Impact of economic capabilities and population agglomeration on PM2.5 emission: empirical evidence from sub-Saharan African countries

Empirical analysis of South African's urbanization growth and export demands: implications for environmental sustainability

South African economy is widely known to contribute significantly to the carbon emissions due to usage of heavy machinery and equipment involved in production process. This study examines the linkage among carbon emissions, export, gross domestic product, and urban population growth in South Africa. The study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to evaluate the linkage among outlined variables, using annual data from 1981 to 2021. The findings indicate that a 1% increase in urban population leads to 1% decrease in carbon emissions. Furthermore, a 1% increase in economic activities (GDP) leads to a rise in carbon emissions. This corroborates rising exports with GDP that is rising thereby resulting in carbon emissions. The study recommends platforms that educate the populace, especially the youth on the management of carbon emissions in their daily home and business activities should be encouraged. More investment into clean technologies should be provided for energy efficiency machinery, and more research into such activities should be pursued by all relevant stakeholders.

Is there an EKC between economic growth and air pollutant emissions in SAARC countries? Evidence from disaggregated analysis

The manufacturing and construction (M&C) sector not only plays a vital role in promoting economic growth, but is also a significant contributor to global air pollution. Growing concerns regarding air pollutant emissions necessitate a more disaggregated (i.e., sectoral) investigation in order to identify the major contributors. This study employs aggregated and disaggregated data to determine the fundamental effects of economic growth (i.e., overall growth and sectoral growth) on air pollutant emissions (APE) (specifically, PM2.5 and PM10 released by the M&C sector) in SAARC economies between 1995 and 2018. It assesses the environmental Kuznets curve (i.e., inverted U-shaped and N-shaped) using the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE), and generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques. The sectoral analysis reveals the presence of an N-shaped EKC while the overall analysis indicates an inverted U-shaped EKC. Population, financial development (FD), and merchandise exports (MX) have no influence on the estimates. Population and FD increase APE in all models, whereas the effects of MX vary between models. As SAARC economies are capital-deficient, these economies can adopt unbalanced environmental protection policies. First, focus on major contributing sectors (e.g., M&C sector) to curb APE, then focus on less emitting sectors in turn. By implementing pollution reduction strategies on M&C sector activities, governments may reach their threshold (peak) points earlier than expected. A reduction in APE is impossible without rigorous monitoring and application. Being capital-deficient nations and given the collective nature of the problem, a Transboundary Haze/Pollution agreement is required to solve this issue.

The impact of population agglomeration on ecological resilience: Evidence from China

Due to climate change and human activities, ecological and environmental issues have become increasingly prominent and it is crucial to deeply study the coordinated development between human activities and the ecological environment. Combining panel data from 31 provinces in China spanning from 2011 to 2020, we employed a fixed-effects model, a threshold regression model, and a spatial Durbin model to empirically examine the intricate impacts of population agglomeration on ecological resilience. Our findings indicate that population agglomeration can have an impact on ecological resilience and this impact depends on the combined effects of agglomeration and crowding effects. Also, the impact of population agglomeration on ecological resilience exhibits typical dual-threshold traits due to differences in population size. Furthermore, population agglomeration not only directly impacts the ecological resilience of the local area, but also indirectly affects the ecological resilience of surrounding areas. In conclusion, we have found that population agglomeration does not absolutely impede the development of ecological resilience. On the contrary, to a certain extent, reasonable population agglomeration can even facilitate the progress of ecological resilience.

The environmental cost of FDI and spatial implications of CO2 emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study endeavors to investigate the environmental cost of FDI inflows in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region over the period of 2006 to 2020. There are two opposing theories about how FDI impacts the environment, namely, the pollution halo hypothesis (PHH) and the pollution haven hypothesis (PH). Given the SSA region's poor environmental performance and potential spatial spillover effects on neighboring nations, the study underlines the necessity to look into the pollution hypotheses in the region. The examination is carried out through non-spatial and spatial panel data econometric approaches. The empirical findings provide evidence that an increase in FDI inflow by 1% in SSA is positively associated with increasing levels of CO2 emissions by 0.03% on average, thus validating the notion of a pollution haven in the region. Furthermore, the study reveals that the environmental spillovers of CO2 emissions are not confined to the host country alone, but also extend to neighboring nations. Other key determinants of CO2 emissions, including GDP, population, and urbanization, were also found to be positively linked to CO2 emissions, whereas the use of renewable energy resources was found to have a mitigating effect. The empirical findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders in the SSA region. These insights highlight the importance of the adoption of renewable energy sources and enacting regulatory measures to monitor the environmental cost of FDI, with the aim of mitigating the deleterious consequences of CO2 emissions, not only in the host nation but also in the neighboring nations.

Maternal exposure to extreme high-temperature, particulate air pollution and macrosomia in 14 countries of Africa

BACKGROUND

Macrosomia has increased rapidly worldwide in the past few decades, with a huge impact on health. However, the effect of PM_2.5 and extreme high-temperature (EHT) on macrosomia has been ignored.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the association between maternal exposure to EHT, PM_2.5 and macrosomia based on the Seventh Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in 14 countries of Africa.

METHODS

The study included detailed demographic information on 106 382 births and maternal. Satellite inversion models estimated monthly mean PM_2.5 and mean surface temperature of 2 m (SMT_2m ). Macrosomia was defined as the birth weight ≥ 4000 g. We used a Cox proportional risk regression model to estimate the association between PM_2.5 , EHT and macrosomia. We further explored the susceptibility of exposure to EHT and PM_2.5 at different pregnancy periods to macrosomia, and plotted the expose-response curve between PM_2.5 and macrosomia risk using a restricted cubic spline function. In addition, the Interplot model was used to investigate the interaction between EHT and PM_2.5 on macrosomia. Finally, some potential confounding factors were analysed by stratification.

RESULTS

There was the positive association between EHT, PM_2.5 and macrosomia, and the risk of macrosomia with the increase in concentrations of PM_2.5 without clear threshold. Meanwhile, EHT and PM_2.5 had a higher effect on macrosomia in middle/later and early/middle stages of pregnancy, respectively. There was a significant interaction between EHT and PM_2.5 on macrosomia.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal exposure to EHT, PM_2.5 during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of macrosomia in Africa.

The effects of economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries

This research article concerns a study of economic growth influences on carbon dioxide emissions in 20 selected Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries. The study also intends to reexamine energy consumption, tourism sector and population effect on carbon dioxide emissions. The empirical research applies panel linear regression model for the data obtained in these 20 SSA countries throughout 2000 to 2020. The empirical estimation techniques employed in the analysis consist of pooled ordinary least square (OLS), fixed effects model (FEM), random effects model (REM) and robust fixed model, including diagnostic tests such as endogeneity, heteroscedasticity and other measurements. The empirical analysis using the robust fixed effects model has established significant associations between economic growth, energy consumption, tourism sector and population on carbon dioxide emissions in SSA countries between 2000 and 2020. This study has established that a 1% increase in economy growth increases the carbon dioxide emission level by approximately 0.02%. A study has identified that SSA countries' energy consumption, especially from oil, will only contaminate air quality. A study confirmed that international tourist arrivals are one of the factors that significantly caused air quality reduction among SSA countries. However, increasing population and future international agreements and protocols could also mean that carbon emissions can potentially cause less environmental degradation in the region.

Does new-type urbanization help reduce haze pollution damage? Evidence from China's county-level panel data

Urban transformation is the key to sustainable urban development. China is currently undergoing massive urban transformation, that is, new-type urbanization. This study explored the relationship between new-type urbanization construction and haze pollution by constructing a time-varying DID model based on 2013-2018 district and county data. Our empirical results show that new-type urbanization can significantly improve haze pollution. We also examined the heterogeneous differences in new-type urbanization's effects on haze pollution. First, we find that new urbanization construction has no significant effect on haze pollution in cities rich in natural resources. Second, its effect on haze pollution was most pronounced in the eastern region, which had the highest urbanization rate. This study also explored the moderating effect of new urbanization and haze pollution from the urban governance perspective. The results show that the government's fiscal spending capacity is significant for new-type urbanization's ability to improve haze pollution. In addition, in the pilot year, the turnover of regional officials enhanced new-type urbanization construction to improve haze pollution. We also find that districts and counties implementing pilot new-type urbanization are conducive to reducing haze pollution in surrounding areas in the same city not implementing new-type urbanization; however, they exacerbate haze pollution in other provincial areas that have not implemented new-type urbanization. Finally, we propose relevant policy recommendations based on the empirical results.