Nexus between trade, CO 2 emissions, renewable energy, and health expenditure in Pakistan

The effect of environmental degradation on self-reported health: the role of renewable energy consumption

Although there are a number of studies in the literature that have explored the effect of environmental degradation on the subjective well-being and life satisfaction, no previous study has addressed the role of renewable energy consumption in examining the effect of environmental degradation on self-reported health. To this end, we employ a conditional mixed process (CMP) model, using a unique dataset that combines both micro-level data from the 6th (2010-2014) and 7th (2017-2022) Waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) database and macro-level data from the World Bank. Our study has several important empirical findings. First, while environmental degradation deteriorates self-reported health, social capital and health expenditure have a positive impact on self-reported health. Second, the share of renewable energy consumption in total final energy consumption has a statistically significant negative impact on environmental degradation. Third, urbanization has a deteriorating effect on environmental quality and the total number of people increases environmental degradation.

Can the development of renewable energy in China compensate for the damage caused by environmental pollution to residents' health?

China's rapid economic growth in recent decades has caused a growing problem of environmental pollution, which negatively impacts the physical and mental health of residents. In recent years, renewable energy has emerged as a promising solution to alleviate environmental pollution and improve residents' well-being. However, it is unknown whether renewable energy development can counterbalance the health impacts of environmental pollution. Therefore, we conducted a study using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the impact of environmental pollution and renewable energy on the health of 20,694 residents. Our analysis showed that renewable energy development can partially offset the negative health effects of environmental pollution. Specifically, we found that a 1% increase in environmental pollution is linked to an average decrease of 0.0911% in physical health (PHY) and 0.0566% in mental health (MEN), whereas each 1% rise in renewable energy corresponds to an average increase of 0.2585% in PHY and 0.1847% in MEN. These positive effects apply to male and female residents, urban and rural residents, young and middle-aged adults, and people with low, medium, and high levels of education. These findings are significant for decision-makers striving to improve Chinese residents' physical and mental health by considering the specific impact of renewable energy and comprehensive environmental pollution.

The nexus between economic growth, health expenditure, environmental quality: a comparative study for E7 countries

The motivation of this study is to analyze the relationship between economic growth, health expenditures, environmental pollution, gross fixed capital formation and labor force by using annual data of E7 countries for the period 2000 to 2018. The co-integration coefficient of the variables was analyzed using the PMG technique, and the causality relationship between the variables was analyzed using the Emirmahmutoglu F, Kose N. Testing for granger causality in heterogeneous mixed panels. Econ Modell 2011;28:870-6 technique. In the empirical findings, the elasticity coefficient of health expenditures, environmental pollution, gross fixed capital formation and labor force variables is positive and significant. On the other hand, in the results of the causality relationship, it was concluded that economic growth and health expenditures are causal. It is concluded that economic growth is causal to CO₂ emissions. In addition, CO₂ emissions are the cause of health expenditures. As a result of the empirical findings obtained, the implementation of policies that will reduce environmental pollution in the perspective of sustainable growth will also affect health expenditures.

Relating biogas technology and environmental impact assessment: a roadmap towards clean energy for environmental sustainability

Atmosphere contamination and fast weather change have compelled scientists and entrepreneurs to seek eco-friendly solutions for saving the earth. Increasing energy consumption depletes limited natural resources and harms the climate and ecology. In this regard, biogas technology contributes in two ways: satisfying energy needs and saving plants. Pakistan is a farming nation with enormous biogas-based energy generating potential. The primary objectives of this study are to identify the most significant barriers to farmers' investment in biogas technology. Non-probability sampling (purposive sampling) was utilized to establish the sample size. Ninety-seven investors and farmers were systematically sampled in biogas technology engaged in this survey. The planned questionnaire was practiced to obtain key facts via online interviews. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to evaluate designated hypotheses. The current research concludes that entire autonomous variables are substantial and interrelated with investment in biogas machinery, dropping energy disasters, and accomplishing environmental, financial, and maintenance government support objectives. The results also revealed that electronic and social media play a moderating influence. This conceptual model is considerably and positively affected by the chosen factors and their moderation. This study concludes that the primary tools for attracting farmers and investors in biogas technology are proper biogas technology awareness with relevant experts, financial and maintenance government responsibility, user efficiency and environmental concern of biogas plants, and the role of electronic and social media. The results also advised that the government should implement an incentive and maintenance policy to entice new farmers and investors in Pakistan to build biogas technology. Finally, the study's limitations and recommendations for additional studies are highlighted.

Urbanization, renewable energy production, and carbon dioxide emission in BSEC member states: implications for climate change mitigation and energy markets

As the world's population grows, the energy demand continues to rise due to advancements in technology and the impact of globalization. The finite nature of traditional energy sources has accelerated the shift toward renewable energy, particularly in developing countries where environmental degradation and declining quality of life are significant concerns. This study delves into the interplay between urbanization, carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, and renewable energy production in Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation member states, providing new insights into the energy market. By using annual data from 1995 to 2020 and advanced panel cointegration tests, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of renewable energy for developing countries. The findings show a substantial and long-term relationship between urbanization, emissions, growth, and renewable energy production. These findings have important implications for policymakers and underscore the critical role of renewable energy in mitigating climate change in developing countries.

Modeling the economic viability and performance of solar home systems: a roadmap towards clean energy for environmental sustainability

Energy is a necessary source of economic development and social prosperity, linked with primary production and consumption activities worldwide. In this regard, solar home systems (SHSs) are beneficial in two ways, i.e., saving vitality overheads and meeting the energy demand of small enterprises. The current study aims to evaluate the performance of adopting SHS to develop the small-scale industry in Pakistan. An inclusive questionnaire survey was conducted, and respondents were selected using the purposive sampling method. As a step further, we scrutinize the moderating role of awareness and understanding of technology between the node of adopting SHS and the monetary enactment of small-scale industry. We authenticate the model using a sample of 357 respondents by applying the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results indicate that low-cost energy through SHSs has a progressive and substantial linkage with the demonstration of small-scale industry and enhances the quality of energy supply in Pakistan. Similarly, awareness and understanding of SHS significantly moderate the relationships between enhanced energy supply through SHS, the quality of SHS, and the performance of the small-scale industry. These findings provide a valuable guideline to the regulation developing authorities that more attention is needed to focus on SHS to further improve the performance of small-scale industry.

The long-term dynamic relationship between communicable disease spread, economic prosperity, greenhouse gas emissions, and government health expenditures: preparing for COVID-19-like pandemics

The spread of communicable diseases, such as COVID-19, has a detrimental effect on our socio-economic structure. In a dynamic log-run world, socio-economic and environmental factors interact to spread communicable diseases. We investigated the long-term interdependence of communicable disease spread, economic prosperity, greenhouse gas emissions, and government health expenditures in India's densely populated economy using a variance error correction (VEC) approach. The VEC model was validated using stationarity, cointegration, autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity, and normality tests. Our impulse response and variance decomposition analyses revealed that economic prosperity (GNI) significantly impacts the spread of communicable diseases, greenhouse gas emissions, government health expenditures, and GNI. Current health expenditures can reduce the need for future increases, and the spread of communicable diseases is detrimental to economic growth. Developing economies should prioritize economic growth and health spending to combat pandemics. Simultaneously, the adverse effects of economic prosperity on environmental degradation should be mitigated through policy incentives.

Environmental quality and health expenditures efficiency in Türkiye: the role of natural resources

The environmental pollution caused by climate change and global warming pose significant risks to health. This raises the question how environmental disturbances can affect health expenditures. Based on this, this study examines the asymmetric effect of environmental quality on health expenditures in Türkiye using the non-linear ARDL (NARDL) model for the 1975-2019 period. In addition to environmental quality, natural resources, economic growth, and trade openness variables are also included in the health expenditure model. The findings support the existence of an asymmetric cointegration relationship between the series. The findings also indicate that positive environmental pollution shocks affect health expenditures positively in the long run, while negative environmental pollution shocks do not have a statistically significant effect on health expenditures. Positive and negative natural resource shocks affect health expenditures negatively in the long run. Despite the effect of positive economic growth shocks on health expenditures is positive but statistically insignificant, the effect of negative economic growth shocks is positive and significant. Besides, positive trade openness shocks have a negative effect on health expenditures and negative trade openness shocks have a positive effect. The findings prove that the steps to be taken to protect the environment in the current period will increase the effectiveness of health expenditures in the future. This situation has a guiding feature for policy-makers in terms of policy decisions.

On the persistence of shocks to global CO2 emissions: a historical data perspective (0 to 2014)

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) are the most important greenhouse gas. However, until now, no research has investigated the persistence of global CO₂ emissions over a very long period of time. This work aims to fill this gap by examining the persistence of shocks to global CO₂ emissions with a dataset of more than 2000 years. To this end, the study applies a battery of unit root tests by considering sharp and smooth structural shifts as well as the frequency domain properties of the series. Lee-Strazicich method results reveal that sharp break dates relate to the influenza pandemic of 1557 and the invention of the steam engine in 1712, and these historical events led to changes in the trend function of CO₂ emissions. The findings of the Fourier Lagrange Multiplier and Fourier wavelet unit root tests illustrate that global CO₂ emissions contain a unit root and do not exhibit mean-reverting behavior, thus external shocks have permanent effects on CO₂ emissions. The results suggest that a reduction in global CO₂ emissions is possible if effective environmental and energy policies established in international meetings such as Rio Conference, Kyoto Protocol Paris Agreement, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit are properly implemented.

Role of household waste, governance quality, and greener energy for public health: Evidence from developed economies

In the current times, the global economies and international organizations declared that pollution is one of the prominent causes of declined human health. Still, most literature is biased toward economic sustainability and ignores such vital issues. The current study tends to identify the factors affecting public health in the Group of Seven economies except for Italy (G6). Specifically, this study aims to investigate the influence of household waste (HHW), bureaucratic quality (BQ), democratic accountability (DA), urbanization growth (URP), GDP per capita, and renewable energy use (EPR) on public health, throughout 1996-2020. This study uses advanced panel data approaches and finds the heterogeneity of slope coefficients, the dependence of cross-sections, and the persistence of cointegration between the variables. The asymmetric distribution of data leads to employing the novel method of moment quantile regression. The estimated results reveal that URP, GDPPC, and EPR significantly increase domestic general government health expenditures, improving public health. However, HHW and BQ adversely affect public health by reducing health expenditures. The robustness of the results is tested via utilizing the panel quantile regression. Based on the empirical findings, this study suggests policies regarding the improvement in public health expenditure, R&D investment, spending in renewable energy sector, and strengthening of the institutional quality.

Relationship between health spending, life expectancy and renewable energy in China: A new evidence from the VECM approach

There has been a growing trend in health spending and renewable energy consumption in China over the past few decades, which has positive implications for health outcomes, such as life expectancy. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to empirically analyze the impact of health expenditures and renewable energy on life expectancy in China. We used the time series data from 2000Q1 to 2020Q4 and applied the VECM approach for the data analysis. The results of this study suggest a long run association between health spending, life expectancy and renewable energy. The increase in health spending improves life expectancy, while renewable energy consumption also positively affects life expectancy in China. Therefore, the government should allocate sufficient funding to the health sector in order to attain higher life expectancy in the country. In addition, the government should also provide incentives for the consumption and production of renewable energy, which could help to achieve the sustainable development goal and life expectancy.

The nexus among ICT, institutional quality, health expenditure, and carbon emission: a case study from Saudi Arabia

The most essential component of human capital is health capital; however, expenditures on health are gaining attention from practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. Accordingly, this study determined the dynamic association between health expenditures (HEP), economic growth (ECGW), carbon emissions (COEM), information and communication technology (ICT), institutional quality (IQ), and energy consumption (EC) in the context of Saudi Arabia. The autoregressive distributed lag and vector error correction model was employed to identify the dynamic linkages among under-considered variables by using data of 1995-2019. The empirical analysis indicated that COEM, ECGW, and EC have a positive influence on HEP, while ICT and IQ have a negative effect on HEP. There is bidirectional causality is identified between COEM, ICT, IQ, and EC, while one-way long-run causality is recognized from HEP and ECGW to these variables. Moreover, two-way short-run causality is identified between ICT and EC, whereas one-way causality is recognized from HEP and COEM to ICT. This study empirically established the essential role of IQ and ICT to enhance air quality and decrease the HEP. Consequently, policymakers should strengthen the institution and implement advanced ICTs to provide a healthy economy.

Financial inclusion and environmental sustainability in Ghana: application of the dynamic ARDL estimator

Numerous explorations have been conducted on the determinants of Ghana's environmental quality. However, to the best of my knowledge, there has been no research on the connection between financial inclusion and environmental sustainability in the country. This study was therefore conducted to help fill that gap. In attaining the aforestated goal, econometric techniques that yield valid and reliable outcomes were engaged. From the results, all the series were first differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long run. The DARDL estimator with the support of the conventional ARDL estimator was adopted to explore the marginal effects of the predictors on the explained variable, and from the results, financial inclusion worsened environmental sustainability in the nation via high carbon emissions. Also, foreign direct investments degraded the country's ecological quality validating the pollution haven hypothesis. Finally, trade openness, population growth, and energy consumption were detrimental to environmental sustainability in the nation. On the causal directions amidst the series, unidirectional causalities from financial inclusion and trade openness to carbon effusions were disclosed. Also, feedback causalities between foreign direct investments and carbon emissions; between population growth and carbon effluents; and between energy consumption and carbon exudates were unfolded. The study recommended among others that, financial establishments should not fund the production of carbon-intensive goods, but those that are friendly to the environment. The government can also help to improve environmental sustainability by establishing regulations to mandate financial entities to engage in eco-friendly activities.

Striving towards sustainable development: how environmental degradation and energy efficiency interact with health expenditures in SAARC countries

The previous studies focused on environmental issues, identifying their root causes, urging prompt action to reduce environmental degradation. In this context, the current article extends the literature by incorporating the ecological impacts on the health sector and the role of sustainable development. The present study adds to the body of knowledge by examining the relationship between CO₂ emissions, sustainable development, energy efficiency, energy intensity, and health expenditures for SAARC countries from 2000 to 2020. Fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) are used and diagnostic tests to check the association between the variables. The empirical analysis validated the long-run impact of the examined factors on health expenditures. The results show that energy efficiency and sustainable development have a statistically significant negative effect on health expenditures, vice-versa for CO₂ emission. Energy efficiency, energy intensity, and CO₂ emissions have been shown to have a one-way causative relationship with health expenditures, but sustainable development and economic growth have a two-way causation relationship. The better health status of the SAARC economies necessitates the establishment of long-term development strategies, environmental sustainability, and an examination of the energy sector. This work's conceptual and empirical advances have significant policy ramifications for this part of the globe and its efforts to improve sustainability.

Trade openness and urbanization impact on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in China

China has witnessed significant growth in trade through vide range trade liberalization strategies and urbanization has also been entered in advanced stage. Based on these dynamics, how much energy consumption of both renewable and none renewable account for energy consumption in whole system is a point of higher attention for the researchers. To understand this salient emerging debatable concern, we investigate the impact of trade openness and urbanization effect on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in China for the period 1990-2018. We apply the quantile regression technique for the analysis; our results show that trade significantly increases the non-renewable energy consumption in all quintiles while partially increasing renewable energy consumption. This shows that trade activities in production and export commodities heavily rely on non-renewable energy inputs instead of renewable energy inputs. Urbanization affects non-renewable energy consumption only in three quintiles, while its effect is insignificant in most of the quintiles. Similarly, urbanization does not affect renewable energy consumption as in almost all quantiles the coefficients are statistically insignificant. This implies that urbanization is one of the determinants of energy consumption in China. The empirical findings of this study suggest some policy recommendations; first, the government needs to implement certain regulations while expanding trade to minimize the negative effect of non-renewable energy consumption; besides government should provide incentives to industrial units and traders for using renewable energy which may help to attain long term sustainable development goals. The government should also put certain limitations on population moving from rural to urban destinations.

Renewable Energy, Urbanization, and CO2 Emissions: A Global Test

A fixed effects regression and two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) is used to analyze secondary data from the World Bank, covering 163 countries over the period from 2000 to 2016. The study tests the relationship between renewable energy, urbanization, and CO2 emissions. The empirical results show that urbanization has an inverted U-shaped relationship with CO2 emissions, while renewable energy consumption mitigates CO2 emissions. If causal, a 1% increase in renewable energy use leads to a 1.2% decrease in CO2 emissions. The results also show that the GDP per capita has an inverted U-shaped relationship with CO2 emissions, confirming the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). We also found that innovation, proxied by residents’ patents, has a non-linear effect on CO2 emissions. As a policy implication, developing countries should increase the share of renewable energy in their total energy use, and promote innovative activities by increasing government spending on R&D.

Impact of Environment, Life Expectancy and Real GDP per Capita on Health Expenditures: Evidence from the EU Member States

This research explores the impact of environment, life expectancy, and real GDP per capita on health expenditures in a sample of 27 EU member states over the 2000-2018 period through causality and cointegration analyses. The causality analysis revealed a significant unilateral causality from variables of greenhouse gas emissions, life expectancy, and real GDP per capita to health expenditures. In other words, greenhouse gas emissions, life expectancy, and real GDP per capita had a significant impact on health expenditures in the short run. The cointegration analysis indicated that life expectancy and real GDP per capita had a significant positive impact on health expenditures at the overall panel. On the other side, the country level cointegration coefficients revealed that life expectancy had a considerable positive impact on health expenditures, real GDP per capita had a moderate positive impact on the health expenditures in most of the countries in the panel, but the environment proxied by greenhouse gas emissions had a low positive or negative impact on the health expenditures in a limited number of countries.

Renewable Energy and CO2 Emissions: Empirical Evidence from Major Energy-Consuming Countries

The goal of this study was to contribute to the ongoing debate on the relationship between renewable energy (RE) and CO2 emissions. In particular, we explored the link between RE and CO2 emissions in a sample of major renewable energy-consuming countries for the period 2000–2015. Therefore, the major contribution of this study was to answer the question of whether a substantial shift to renewable energy consumption will lead to lower CO2 emissions. Using the two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, our empirical results suggested that RE has a significant negative effect on CO2 emissions. For example, a one percentage point increase in RE leads to a 0.5% decrease in CO2 emissions.

The non-linear influence of trade, foreign direct investment, financial development, energy supply and human capital on carbon emissions in the BRICS

This research investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment, domestic credit to the private sector, energy supply and human capital on carbon emissions subject to the level of trade. In the interest of capturing this non-linear association, this paper utilises the fixed effect panel threshold model. Thus, deploying a panel dataset of BRICS economies from 2000 to 2018, the study produces important findings that trade exerts a considerable non-linear influence on environmental quality. In this context, the paper determines specific threshold levels upon which environmental quality either increase or decrease for the BRICS economies when either energy supply (1.5962, approximately $US 4.934 million), domestic credit to the private sector (1.6375, about $US 5.142 million), foreign direct investment (1.6375, about $US5.142 million) or human capital (1.6375, about $US5.142 million) increases. To ascertain the causation of included parameters, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test results are also presented.

Does tourism increase CO2 emissions and health spending in Mexico? New evidence from nonlinear ARDL approach

This study investigates the nexus between tourism, CO₂ emissions and health spending in Mexico. We applied a nonlinear ARDL approach for the empirical analysis for the time period 1996-2018. Mexico receives a large number of tourists each year, tourism improves foreign exchange earnings and contributes positively to the economic growth. However, tourist activities impose a serious environmental cost in terms of CO₂ emissions which increase health spending. The empirical findings suggest that tourism leads to CO₂ emissions which resultantly causes a high level of health spending in Mexico. Both short-run and long-run findings reported a significant positive association between tourism, CO₂ emissions, and health expenditures. Therefore, the government needs legislation to reduce CO₂ emissions, besides the use of renewable energy could also help to reduce the CO₂ emissions and health expenditures in society. This study does not support to reduce the health expenditure, rather it suggests optimal utilization of the funds allocated to the health sector.

The relationship between renewable energy use and health expenditures in EU countries

With the increased attention on renewable energy use especially in the European Union, it also becomes worthwhile to investigate the positive effects of renewable energy use on human development measures. As non-renewable energy use may contribute to health hazards, it makes sense to think that increased renewable energy use may positively influence public health or increase the funds available for health expenditures. This research therefore aims to explore the relationship between renewable energy use and health expenditures for 27 European Union member countries. The analysis indicates that the relationship is unidirectional for countries hat joined the EU before 2000 and bidirectional for those that joined after the year 2000. Also a country by country analysis indicates the direction of the relationship for individual countries for both groups. This research is unique in the sense that the causality analysis is separately conducted fort the two groups of EU members labeled as pre-2000 and post-2000.

The roles of economic growth and health expenditure on CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries: a quantile regression model approach

Continuous economic growth and the rise in energy consumption are linked with environmental pollution. Demand for health care expenditure increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is interesting in modeling the nexus between public and private health expenditure, carbon dioxide emissions, and economic growth. To this end, the present study analyzed the nexus between public and private health care expenditure, economic growth, and environmental pollution for 36 Asian countries for the period 1991-2017. FMOLS, GMM, and quantile regression analysis confirm the EKC hypothesis in Asia. Besides, FMOLS and quantile regressions reached the reducing effects of government and private health expenditures on CO₂ emissions. While quantile regression results show that public and private health expenditures can mitigate CO₂ emissions; however, these results differ for various levels of CO₂. Findings of quantile regression show a significant impact of both public and private health expenditures in reducing CO₂ at the 50^th and 75^th quantiles but results are insignificant for the 25^th quantile. Overall, the paper concludes that both government and private health sectors' expenditures caused CO₂ emissions to decrease in Asia and that the negative impact of the private health sector on CO₂ emissions is greater than that of the government health sector. The concluding remark is that the higher the health spending, the higher the environmental quality will be in Asia. Hence, the health administrators need to increase public and private health expenditures with an effective cost-service and energy-efficient management approach to reach sustainable health services and a sustainable environment in Asia.

Managing health disasters and Civil-Military Cooperation: A case of COVID-19 in Pakistan

As an institution, the Pakistan Army has been playing a significant role in dealing with emergencies and disasters facing the nation. The novel coronavirus disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) COVID-19, was wreaking havoc around the world. The pandemic is a threat to health and has caused severe damage across most aspects of the society. The situation forced the formation of a unique series of civil-military inter-agency relationships to be formed, in order to curb the spread of the pandemic. The Pakistan Army that was neither trained nor equipped to undertake any such health disaster management operation played a significant role in preventing disease and overcoming the disaster. Civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) was the key to the successful response of Pakistan towards COVID-19. The research was based on qualitative interviews that analysed the phenomenon of COVID-19 pandemic, that is, 'health disaster', to elucidate the disaster management practices performed through the framework of CIMIC in Pakistan. With regard to this, the article argued that formulating a comprehensive guideline or framework was necessary to maintain an effective and cooperative relationship between civil and military components. It further demonstrated the need to recognise the constitutive factors that influenced the functionalisation and institutionalisation of CIMIC to manage the highly complex health-related emergencies.

Modeling Trade Openness and Life Expectancy in China

Objective

This study investigates life expectancy and trade openness in China for the period 1960–2018.

Methods

We purposed a theoretical model that is tested for China by applying regime-switching regression.

Results

Our findings suggest that trade openness increases life expectancy in China; trade affects life expectancy from two aspects; firstly, trade expansion and industrialization lead to high economic activities and resulted in raise the income of the people in society leading to improve life expectancy. Secondly, industrial expansion increases the CO₂ emissions which leads to imposes a negative implication on human health and thus reduces life expectancy.

Conclusion

Thus, the net effect of trade liberalization depends on the value of income effect and volume of CO₂ emissions. Therefore, the government needs to support the trade policies which causes a low level of CO₂ emissions, the government may provide incentives to exports and industrialists to adopted green energy in the production process. Besides, the government may impose some regulations such as carbon tax to mitigate the CO₂ emissions in society.

Contribution of Renewable Energy Consumption to CO2 Emission Mitigation: A Comparative Analysis from a Global Geographic Perspective

Renewable energy consumption (REC) has an important significance in mitigating CO2 emissions. However, currently, few scientists have analyzed the underlying impact of REC from a global geographic perspective. Thus, here, we divide the world into seven regions to study this impact during the period 1971–2016 using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI). These regions were East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Europe and Central Asia (ECA), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), North America (NA), South Asia (SA), and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The results showed that ECA had the most obviously mitigating effect of −10.13%, followed by NA and MENA (−3.91% and −3.87%, respectively). Inversely, EAP had the largest driving effect of 4.12%, followed by SA (3.43%) and the others. Globally, REC had an overall mitigating contribution of −11.04% to total CO2 change. These results indicate that it is still important to exploit and utilize renewable energy, especially in presently developing or underdeveloped countries. Moreover, for some countries at a certain stage, their REC effects were negative, but, concurrently, their energy intensity effects were positive. These results show that some developing countries recently reduced carbon emissions only by extensively using renewable energy, not by enhancing energy-use efficiency. Finally, some policy implications for reducing CO2 in different countries are recommended.

Does environment quality and public spending on environment promote life expectancy in China? Evidence from a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach

Environmental quality has become a growing concern for Chinese society since the last 2 decades in China. The large contribution of different pollutants severely affected the environmental quality that untimely affects life expectancy in the country. In this backdrop, the present study investigates the impact of environmental quality and public spending on the environment for life expectancy in China using the period 1999Q1-2017Q4. We employ nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) approach for the empirical assessment. The outcomes of the study reveal the existence of a long-run relationship between environmental quality, public spending on the environment and life expectancy in China. The empirical finding reported that life expectancy reacts differently in response to positive and negative shocks of environmental quality both in the long- and short-run. Environmental quality and spending on the environment increase the life expectancy, furthermore, population has a positive and significant association with life expectancy only in short run while in long run it does not affect. Hence, the government needs to roll out policies to enhance environmental quality and ensure adequate funding for environmental preservation, to achieve both longevity of society and sustainability of the eco-system.

Unraveling the Dynamic Nexus Between Trade Liberalization, Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions, and Health Expenditure in Southeast Asian Countries

Objective

Most of the Southeast Asian countries witnessed remarkable economic growth in the last few decades. Trade is a primary factor in achieving this exponential economic progress in these countries. Besides, the positive implications of trade, it has associated cost of escalated energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and resulting health complications which leads to higher public health expenditures. This study examines the nexus between trade liberalization, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and health expenditures in Southeast Asian countries for the period of 1991 to 2018.

Methods

The empirical methods used in this study entail diagnostic testing, correlation analysis, and structure equation modeling (SEM) technique. SEM is an advanced multivariate analysis technique that can test complex multivariate causal associations among a set of variables. Therefore, it is the most suitable econometric approach to explore the dynamic association between trade openness, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and health expenditures.

Results

The empirical results reveal a nexus between trade openness, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and health expenditure in Southeast Asian countries. Nevertheless, pollutant emissions have a direct impact on health expenditures, whereas trade and energy consumption shows an indirect influence on the escalation in public health spending in sample Southeast Asian countries. Moreover, the mediating path of each indirect effect is energy consumption.

Conclusion

These results imply that Southeast Asian countries heavily rely on fossil energy to fuel economic growth. Hence, to promote sustainable and eco-friendly economic development, the respective governments need to reform their energy sectors by tapping into renewable energy resources and deploy green technologies to reduce pollutant emissions for the development of a healthy society. In addition, governments should levy taxes on highly polluting industries so as to curtail carbon emissions and resulting health expenditures.