration tests and the Fully-Modified OLS methodology (FMOLS), this paper estimates the impact of remittances on the economic growth of selected upper and lower income Latin American & Caribbean (LAC) countries over the 1990-2007 period. Despite the large flow of remittances to the region, there have been relatively few empirical studies assessing the impact of remittances on economic growth in LAC. Panel unit root tests suggest that several of the macro variables included in the model exhibit unit roots, yet, at the same time, Pedroni's panel cointegration test determined that there is a cointegrating relationship among the variables in the estimated model. The FMOLS estimates suggest that remittances have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in both groups of countries. The estimates also indicate that both the degree of economic freedom and credit provided by the banking system have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in upper (middle) income LAC countries. The sign of the interaction term between remittances and the credit (and EFI) variables suggest that remittances act as substitutes for these variables. Finally, the effect of remittances on both sets of countries is stronger in the presence of a financial (credit) variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of economic well-being and economic freedom as drivers of renewable energy consumption using the share of renewables in total energy consumption in Africa. To achieve this, the study employs a panel data of 32 African countries over the period 1996-2017. To deal with identification challenges associated with panel time-series data, we use the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares econometric technique. As part of our findings, first, we have evidence that increasing economic well-being in Africa increases the share of renewables in total energy consumption to a point after which it turns negative (inverted U shape). Second, the disaggregated measures of economic freedom show that both property rights and tax burden decrease the share of renewables in total energy consumption. On the contrary, an increase in trade freedom and business freedom measures increases the share of renewables in total energy consumption. Toward the goal of promoting access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030, governments in Africa should actively encourage trade freedom and business freedom to enhance the share of renewable energy consumption. Similarly, reducing the tax burden will promote the share of renewable energy consumption. Likewise, we call for further investigation into our evidence of a negative relationship between property rights and the share of renewables in total energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing energy intensity is an important element for Ethiopia to achieve its ambitious climate-resilient growth goals. Understanding the factors that determine energy intensity plays a crucial role for academics and policymakers to formulate sound energy conservation and energy efficiency policies. This article investigates drivers of energy intensity in Ethiopia over the period of 1974–2014. The ARDL bounds test approach to cointegration and FMOLS-based Hansen parameter instability test methods were applied to examine the long-run relationship among the variables. The result reveals that there is an inverted U-shape or Environmental Kuznets curve-type relationship between economic growth and energy intensity, implying that economic growth at early (industrialization) stage of development spurs energy intensity while delinking occurs at the later stages of development. Urbanization increases energy intensity, while impact of import is negative. The Toda–Yamamoto Granger causality test result shows a bidirectional causal relationship between import and energy intensity. Moreover, energy intensity Granger causes aid and industrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]