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To devise an appropriate climate policy dealing with environmental degradation, reliable measurement of CO2 emissions is essential. In the recent past, most researchers have utilized production-based emissions in their studies, ignoring the important role of consumption-based emissions in environmental degradation. Therefore, the present research examines the drivers of consumption-based CO2 emissions in SAARC nations over the period 1990 to 2018. By employing traditional and second-generation panel cointegration methodologies, the study, more specifically, explores the link between consumption-based CO2 emissions and its four macroeconomic determinates, namely, GDP growth, energy consumption, FDI, and trade openness (measured by Composite Trade Share Index). The study also applies the FMLOS and DOLS techniques for calculating the long-run elasticities of regressors with respect to the explained variable. The results establish a cointegration relationship between the variables and validate the “EKC hypothesis” for the SAARC region. It is also found that in the long run, as expected, energy consumption enhances the consumption-based CO2 emissions while FDI and trade openness improve the environmental quality by plummeting emissions. Most importantly, the study rejects the “pollution-haven hypothesis” for the SAARC region based on the negative and statistically significant coefficient of FDI. Lastly, based on the results, some policies are recommended for the abatement of environmental degradation in SAARC countries. As the SAARC nations rely heavily on fossil-based energy, it is suggestive for these economies to enhance the level of energy efficiency and augment the share of renewable energy sources in the energy-mix. Furthermore, the policy-designers in this region should encourage trade openness and liberalize inward FDI for containing consumption-based emissions.

In recent years, there is concerted efforts to boost the tourism industry in Nigeria, and regulatory bodies were created for the tourism industry. This study is contributing to the ongoing debate on the tourism-energy-environment literature. Thus, we explore the linkage between tourism development, energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, and renewable energy consumption in Nigeria for the period of 1995–2016. The present study leverages on Bounds testing to cointegration in a carbon-income function environment while incorporating renewable energy consumption to the econometric framework. Subsequently, autoregressive distributed lag methodology alongside dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) is utilized for robustness of estimations. Empirical results give credence to the energy-induced emission hypothesis in Nigeria. This outcome is suggestive to policymakers as fossil fuel-based energy consumption deplete the quality of the environment. Similarly, the study also affirms the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon. The emphasis on Nigerian growth trajectory (real income level) relative to her quality of environment via the channel of economic development and energy consumption from fossil-fuel source is indicated. On the other hand, renewable energy consumption in Nigeria shows significant ability to reduce emission level in Nigeria. This result is insightful, which implies that environmental quality is not threatened with an increase in tourist arrivals, hence tourism does not degrade the environment but is sustainable to the environment. Interesting and laudable for stakeholders’ international tourism arrival did not deplete the quality of the environment. The plausible explanation is attributed to the scale of tourism in Nigeria which at the moment is still low or much more there is caution/awareness on ecotourism for sustainable environment.

Since the open economy macroeconomic indicators such as the balance of trade and exchange rate interact with the economic and environmental indicators, it is worthy of delving into their interactive linkages. This study investigates the long-run and short-run dynamic interactive links among the balance of trade, aggregate economic output, real exchange rate, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Pakistan. Bayer and Hanck’s combined cointegration and the auto-regressive distributed lag method are applied on annual time-series data from 1970 through 2018. The key findings are: (1) Balance of trade and real exchange rate imparted the CO2 emissions mitigation influence in both the long run and the short run. In contrast, the aggregate economic output exhibited the CO2 emissions driving influence in the long run and short run. (2) Balance of trade and real exchange rate induced enhancing and impeding influence on aggregate economic output, respectively, in the short run. However, they exposed the aggregate economic output strengthening influence in the long run. Besides, CO2 emissions produced a neutral influence on the aggregate economic output in the short run, whereas it put forward the aggregate economic output hampering influence in the long run. (3) Aggregate economic output revealed a balance of trade improvement influence for both the long run and short run. Nevertheless, the real exchange rate showed the balance of trade deterioration (improvement) influence in the short run (long run), confirming the J-curve hypothesis in Pakistan. Furthermore, (a) a bidirectional causality existed between CO2 emissions and aggregate economic output, and balance of trade and aggregate economic output. (b) A unidirectional causality existed from real exchange rate to balance of trade and aggregate economic output, and from the balance of trade and real exchange rate to CO2 emissions. The diversification of exports and energy mix is recommended to improve the balance of trade, economic aggregates, and environmental sustainability.

PurposeThe Indian power sector is dominated by coal. Environmental awareness and advances in techno-economic front have led to a slow but steady shift towards greener alternatives. The distributions of both fossil fuel resources and renewable energy potential are not uniform across the states. Paper attempts to answer how the states are performing in the sector and how the renewable energy and conventional resources are affecting the dynamics.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) to rank the performance of Indian states in the power sector. Multi-stage analysis opens up the DEA black-box through disaggregating power sector in two logical sub-sectors. The performance is evaluated from the point-of-view of policy formulating and implementing agencies. Further, an econometric analysis using seemingly unrelated regression equations (SURE) is conducted to estimate the determinants of total and industrial per-capita electricity consumption.FindingsEfficiency scores obtained from the first phase of analysis happens to be a significant explanatory variable for power consumption. The growth in electricity consumption, which is necessary for economic wellbeing, is positively affected by both renewable and non-renewable sources; but conventional sources have a larger impact on per-capita consumption. Yet, the share of renewables in the energy mix has positive elasticity. Hence, the findings are encouraging, because development in storage technologies, falling costs and policy interventions are poised to give further impetus to renewable sources.Originality/valueThe study is one of the very few where entire spectrum of the Indian power sector is evaluated from efficiency perspective. Further, the second phase analysis gives additional relevant insights on the sector.

Economic growth brings fortune to a society, but it worsens the ecosystem and results in environmental pollution through carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Despite extensive literature, the impact of economic growth on the environment is inconclusive, and the application of the environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the case of South Asia is very limited. This study investigated the validity of the EKC hypothesis for South Asia, examining the influence of economic growth on CO2 emissions by incorporating industrial value added (IVA), energy consumption (ENC), and urbanization as control variables. Using annual panel data on selected South Asian economies for the period of 1971–2018, this study applied the pooled mean group and fully modified OLS estimators, and the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test to accomplish our objective. The findings revealed that economic growth, ENC, and urbanization have significant impacts on environmental pollution in South Asia. Economic growth initially adversely affects the environment, but when GDP attains a certain threshold it takes an inverse turn supported by a negative value of squared GDP, then economic growth becomes a friend of the environment. Both urbanization and ENC add to environmental pollution, and IVA is pollution-neutral. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality also reveals that economic growth, squared GDP, urbanization, and ENC contribute to CO2 emissions. The outcomes possess implications for policymakers to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix, and emphasize rural–urban development and pollution-neutral safe production techniques to reduce environmental pollution for the region over the long run.

Using province-level data for South Korea, we analyze the dynamic relationship between economic growth and several energy parameters. Specifically, we decompose the growth effect into scale, composition, and technique effects, and control for regional spillovers through the use of a dynamic GMM estimator for spatial panel data models. The analyzed period, ranging from 2000 to 2017, allows us to look for changes in the regional growth effects following the implementation of the National Strategy for Green Growth in 2009. Our estimates show that the scale and composition effect tended to increase both per capita final energy use and energy intensity, outweighing reductions through the technique effect. In contrast, when considering renewable energy production, the scale and technique effect increased and the composition effect decreased the corresponding figures. Thereby, the technique effect was the main driver of increases in renewable energy production. Despite the larger, yet comparatively small share of renewables in Korea’s energy mix, no considerable change of the growth effects can be observed since 2009. Therefore, to reduce the risks for the economy and achieve the political objectives of the green growth strategy throughout the whole country and in a timely manner, a stronger commitment seems to be required.

The transition towards a modern cleaner energy pathway has been receiving global attention recently. Although nuclear energy has emerged as an alternative cleaner energy source and is receiving immense policy attention, however, the role of nuclear energy in the environmental degradation mitigation remains inconclusive in the extant literature. Therefore, this study examines the dynamic linkages between gross domestic product, foreign direct investment inflows, nuclear energy consumption, trade openness, and CO2 emissions for India within the environmental Kuznets curve framework over the period 1978–2019 through various robust econometric models that takes into consideration the presence of structural break in the data. The present study confirms the existence of an “inverted N shape” environmental Kuznets curve, a phenomenon rarely observed in environmental Kuznets curve literature for India. Besides, the predicted turnaround points of environmental Kuznets curve highlight that India has already reached the positive peak approximately by the year 2015. The empirical findings also confirm the existence of a J-shaped relationship between foreign direct investment inflows and CO2 emissions, which indicates that India is in the transient phase moving from pollution halo towards pollution heaven with progressive foreign direct investment development. Trade openness is also found to have a beneficial effect on environmental quality implying the trade policy of India encourages green trade activities to safeguard the environment. The empirical results also reveal the beneficial effect of nuclear energy consumption on air quality, thereby suggesting an accelerated adoption of nuclear energy in the Indian energy mix. The results also highlight that nuclear energy adoption in this booming phase can facilitate a “tunnelling effect” for sustainable economic growth for India. Hence, these findings may provide key policy recommendations regarding energy transition and environmentally sustainable economic growth.

Territorial-based carbon emissions (TBEs) have been studied extensively. However, investigations of consumption-based carbon emissions (CBEs), adjusted for international trade, have been mainly centered on theoretical arguments. This research is an attempt to address the gap by using CBEs in the case of Next Eleven (N-11) countries. Given that the N-11 are tracking to overtake the G-7 by 2050, successful action to mitigate and adapt to climate change will increasingly need to consider the impact of this fast-emerging group of countries. For empirical analysis, this study employs the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) methodology to examine the long- and short-run impact of imports and exports separately, along with economic growth, industry value addition (IVA), and oil price as control variables using data from 1990 to 2017. The empirical findings reveal that imports enhance, while exports reduce CBEs both in the long- and short-run. Whereas economic growth and IVA intensify CBEs, rising oil prices decrease CBEs both in the long and short-run. The main finding of this study provide evidence of carbon leakage and N-11 countries should diversify their energy mix toward renewable energy and adopt policies related to CBEs that recognize the transfer of emissions (carbon leakage) in trade.

In recent times, the Indian economy has enjoyed a positive economic trajectory. However, the economy remains vulnerable to domestic and geographical risk as it relates to environmental degradation. The Indian economy is reputed as one of the leading emitters of carbon dioxide ( C O 2 ) emissions globally.. In the literature, there is no consensus on the contradiction between decoupling economic growth from CO2 emission in India and other regions of the globe. By drawing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda and its 2030 targets, this study examines the relationship between responsible energy consumption (SDGs 7, 12), climate issues (SDGs 13), and economic growth (SDGs 8) for the case of India. Thus, the present study seeks to investigate the implications of CO2 emissions on Indian economic growth (GDP) with a focus on the energy intensity in the country's economy. To explore the nexus between economic growth and environmental degradation in a carbon income function, openness to trade and energy use were added as additional variables to circumvent the problem of omitted variable bias. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) with the modified Wald test of Toda Yamamoto (T-Y) were applied to annual time series data from 1975-2017. The study reveals a long-term equilibrium association among the described variables over the considered period. Furthermore, a statistically significant negative relationship is observed between C O 2 emissions and trade openness and economic growth. This study validates the energy-induced economic growth as reported by the ARDL regression. This is also corroborated by the causality analysis results, as a uni-directional relationship was observed running from energy utilization to income (GDP). Thus, the Indian government officials should not adopt conservative energy policies, as this will be detrimental for economic growth given that the economy is dependent on energy. However, based on the growing environmental consciousness around the world, there is a need to shift the energy mix in India to renewables to make uses of cleaner energy sources and create environmentally friendly ecosystems.

We propose a carbon tax policy for Delhi—the most polluted capital globally—which will fundamentally change the energy mix of Delhi’s economy toward clean, green energy and guarantee universal access to electricity, transport, and food, up to a certain amount. Any carbon mitigation strategy needs to alter our dependence on fossil fuels, requiring a systemic overhaul of its energy mix. Implementing a carbon tax will mitigate emissions and mobilise revenue for our proposed redistributive program: Right to Food, Energy, and Travel (RFET). The policy is designed to advocate for the ‘poor over the rich’ to compensate for the ‘rich hiding behind’ the poor by emitting the majority of carbon and pollutants. Using input–output analysis, we estimate the class-wise distribution of carbon emissions in Delhi. We find that the necessary tax would be US$112.5 per metric ton of carbon dioxide in order for this program to work. The free entitlement of fuel and electricity per household comes out to be 2040 kWh per annum, and there is an annual universal travel pass of US$75 per person for use in public transport and an annual per capita availability of food of US$205. JEL Codes: Q43, Q48, Q52, Q58

This article examines for the first time the impact of disaggregated energy sources and institutional quality on the ecological footprint (EF) of 29 OECD countries, by explaining how the diversification in countries' energy mix and their institutional performance are associated with sustainable environmental performance. We use panel data from 1984 to 2016 and we apply second-generation techniques to arrange the critical issues of cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity. The applied cointegration tests expose a long-run equilibrium relationship that associates renewable/non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, institutional quality, and the EF of OECD countries. The robust cross-sectional augmented distributed lag (CS-DL) estimator shows that economic growth and the adoption of non-renewable energies are detrimental to the environment, while the operational quality of institutions adds to ecological sustainability. Concurrently, the negative effect of renewables on EF does not seem to cause a significant beneficial impact on the environment. Moreover, there is evidence that non-renewable energy and institutional quality have a bidirectional causal association with EF. Also, a weak unidirectional causal effect is running from the EF to renewables consumption. The study further demonstrates the inefficient integration of renewable energy forms in OECD countries and the concomitant essential role of institutions on environmental sustainability by providing relevant policy orientations.

Considering that the rigor of economic activities has widely been linked with the turbulent nature of the increasing global atmospheric and environmental hazards thus hampering environmental sustainability, it then presented a suggestive dilemma realizing that increasing unemployment, i.e., de-economizing human activities posit a desirable environmental quality effect. Given this backdrop, and employing the more recent estimation techniques, the current study probes the validity of the novel environmental Phillips curve (i.e., negative relationship between unemployment and environmental degradation) opined by Kashem and Rahman (Environ Sci Pollut Res 1-18, 2020). In this case, the panel of BRICST (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Turkey) economies for the selected data set over the experimental period 1992-2016 is analyzed. After using related approaches that are designed to account for probable country-specific factors, i.e., the cross-sectional dependence concern, the findings from the PMG-ARDL model affirmed the validity of the environmental Phillips curve for the BRICST countries. Thus, there is a significant trade-off between unemployment and environmental degradation. Moreover, this study concludes that renewable energy consumption improves the environmental quality, while conventional energy sources remained detrimental factors to environmental quality in the panel of the examined countries. Therefore, the study identified that the share of renewable energy in the energy mix should be escalated to improve environmental quality and maintain or improve the employment level, thus advancing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the BRICST countries.

To achieve national energy and climate targets across the world, there is a key focus on solar energy development. It is clear from literature that many countries have enormous, under-utilised potentials for solar energy, which can significantly change their energy mix and contribute to the low-carbon ambitions they signed up to under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Our research highlights that there are benefits to solar energy development from a law and economic perspective that are still underexplored. These benefits centre on justice and on how solar energy increases justice within the energy system. From a legal perspective, we review 72 countries and their introduction of energy law with respect to solar energy development. Our analysis illustrates that in some developing countries (new) legislation was not associated with a significant increase in the share of solar energy in the energy mix. We then highlight how to achieve solar energy development through law that can provide certainty for investment. Furthermore, we stress the importance of flexibility that allows the full potential of solar energy to be realised within the energy system. The corresponding form of flexibility justice, combining law and economics, can contribute to increased economic welfare based on market reforms that centre on new market design and market access, while ensuring that it keeps pace with ongoing developments in technology, cost, and ownership.

Following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), which place emphasis on relevant concerns that encompass access to energy (SDG-7) and sustainable development (SDG-8), this research intends to re-examine the relationship between urbanization, CO2 emissions, gross capital formation, energy use, and economic growth in South Korea, which has not yet been assessed using recent econometric techniques, based on data covering the period between 1965 and 2019. The present study utilized the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) methods, while the gradual shift and wavelet coherence techniques are utilized to determine the direction of the causality. The ARDL bounds test reveals a long-run linkage between the variables of interest. Empirical evidence shows that CO2 emissions trigger economic growth. Thus, based on increasing environmental awareness across the globe, it is necessary to change the energy mix in South Korea to renewables to enable the use of sustainable energy sources and establish an environmentally sustainable ecosystem. Moreover, the energy-induced growth hypothesis is validated. This result is supported by the causality analysis, which shows a one-way causality running from energy consumption to GDP in South Korea. This suggests that South Korea cannot embark on conservative energy policies, as such actions will damage economic progress. Additionally, a unidirectional causality is seen from CO2 emissions and energy consumption to economic growth. These findings have far-reaching consequences for GDP growth and macroeconomic indicators in South Korea.

This study examines the potential drivers of renewable energy consumption for 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries during 2005–2014. I use the sys-GMM method to deal with the presence of endogeneity, countryspecific components and serial correlation within observations. Results confirm the dynamic behaviour of green energy consumption. Moreover, GDP per capita and CO2 emissions per capita are the determinants of this clean energy source. The positive effect of per capita GDP implies that a non-depleting alternative source has been used to satisfy an increasing energy demand, which was experienced due to the acceleration of economic growth in the region. On the other hand, the negative effect of per capita CO2 emissions reflects the weight that fossil fuels have in the energy mix. Because of some of the analysed countries’ oil-producer nature, oil prices rise is not enough for a switch response.

Summary Cities, contributing more than 75% of global carbon emissions, are at the heart of climate change mitigation. Given cities' heterogeneity, they need specific low-carbon roadmaps instead of one-size-fits-all approaches. Here, we present the most detailed and up-to-date accounts of CO2 emissions for 294 cities in China and examine the extent to which their economic growth was decoupled from emissions. Results show that from 2005 to 2015, only 11% of cities exhibited strong decoupling, whereas 65.6% showed weak decoupling, and 23.4% showed no decoupling. We attribute the economic-emission decoupling in cities to several socioeconomic factors (i.e., structure and size of the economy, emission intensity, and population size) and find that the decline in emission intensity via improvement in production and carbon efficiency (e.g., decarbonizing the energy mix via building a renewable energy system) is the most important one. The experience and status quo of carbon emissions and emission-GDP (gross domestic product) decoupling in Chinese cities may have implications for other developing economies to design low-carbon development pathways.

Planet Earth is simultaneously approaching a number of ecological and resource limits. The resulting uncertainties will heavily impact future energy choices, both the level of primary energy used globally and the shares of fossil, renewable and nuclear fuels in the energy mix. This paper reviews the possible futures for the various types of renewable energy. To be viable, all potential energy sources must be assessed on their energy return on energy invested (energy return). Given that renewable energy RE growth is considered important for sustainability reasons, renewable energy must be assessed on its ecologically sustainable or 'green' energy return, which includes the energy costs of ecosystem maintenance as input energy costs. The green energy return is accordingly much lower than the conventional value, so that ecologically sustainable renewable energy is unlikely to deliver anything near existing global energy use. The paper further argues that such constraints on renewable energy growth rates mean it cannot be a timely response to global climate change. The paper concludes that energy reductions will be essential, mainly in high energy use countries.

Poland is responsible for 9% of CO2 emission in the European Union (EU), making it the fifth biggest emitter in the region. The energy sector is dominated by electricity produced from coal (around 70%). The country currently uses massive subsidies to boost the coal sector. We propose a dynamic intertemporal hybrid general equilibrium model to simulate the economic effects of sector regulations and new policy targets within environmental taxation scenarios, by accounting for a complex set of linkages between the energy sector and other components of the economy. Our simulation results suggest that positive economic growth is possible with a realistic energy mix, but it will not offer considerable emission reduction, as required by the European Commission. In the short-time horizon, the best choice is renewable energy sources indicated by less capital-intensive technologies (such as biomass). In the long-time horizon, more capital-intensive technologies (such as wind turbines) will be a better choice for economic growth. Carbon tax plays a crucial role in optimal energy mix targets, since its elimination ceteris paribus implies negative economic growth.

Unlike energy security, energy diversification, which is an essential precursor for energy security and sustainability transitions, has not received much scholarly attention, especially in Africa. Applying the Energy Mix Concentration Index method (a modified version of the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index), this study examined energy diversification and transition trends in Africa’s top ten economies over an 18-year period, from 2000 to 2017. Data were obtained in July 2020 from the African Union Energy Commission’s data portal. Overall, energy diversification was found to be occurring at a very slow pace. Kenya and Morocco emerged as the two most energy diversified countries (with indices of 0.34 and 0.37, respectively), while Algeria (0.98) and Ethiopia (0.87) were the least diversified countries as at 2017. The energy transition trend is consistent with the multiple fuel use/energy stacking model rather than the energy ladder hypothesis. “Balance” (the share of each energy source in the energy mix) was found to significantly influence energy diversification. Contrary to past assertions, this study finds that higher “variety” (the number of energy sources in the energy mix) does not signify greater diversity. A weak negative linear relationship was found between gross domestic product growth and Energy Mix Concentration Indices for most countries, suggesting that as gross domestic product grows, the energy mix becomes more diversified. However, this relationship was statistically insignificant. Policy makers need to increase investments in renewable energies, and diversify their economies (especially in oil-dependent countries) to facilitate energy diversification and sustainable energy transitions. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s42108-020-00101-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The main aim of this paper is to explore the role of globalization on ecological footprint in Turkey while controlling energy consumption, economic growth, and trade openness. To achieve this objective, we employ dual adjustment approach. The main novelty of the dual adjustment approach is that the method offers another path to the cointegration analysis by relaxing the implicit assumption of the singular adjustment in cointegration analysis. The findings clearly reveal that (i) in the long run, globalization impacts ecological footprint positively and (ii) trade openness reduces ecological footprint in the short run, while ecological footprint is negatively affected by GDP growth in both the short and the long run. In terms of policy implications, this study suggests that in order to improve the environmental quality, Turkey should adopt such policies that encourage energy consumers to shift toward renewable energy. Moreover, the government should take necessary steps to diversify the overall energy mix toward renewable energy.

This study investigates the dynamic linkage among foreign direct investment, energy consumption, and environmental pollution of China spanning from 1990 to 2014. Despite the extant literature on the FDI-energy-growth-environmental pollution nexus, most of the conclusion seems inconsistent. Hence, this study utilized recent econometric techniques such as the dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test approach, Gregory and Hansen structural cointegration, and the bootstrap Granger causality. The study also disaggregated energy consumption into various sources to identify their respective distinct impact on the environment. Our study confirmed the presence of the EKC curve for China in a quadratic equation applying the DOLS. The result of the bootstrapped Granger causality confirmed the presence of a unidirectional Granger causality running from CO2 emission to economic growth and export; non-renewable energy to economic growth, export to economic growth, and renewable energy; and urbanization to economic growth. Moreover, our study recognized the presence of a bi-directional connection between FDI and economic growth. Our study highly recommends that China modify its energy mix by incorporating more renewable energy resources such as hydro, wind, geothermal. Additionally, the regulatory bodies should strictly implement improved energy efficiency in the various sectors that complement total proper urban land usage as the urban population to total population significantly impelled an upsurge in environmental deterioration in China.

The debate on ecological matters that relate to the biomass emissions nexus has gained prominence and different scholars have suggested various forms of policy directions to tackle the menace. This study seeks to contribute to this subject by examining the impact of biomass energy use on carbon dioxide pollution in the G7 economies context. Thus, to this end, we employed energy usage and GDP measured as economic growth which adds factors that can influence pollution for annual time-frequency between1995 and 2016 for the case of G7 economies. The present study adds to the extant literature by the adoption of the novel econometric techniques such as the panel cross-section augment ARDL and common correlated estimate mean group (CCEMG) to evaluate the impact of biomass energy on pollutants. The empirical results from all the techniques show that biomass energy consumption significantly and negatively correlates to CO2 emissions meaning that it helps to reduce pollution in the long run. On the other hand, there is a significant positive relationship between energy use and pollutants implying that the primary energy use is not favorable for environmental sustainability over the sampled period. Finally, the results proved that GDP increases CO2 emissions in the long run with respect to the G7 context. Thus, validating the growth-induced pollution hypothesis in G7 blocs. On causality relationship, we observe a unidirectional causal relationship between these variables: biomass and pollutants, pollutants and output, biomass and output, biomass and energy use, and output and energy use. While there was a bidirectional causality between energy use and pollutant, these results suggest policy implication for the G7 countries which indicates that stakeholders should give much attention to technological know-how and energy mix particularly biomass energy which is environmentally friendly as well as more paradigm shift to renewables.

The Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and Fukushima nuclear disaster that occurred in 2011 gave a sharp reminder to Japan’s energy security to reconsider the reduction of nuclear power dependence with a better energy mix. We use a recursive CGE model based on Japan’s renewable energy input–output model to analyze the energy composite of power generation and consumption to investigate cost-effective policy incentives to achieve an optimal energy mix to reduce the nuclear power dependence to less than 5% within 10 years. Moreover, we create scenarios of: (1) nuclear power decommission, (2) renewable energy promotion and (3) virtual power plant (VPP) implementation with public R&D expenditure and power infrastructure investment. The simulation results show that renewable energy could gradually replace nuclear power with capital-use subsidies. Under the direction of nuclear power decommission, the VPP installation could reduce the fiscal cost of wind power by 13%, solar energy by 8% and the social cost by 36%. We provide empirical evidence that the implementation of VPP should be promoted in addition to the renewable policy promotion policy to facilitate power allocation and overcapacity problems better.

This article aims to present historical rate of decoupling and based on that determine the scope for India to increase its mitigation beyond the NDC commitment. Empirical evidence on nature and rate of decoupling between energy related emission and economic growth for the period 1990–91 to 2012–13 in India is presented. In addition to estimating the magnitude of decoupling elasticity, decomposition analysis is also applied to understand how the four factors: activity growth, energy intensity change, structural change and fuel mix change, are driving the change in emission in India. Decoupling elasticity and Log Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) methods are used for decomposition. The results indicate presence of relative decoupling in India. The industrial sector leads among the four sectors -agriculture, industry, services and power generation in achieving this relative decoupling, mostly through improvement in energy efficiency and some structural changes. Results show that even in the business as usual scenario if India acts upon individual sector level mitigation potentials, it has the potential to raise mitigation ambition beyond current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) without adversely impacting economic growth. With continued high share of coal in the energy mix it is going to be difficult to achieve absolute decoupling.

In 2019. the BICS (Brazil, India, China and South Africa) group remained not only one of the largest global CO2 emitter, but also most of the projected carbon emissions in the future and highly vulnerable to negative impacts of climate are associated with them. However, the recent literature finds number of studies having contradictory numbers about present and future carbon emissions in the BICS. It does not only affect the existing environmental regulations in the BICS but also mislead the future policy framework for the climate change. Thus, this study develops comprehensive forecasting model using Grey system theory approach for policy analysis. The variables (i.e. CO2 emissions, environmental related technological change, fossil fuel and renewable energy consumption, and economic output) are used to predict CO2 emissions. The results find that the emissions intensity will continue to rise in BICS region. However, the significant progress at environmental technology front can reduce the CO2 emissions intensity while achieving the economic growth targets. The results also find that the fossil fuels will remain the significant source of energy mix in BICS countries. The use of renewable energy is expected to increase during the projection period. The results are useful for BICS countries in shaping future environmental policy.

The critical role of electricity consumption in influencing and reshaping the economic and environmental landscape of the global economy cannot be underestimated. Electricity is the most beneficial and commonly transformed energy source; however, the strength, weakness, opportunities and threat of its consumption require scientific scrutiny. This study investigates electricity-led growth hypothesis vis-à-vis its impact on economic growth and environmental quality of Turkey. The annual time series data set from 1970 to 2014 were employed in the analysis with a battery of unit root and stationary tests. The equilibrium relationship in the study is explored using Maki and Bayer-Hanck combined cointegration tests under multiple structural breaks along with the Pesaran's ARDL bounds test procedure for robust check. The study confirms the existence of cointegration relationship between electricity consumption, economic growth, capital, labour and ecological footprint. To detect the direction of causal relations, the VECM Granger causality test is employed. The causality analysis provides empirical evidence that supports the electricity-induced growth hypothesis in Turkey. This implies that embarking on conservative energy-efficient policies will slow down Turkey's economic growth. Thus, precautionary measures that ensure adequate policy on energy mix to guarantee availability and accessibility to modern electricity will sustain economic growth and improve environmental sustainability.

Understanding inequality energy consumption at the global level delivers key insights for strategies to mitigate climate change. Recent contributions [4, 28, 48, 49] have studied energy inequality through the lens of maximum entropy. They claim a weighted international distribution of total primary energy demand should approach a Boltzmann-Gibbs maximum entropy equilibrium distribution in the form of an exponential distribution. This implies convergence to a Gini coefficient of 0.5 from above. The present paper challenges the validity of this claim and critically discusses the applicability of statistical equilibrium reasoning to economics from the viewpoint of social accounting. It is shown that the exponential distribution is only a robust candidate for a statistical equilibrium of energy inequality when employing one particular accounting convention for energy flows, the substitution method. But this method has become problematic with a higher renewable share in the international energy mix, and no other accounting method supports the claim of a convergence to a 0.5 Gini. We conclude that the findings based on maximum entropy reasoning are sensitive to accounting conventions and critically discuss the epistemological implications of this sensitivity for the use of maximum entropy approaches in social sciences.

This paper seeks to answer an empirical question of whether clean biomass energy consumption lowers CO2 emissions while controlling for technical innovation in eight selected countries from Africa for the 1980–2015 period. The countries which are chosen based on availability of data on biomass energy and technological innovation include Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Zambia. Applying pooled mean group, mean group, and dynamic fixed effect panel estimators, the results indicate that clean biomass energy use decreases CO2 emission in the long run. But the effect of biomass energy consumption on CO2 emission is insignificant in the short run. The findings imply that CO2 emission can be reduced by increasing clean biomass energy in the energy mix of these countries. Similarly, environmental quality and economic growth can be achieved simultaneously by increasing the share of biomass energy in large-scale production process. Furthermore, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), which hypothesizes an inverted U-shaped relationship between CO2 emission and economic growth, was validated in the long run. This suggests that the EKC pattern is only observed in the long run. Thus, as part of recommendation from this study, policy makers in these countries should formulate more policies that will enhance clean biomass energy production and its usage to substitute significant percentage of fossil fuel use in production process.

China is actively taking measures to guide the household energy‐saving consumption pattern because the total household indirect energy consumption and CO2 emissions have rapidly multiplied from 2002 to 2017 with an annual growth rate of 5.95%, and 5.56%, respectively. This paper calculates indirect energy consumption and CO2 emissions by four energy sources (raw coal, crude oil, natural gas, and electricity), analyzes the energy structure, and conducts a structural decomposition analysis in urban and rural areas in China from 2002 to 2017. The results reveal that the indirect energy consumption and CO2 emissions of urban households was 3.84 and 3.80 times, respectively, that of rural households in 2017 with most contributions from the ‘Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry, and Fishery’, ‘Foods and Tobacco’, and ‘OTHERS’ sectors. The energy consumption structure has changed. The percentage of coal consumption falls from 66.87% to 57.62%. Electricity consumption, ranked second, increased substantially from 10.77% to 22.90%. The key sectors of the energy mix have been found to help energy conservation. The high indirect energy consumption sectors with higher indirect energy intensity are the key sectors, especially the ‘Processing of Petroleum, Coking and Processing of Nuclear Fuel’ and ‘Production and Supply of Electric Power and Heat Power’. The consumption structure effect is more obvious in urban areas than in rural areas. In the process of urbanization, its effect has little impact on urban indirect energy consumption. It implies that the focus is on optimizing consumption structure rather than reducing consumption scale. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Document Information Language:English Accession Number: WOS:000529587300006 PubMed ID: 32350835, Giving that People's Republic of China is one of the two new frontiers of globalization, the country has continued to contend with the bottleneck of sustaining its economic growth amidst environmental hiccups arising from the drawbacks of globalization and energy consumption. By investigating the challenges of the country's drive toward environmental sustainability, the present study offers a new perspective on the role of electricity consumption and economic growth in a carbon-income function setting. This study also incorporates globalization into CO2 emissions equation for the experimental period of 1970-2014. Stationarity properties were ascertained by the Zivot and Andrew unit root test under a single structural break. Subsequently, the recent and novel combined cointegration test of Bayer and Hanck (2013) in conjunction with the Pesaran bounds testing approach is used to establish a cointegration relationship among the selected variables. Finally, the modified Wald test of the Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality test is employed to detect the direction of causality flows among the variables. Empirical piece of evidence finds a statistically positive correlation between electricity consumption and economic growth as seen in the long-run regression. This result is also affirmed by the Granger causality test. The test corroborates with the electricity-induced growth hypothesis in the case of China. However, there is an environmental trade-off, as more electricity consumptions spur increased carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). Our study finds empirical support that globalization reduced pollutant emissions in both the short and long run over our sampled period. Based on these results and outcomes, several policy prescriptions on the energy-income and environment nexus are renders for policymakers. Among such policy recommendations are (a) the need for the diversification of the Chinese energy mix to cleaner energy sources and renewables and (b) the need for decarbonization and adoption of carbon capturing and storage technologies.

A large number of studies evidenced the role of energy on growth and renewable energy as a cleaner input, which is the need of the hour as because of population and growth, the energy demand is on the rise in South Asia region. This study scrutinizes the quadratic effect of the non-renewable and renewable energy consumption mix and its impact on sustainable development while controlling for trade openness, development expenditures and industrialization. This study resorts to feasible generalized least squared model for the estimation of quadratic function for five SAARC countries between 1990 and 2017. The results show that the non-renewable-to-renewable energy mix ratio follows an inverted U-shaped relationship with HDI. Further renewable energy must be significantly higher than non-renewable energy in order to ensure that it is development promoting.

Energy mix persistence is a defining characteristic of energy systems, for reasons including the long‐lived nature of energy infrastructure and the role of local endowments. This persistence is evident in current energy‐type use being strongly influenced by past use. Our analysis uses data for eight energy types and a large sample of countries, finding varying degrees of energy mix persistence. We also find evidence that carbon pricing appears to have played a key role in tilting energy mixes from coal towards renewable energy. Our estimates provide empirical support to policymakers seeking to implement carbon pricing to transition their energy systems in a lower‐carbon direction.

In rural and urban areas of Nigeria where alternative fuels were available, shift away from domestic wood fuel use were not taking place on a very large scale. The urban dwellers that normally use kerosene and gas were now systematically shifting to using charcoals. If energy situation should continue this way, economic growth and human development will be hampered in Oyo State. This study therefore, analysed the green and non-green energy poverty among rural and urban households in Oyo State of Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select samples of two hundred and forty (240) respondents with the aid of structured questionnaire. The result showed that the mean age of all the respondents was 49.3 years while 66% of them were women. The average household size was 5 and 39% of the respondents attended tertiary institutions. Their primary occupation was farming (57%). The major energy sources available to the respondents were kerosene and charcoal (54%). The energy expenditure approach result showed that, 55% of the rural respondents were energy non-poor, 58% of the respondents in the urban areas were energy poor. The relative measure of energy poverty result revealed that 70.8% of all the respondents were energy poor. The logistic regression results showed that household size (p≤0.01), education (p≤0.01), expenditure on food (p≤0.01) were variables which positively determined energy poverty of the rural households; age (p≤0.01), household size (p≤0.01), education (p≤0.01) and expenditure on food (p≤0.01) were positive significant variables which determined energy poverty of the urban households and household size (p≤0.01), expenditure on food (p≤0.01) were positive significant variables that determined energy poverty of the pooled data. In conclusion, there should be an awareness, affordable prices of various energy types, advancement in technology, maintenance practices and revitalization of energy projects in the study area.

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of democracy, ecological footprint, economic growth, and globalisation in enhancing sustainable electricity consumption in an ecological reserve-based country of Brazil over the period 1971-2014. To achieve this objective, the minimum Lagrange multiplier (LM) unit root and Bayer-Hanck combined cointegration tests are applied. The model is estimated using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FM-OLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) estimation procedures. The empirical results suggest that all the variables have a positive and significant effect on electricity consumption. This implies that increasing the level of these variables would stimulate electricity consumption. The long-run causality results indicate a one-way causality running from ecological footprint, democracy, and globalisation to electricity consumption. The results further discover that causality flows from ecological footprint, democracy, and globalisation to economic growth. In addition, a long-run bidirectional causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth is uncovered. In the short run, the result validates a bidirectional causality between ecological footprint and electricity consumption. More so, electricity consumption causes economic growth and democracy, whilst economic growth causes globalisation. The results are validated by the innovation accounting tests. The policy implication of the findings is that ecological-based conservation policies could have negative consequences on economic growth and electricity consumption because of a significant dependence of these two variables on the ecological footprint. Therefore, to guarantee sustainable electricity consumption, sufficient and sustainable green energy and optimum energy mix should be encouraged by the stakeholders.

In this paper we examined the interaction between greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy, coal energy, urban agglomeration, and economic growth in Pakistan by utilizing time series data during 1972–2019. The stationarity of the variables was tested through unit root tests, while the ARDL (autoregressive distributed lag) method with long and short-run estimations was applied to reveal the linkages between variables. A unidirectional association between all variables was revealed by performing a Granger causality test under the vector error correction model (VECM) that was extracted during the short-run estimate. Furthermore, the stepwise least squares technique was also utilized to check the robustness of the variables. The findings of long-run estimations showed that GHG emissions, coal energy, and urban agglomeration have an adversative association with economic growth in Pakistan, while nuclear energy showed a dynamic association with the economic growth. The outcomes of short-run estimations also show that nuclear energy has a constructive association with economic growth, while the remaining variables exposed an adversative linkage to economic growth in Pakistan. Similarly, the Granger causality test under the vector error correction model (VECM) outcomes exposes that all variables have unidirectional association. Furthermore, the outcomes of the stepwise least squares technique reveals that GHG emissions and coal energy have an adverse association with economic growth, and variables nuclear energy and urban agglomeration have a productive linkage to the economic growth in Pakistan. GHG emissions are no doubt an emerging issue globally; therefore, conservative policies and financial support are needed to tackle this issue. Despite the fact that Pakistan contributes less to greenhouse gas emissions than industrialized countries, the government must implement new policies to address this problem in order to contribute to environmental sustainability while also enhancing economic development.

The Greek National Energy and Climate Plan was validated by the Greek Governmental Committee of Economic Policy on 23 December 2019. The decisions included in this plan will have a significant impact on the Greek energy mix as the production of electricity from lignite combustion ceases in 2028, when lignite will be replaced by natural gas (NG) and renewable energy sources (RES). This work presents an assessment of the Greek National Energy and Climate Plan by analyzing its pros and cons. The main critiques made are focused on the absence of risk analysis and alternative scenarios, the proposed energy mix, the absence of other alternatives on the energy mix and energy storage, the low attention given to energy savings (transport, buildings), the future energy prices, and the economic and social impacts. This analysis shows that delaying this transition for some years, to better prepare it by taking into consideration the most sustainable paths for that transition, such as using more alternatives, is the best available option today.

Long-term energy scenarios form the basis of energy policy-making. In practice, the use of energy scenarios for the effective creation of energy policy differs in each country. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present two possible scenarios for the development of the Polish energy sector, resulting from the current national policy and international commitments of Poland. The study examined the development of the energy mix in Poland in the 2040 perspective, in accordance with the strategic document Energy Policy of Poland (PEP 2040). The analysis took into account four diagnostic features: electricity production, electricity price, the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in final energy consumption, and CO2 emission reduction. In addition, the analysis allowed for the presentation of the implications for the Polish economy and society after the application of the diversified variant with nuclear energy and the diversified variant with natural gas. Both scenarios assume too slow development of RES, and the ambivalent attitude of the Polish political elite towards zero-emission energy sources significantly hinders the development of some of its forms (e.g., onshore wind energy). Unfortunately, both the first and second variants entail a large increase in electricity prices, which will affect the entire economy and increase the level of energy poverty among Poles. The study provides strategic insights on the consequences of Poland’s choice of a specific energy transformation scenario. The results may serve as a starting point for understanding Poland’s restraint towards achieving zero emissions and contribute to the discussion of the direction of development of the Polish energy sector.

Many countries, states, and territories have set short and long term targets to increase the share of renewable sources for electricity generation as part of their respective energy policies. Increased reliance on renewables can occur from several sources (e.g., biomass, solar, hydro, wind). Similarly, when increasing renewables, a decreased reliance on one or more non-renewable (e.g., coal, gas, oil, nuclear) sources must occur. However, each region is different with respect to its present profile and capabilities to generate electricity. Complicating this is that demand can differ across individuals, states and territories. By using a discrete choice experiment and latent class hybrid choice model (LCHCM), we estimate individual willingness to pay (WTP) values among four renewable and four non-renewable energy sources for residents across Australia’s states and territories. The model identifies two latent segments in relation to WTP, which can be described using differences in pro-environmental attitudes and socio-demographics. The findings reveal that preferences in terms of energy mix composition for electricity generation are heterogeneous across Australia states and individuals. WTP is found to be higher for biomass, whilst those who are younger, males and those holding pro-environmental attitudes are also supportive of hydro and solar over gas and nuclear sources.

Improving energy efficiency and conservation is integral to sustain agricultural growth in emerging economies. This paper investigates the energy efficiency and energy-saving potential of the agricultural sector of 27 emerging economies using a stochastic frontier approach and Shephard distance function, and their determinants are examined using the Tobit quantile regression model. Results revealed that energy efficiency in the agricultural sector fluctuated during the period from 1998 to 2017. The median average energy efficiency was estimated at 0.74, and the cumulative energy-saving potential was estimated at 542.80 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe), which can be achieved by eliminating energy inefficiency alone. Differences exist in energy efficiency and energy-saving potential across continents, with higher potential in Asia and lower potential in Europe. Economic structure, urbanization and GDP per capita have negative influences on agricultural energy efficiency. Energy mix and pesticide use are significant drivers of energy efficiency, while the ratio of agricultural land that has varied influences different quantiles. Policy implications include optimization of the energy mix, economic structure and pesticide use.

The article criticises the direction in which the Polish electrical power sector is to develop, as stated in the draft energy policy. Such a draft policy assumes not only that overwhelming dependence on hard and brown coal for electricity generation should be maintained in the long term, but also that large-scale nuclear power plants should be developed. The starting point of the article is a statement that the authors of this policy do not sufficiently take into account the challenges of, and related threats to, both types of energy generation resulting from progress in technology transformation involving the rapid development of renewable energy. The purpose of the article is to present arguments confirming the following twofold thesis. Firstly, the greatest threat to coal and nuclear power plants is the so-called death spiral, which results in those assets gaining a stranded status. Secondly, against the backdrop of the growing share of renewable energy sources in the national energy mix, there is a need to focus on the development of gas sources for electricity production. The justification of this thesis is based on an analysis of the current levels of knowledge about the progress and direction of the power sector technological transformation, especially in solar and wind electricity generation, electricity storage as well as smart grids and meters. The problem of spiral death as an existential threat for the economics of coal and nuclear power is then analysed, and against this background the advantages of gas source development are presented.

A cost-effective low-carbon transition requires designing a state support mechanism that delivers an optimal diversity of renewable energy sources (RES) in the energy mix. Lowest price auctions that do not discriminate between technologies deliver optimal RES diversity, providing that there are no spill-over effects associated with the deployment of each technology. This precondition fails to apply, however, if RES technologies are able to benefit from learning-by-doing and if learning rates are uncertain. In the first part of this study we review the literature on the optimal diversity of technologies when technological progress is uncertain and on the uncertainty of learning rates. Then we use an analytical model to demonstrate that, under the uncertainty of learning potential, the socially-optimal diversity of RES is larger than the outcome of the lowest price auction. We also show that the social benefits from diversification disappear if there is no potential for learning-by-doing. Thus, countries that potentially could benefit from large learning rate effects — such as countries at the technological frontier — should increase RES diversification by introducing technology-specific auctions, while more peripheral countries should limit diversification by using technology-neutral auctions. We also show that the diversity of RES in the social optimum is greater than that predicted by energy models assuming fixed learning rates.

The study examined the impact of different forces on carbon dioxide emissions for ten newly industrialized countries (NIC’s) by applying the extended STIRPAT model for the period 1991–2013. Moreover, study utilizes the regression of group mean dynamic common correlated estimator (DCCE) to analyze the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), population, affluence, technology and extended factors such as labor productivity, urban employment level, population carrying intensity of real economy, energy mix, trade openness and energy intensity. The results from DCCE approach are compared with fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic ordinary least square techniques for robustness. Results of the study suggest that population, GDP per capita and CO2emission intensity along with energy intensity are main contributors for CO2 emissions for NIC’s, while population carrying capacity of real economy have no significant impact on CO2 emission level. Furthermore, energy mix and trade openness have marginal contribution in CO2 emissions. The policymakers can use these results to develop appropriate policies for economic growth through industrial development by curtailing the level of CO2emissions. Keywords: CO2 emissions, Extended STIRPAT, Dynamic common correlated estimator (DCCE) regression, NIC’s

The article extends the literature on the nexus among economy, environment and energy by incorporating an index of electricity generation diversity in production and emission functions. The...

China's wind power has experienced explosive growth and reshaped the overall energy mix since 2009. However, increasing investment in the wind power industry has been accompanied by persistent and serious wind curtailment since 2010, leading to significant efficiency loss. This paper argues that the interprovincial market segmentation, which is driven by political motivations, is a key factor contributing to wind curtailment. We first construct an interprovincial electricity market segmentation index. This is then used as an independent variable to explain the variation in wind curtailment rates. A panel dataset of 28 provinces during the 2009–2016 period is used for empirical analysis. The results clearly show that market barriers positively contribute to wind power curtailment. Specifically, a 10% decrease in the market segmentation index will lead to a 4.3–5.3% decrease in wind power curtailment.

The study uses the two-stage bias-corrected DEA approach of Simar and Wilson (2007) to assess the efficiency of the EU countries in terms of their wind power investment in 2015. The set of input variables includes installed wind power capacity and average wind power density, while output variables include wind-generated electricity and three additional aspects: environmental, economic and energy security. Next, the study examines the effect of renewable energy policy regarding wind energy, the energy mix, and the offshore wind power utilisation on the wind power efficiency of the analysed countries. The results obtained reveal that the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland are the most efficient countries in terms of wind power investment. The inclusion of additional aspects demonstrates the greatest improvement of efficiency in Belgium, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Estonia and Germany. The results seem to indicate that economic instruments used within renewable energy policy have a positive effect on wind power efficiency, while policy support and regulatory instruments might negatively impact. Moreover, the results show that the energy mix explains the variation of the efficiency of the EU countries when their economic and environmental aspects are considered. The analysis of the geographic location indicates that countries with a high share of offshore wind capacity are the most efficient.