The influences of renewable electricity generation, technological innovation, financial development, and economic growth on ecological footprints in ASEAN-5 countries

Enhancing environmental quality and economic growth through potential effects of energy efficiency and renewable energy in Asian economies

This study examines the potential impacts of energy efficiency and renewable energy on economic growth proxies by gross domestic product and environmental quality proxies by carbon dioxide emissions across eight selected Asian countries from 2000 to 2020. This study contributes by calculating green total factor productivity and carbon total factor productivity based on the famous Solow's residual via employing a modified extensive growth accounting model that internalized ignored factors such as energy efficiency and renewable energy. The employed panel cointegration techniques confirm that all variables are co-integrated with carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth. The pooled mean group/autoregressive distributed lag model analysis results indicate that energy efficiency is positively associated with both environmental quality and economic growth. Renewable energy hurts economic growth but has a positive effect on environmental quality which suggests the necessity of implementing an effective strategy for renewable energy alongside energy efficiency measures to enhance economic growth and environmental quality in the selected Asian countries. The findings from the fully modified ordinary least squares estimator are consistent with the environmental quality model. The average growth rate of green total factor productivity is positive despite negative contributions from energy efficiency and renewable energy. Similarly, the average growth rate of carbon total factor productivity is negative despite positive contributions from labor and capital. This discrepancy may be attributed to the beneficial effects of labor and capital as input productivity-driven. Embracing renewable energy sources can take significant steps toward improving environmental quality for future generations. Focusing on green technologies that enhance energy efficiency can substantially promote environmental quality and stimulate sustainable economic growth through innovation and climate change integration to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

Coupling coordination between electricity and economy: China as an example

The benign coupling coordination between electricity (EL) and economy (EC) contributes to a better environment and sustainability. This study explores whether EL and EC can coordinate theoretically, how to evaluate their coordination, what the statuses are, and how to enhance coupling coordination levels (CCL). Specifically, we select the data from 2011 to 2020 of the 31 provincial regions of China, use information entropy weight and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution method, establish the theoretical coupling coordination mechanism and the evaluation index system to measure CCL temporally-spatially and propose policy implications based on prediction tendencies. We find that most regions' CCLs fluctuate temporally with mild upward trends, indicating the much more benign coupling coordination status; the spatial distributions are uneven with narrowing gaps. However, future CCL gaps may increase; therefore, differentiated policy implications are needed, such as encouraging balanced-coordination policies, innovating for higher-quality coordination, and cooperating for intelligence and wealth transfer. This study is conducive to theoretically describing the coupling coordination mechanism between EL and EC, providing new insights for CCL evaluation and the coordination practice for different regions.

Elastic Droplet-Based Magnetoelectric Generator for High-performance Energy Collection

Conventional magnetoelectric generators are regarded as effective devices for harvesting concentrated hydraulic power but are ineffective for dispersed hydropower (e.g., raindrops) due to their bulkiness and immobility. Here, we propose a superhydrophobic magnetoelectric generator (MSMEG) based on an elastic magnetic film that can efficiently convert the energy of lightweight water droplets into electricity. The MSMEG consists of five parts: a superhydrophobic magnetic material-based film (SMMF), a coil, a NdFeB magnet, an acrylic housing, and an expandable polystyrene (EPS) base. The SMMF with coil can deform/recover when droplets impact/leave the MSMEG, resulting in a peak current, peak charge density, and peak power density of ∼13.02 mA, ∼1826.5 mC/m2, and ∼1413.0 mW/m2, respectively, with a load resistance of 47 Ω. Related working mechanism is analyzed through Maxwell numerical simulation, which is used for further guidance on increasing the electrical output of the MSMEG. Furthermore, the MSMEG can quickly charge a commercial capacitor with 2.7 V/1 F to 1.18 V within 200 s and power diverse electronic devices (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs), fans) with constant excitation by water droplets. We believe that such an MSMEG is expected to provide a promising strategy for efficiently harvesting dispersed raindrop energy.

Digital finance and sustainable development: Evidence from developing nations

OBJECTIVES

This paper investigates the role of digital finance in promoting environmental sustainability within a group of 52 developing economies from 2010 to 2019. Specifically, it examines whether digital finance effectively contributes reducing CO2 emissions in these nations.

METHODS

This paper is a quantitative study which employs the IV-GMM (instrumental variable generalized methods of moment) approach that tackles any potential endogeneity. Furthermore, to ensure robustness of results, this paper also utilizes different measures of financial development.

RESULTS

Estimation results from this study reveal the presence of inverted U-shaped relationship between digital finance and CO2 emissions. This suggests that the beneficial effects of digital finance may take time to materialize. Additionally, this research also records the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve and a significant impact of renewable energy, trade openness, financial development, urbanization, and population on CO2 emissions.

CONCLUSIONS

It can be concluded that it may take time for digital finance to become beneficial to the environment. Therefore, in addition to digital finance, countries should also adopt other measures simultaneously (use of renewable energy, combination between digital finance and financial development).

Dynamic nexus among fossil fuels utilization, economic growth, and urbanization: a tri-regional selected countries analysis

There are worldwide growing concerns about environmental issues such as global warming and climate change. Moreover, it is expected that there will be regional differences in environmental issues. Therefore, this study focuses on a tri-regional comparison: America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Previous literature has paid less attention to exploring regional comparisons while considering regional heterogeneity. Against this backdrop, this study delves into the dynamic relationship between fossil fuel utilization, economic growth, globalization, urbanization, and CO2 emissions to understand the environmental implications of these interconnected factors. The study period spans from 1990 to 2021. Additionally, it employed rigorous tests to confirm cross-sectional dependence and data heterogeneity, following methodologies proposed by Pesaran (2004, 2015) and Pesaran (2007), utilizing the CS-ARDL panel cointegration methodology by Chudik and Pesaran (2015). The results confirm long-term significant relationships among OC, NGC, FDI, and UR variables in both combined panels, with and without regional dummies. However, GDP and COC become insignificant in the long run in the dummy variables regression. Furthermore, the regional dummies were found to be negative but remain insignificant, possibly due to heterogeneous effects or unobserved factors influencing each region independently. Analysis by region reveals predominant coal consumption in Asia, higher oil consumption in America, and greater gas consumption in Europe. Economic growth and CO2 emissions are positive in Asia and America but negative in Europe, aligning with theories prioritizing growth over environmental concerns in Asia and America, and advocating for renewable energy adoption in Europe. Urbanization increases energy demand and emissions, supporting the environmental revolution theory, while FDI holds the potential to reduce CO2 emissions, as per the endogenous growth theory.

Asymmetric role of green energy, innovation, and technology in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions: evidence from India

The primary cause of environmental degradation, which poses a danger to the long-term viability of the ecosystem, is the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). For this reason, the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26) established a decarbonization goal in response to this ecological concern, for which all economic players have a responsibility. India is among the participants who have a target set for them to decarbonize their economies by the year 2060 via the use of green energy and the advancement of science and innovation. Nevertheless, the asymmetrical effect of green energy, technology, and innovation on India's decarbonization program was not sufficiently explored in the prior study; hence, this research aims to fill this literature vacuum by considering India's GHG emissions from 1990 to 2020 by leveraging the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The findings reveal the asymmetric influences of variables of interest on GHG emissions during the short and long term and under positive and negative shocks. Regarding the positive shock, long-term findings demonstrate that innovation and technical know-how grow GHG emissions and accelerate environmental degradation. However, a negative shock in innovations and technological know-how is opposed to a positive shock and improving environmental conditions. Further, positive shocks in green energy boost environmental effectiveness by reducing GHG secretions in India. In contrast, the negative shock in green energy deteriorates the environment by triggering GHG releases. These factual findings compel the Indian government to prioritize green technologies in addition to green energy generation to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and meet rising energy demands.

Examination of the factors contributing to environmental degradation: does LPG consumption still matter?

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is one of the energy resources that deserve to be qualified as a transition fuel for developing countries that cannot abandon their dependence on non-renewable energy use and adopt renewable alternatives. The current study examines how environmental degradation is affected by financial development, LPG use, and economic growth in the BRICS-T countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Turkiye) in the period of 1993-2018. For this purpose, four models were tested with Pedroni, Kao, PMG Panel ARDL cointegration and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality methods. The results show that LPG consumption has a positive effect on the ecological footprint and an adverse influence on the CO2 emission of BRICS - T countries. The financial institutions exhibited to have a positive and significant impact on ecology. Economic growth displayed negative effects on environmental degradation and a positive influence on CO2. Additionally, there is significant evidence for the validity of the EKC hypothesis. Unidirectional causality exists between ecological footprint, LPG, financial market, and economic growth. The financial institution index shows bidirectional causality with the ecological footprint. There is also unidirectional causality between ecological footprint, LPG, financial market, and economic growth. Furthermore, the financial institutions' index shows a bidirectional causality with the ecological footprint. Also, economic development and financial institution index have a bidirectional relationship with CO2 emissions. On the other hand, the financial market index showed unidirectional causality with CO2 emissions. In short, our study highlights the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to sustainable development in BRICS - T countries. Policymakers must balance economic growth with environmental protection and consider the potential trade-offs between policy options to promote sustainable and inclusive development.

Evaluating the symmetric and asymmetric effectiveness of low carbon energy consumption for ecological footprint in China: the role of environment-related technological innovation

The objective of this study is to scrutinize the impact of low carbon energy consumption, environmental-related technological innovation, urbanization, economic growth, and trade on China's ecological footprint from 1980 to 2021. To investigate the nature of the long-term connections between the variables, we employ the symmetric and asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique to explore the long- and short-run elasticities of coefficients. The results of ARDL and NARDL verified the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the long run in the presence of low carbon energy consumption. Moreover, the findings show that the positive part of low carbon energy consumption is negatively connected with the ecological footprint. Alternatively, the positive part of low carbon energy consumption is positively linked with the ecological footprint. The outcome highlights that environment-related technological innovation reduces the level of ecological footprint. Similarly, urbanization has a detrimental effect on the ecological footprint. Based on the estimated findings, it is suggested that China's economy should place a greater emphasis on increasing its level of investment in the low carbon energy sector and adopting severe environmental legislation to protect the economy from environmental burden.

Is fiscal deficit 'curse' or 'haven' for environmental quality in India? Empirical investigation employing battery of distinct ARDL approaches

Undoubtedly, throughout the past half-century, environmental quality has emerged as a significant obstacle to both economic and social endeavors. Recent local and international policy debates have focused on environmental deterioration and global warming, but how governments balance economic growth and environmental sustainability is still enigmatic. For this reason, we have examined the determinants of environmental quality in India from 1972 to 2021. More specifically, we have investigated whether the fiscal deficit is 'curse' or 'haven' for environmental quality (CO2) in India. Moreover, this study deliberated four other predictors, comprising technological development (TIN), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), urbanization (Ub), and human capital index (HCI). In order to attain this objective, a range of econometric estimation techniques are employed to ensure the validity and reliability of the outcomes. For instance, we have employed a battery of ARDL approaches, such as standard ARDL, nonlinear ARDL, and multiple threshold NARDL approaches. In light of our research findings, we will be focusing directly on the examination of the NARDL and MTNARDL outcomes. This is due to the empirical evidence indicating the existence of asymmetric effects resulting from FD on CO2 emissions in India. The NARDL approach reveals that the consequence of fiscal deterioration is more pronounced, and the influence of fiscal progress is mild in terms of CO2 emission growth. Further, the outcomes of the MTNARDL approach revealed that the size of the extremely low changes in FD is much higher than the extremely high changes in FD in both models. This implies that as the FD rises, CO2 ascends more significantly, and when the FD lowers, CO2 declines progressively. In a nutshell, FD has a long-run positive and asymmetric impact on CO2 in India; thus, we may conclude that FD is considered the 'curse' for CO2 in India. Furthermore, TIN, HCI, and Ub have detrimental effects on CO2, whereas FFC stimulates CO2 in India. This research work provides some important policy implications for environmentalists, economists and macroeconomic policymakers to promote a green and healthy environment.

Environmental regulation, renewable electricity, industrialization, economic complexity, technological innovation, and sustainable environment: testing the N-shaped EKC hypothesis for the G-10 economies

This study examines the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and the role of environmental regulation, renewable electricity, industrialization, economic complexity, and technological innovation in sustainable environment for the G-10 economies, namely, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA, from 1994 to 2020. We employed CS-ARDL (cross-sectional augmented distributed lag (CS-ARDL), FMOLS (fully modified ordinary least squares), and DOLS (dynamic ordinary least squares) for the analysis of the data. The estimates confirm the N-shaped EKC hypothesis between the GDP and CO2 emission. Moreover, the long-run estimates exhibit that environmental tax, renewable electricity, economic complexity, and technological innovation have negative effect on CO2 emission, while GDP, industrialization and arable land have positive effect on CO2 emission. Based on these findings, we propose that governments must implement large-scale government plans and initiatives to encourage the development of environmentally friendly technologies and ideas based on renewable energy. Moreover, further growing renewable energy, environmental policies like a carbon tax, investments in green technologies, subsidies, and rewards for renewable energy infrastructure investment should be taken into account.

Impact of technological innovation and renewable energy on ecological footprint in G20 countries: The moderating role of institutional quality

The connection between ecological footprint and economic complexity has significant implications for environmental sustainability regarding the policy. Additionally, institutional quality is crucial in ensuring environmental sustainability and moderating the link between economic complexity and ecological footprint. The task of achieving sustainable environmental development and preventing further degradation of the environment poses a formidable challenge to policymakers. This study delves into the significance of technology innovation and renewable energy in creating a more sustainable environment. Recognizing the need for a more critical review, this research establishes the dynamic linkage between ecological footprint, renewable energy consumption, and technological innovation, especially in conjunction with a moderating component, particularly institutional quality, in G20 countries from 1990 to 2021. We employ advanced panel approaches to address panel data analysis concerns, such as cross-sectional dependence, slope heterogeneity, unit root, cointegration test and CS-ARDL. The long-term estimator indicates that renewable energy and technological innovation negatively but significantly impact the ecological footprint. Whilst economic growth, FDI, and urbanization have shown a positive and significant impact on ecological footprint; institutional quality negatively moderates the relationship between ecological footprint, renewable energy, and technological innovation in the G20 countries. Further evidence from the Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality test shows that efforts to expand access to renewable energy, technological advancements, and economic growth will significantly affect environmental impacts. Based on our results, it is imperative to introduce more favorable legislation and encourage technological advancements in the field of renewable energy if we want to achieve our sustainable development objectives.

Multidimensional performance assessment, government competition and ecological welfare performance

Improving the efficiency of converting natural resources into social benefits is an important issue for sustainable development in today's world. Based on this background this paper applies the super-efficient SBM model with non-expected output to measure the ecological welfare performance (EWP) of Chinese provinces from 2005-2019, and explores the relationship between government competition and EWP under different assessment systems. The research results show that government competition under economic performance assessment is self-interested and short-sighted, which can negatively affect ecological welfare performance in the current period as well as in the next four years. In contrast, government competition under the environmental assessment system promotes EWP in both the current and long term, balancing short-term and long-term benefits. The results of the spatial GMM found that government competition under economic performance appraisal can deteriorate EWP in local as well as surrounding areas, but government competition under the environmental assessment system can achieve an increase in local ecological welfare performance and the spillover effect is not significant. To alleviate the limitations of a single appraisal system, this paper incorporates both economic and ecological appraisals into the multidimensional appraisal system. When the weights of both are between 1:9 and 3:7, the government competition under multidimensional performance appraisal can promote both current and longer-term EWP, and achieve its own ecological welfare performance without affecting the surrounding areas.

Transitioning towards a sustainable environment: the dynamic nexus between economic complexity index, technological development and human capital with environmental quality in India

This paper aims to investigate the dynamic nexus between economic complexity index (ECI), technological development (TIN), human capital (HC) and environmental quality in India for transition towards a sustainable environment. This study is based on secondary data covering the period from 1985 to 2018. For empirical analysis, this study applied "Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology" (STIRPAT) model framework under the estimation of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and vector error correction model (VECM) model. The empirical findings of model 1 show ECI, TIN, HC and urbanization (URB) as the helping hands to mitigate the problem of environmental degradation by shrinking the level of EF, whereas for model 2, ECI and TIN failed to influence the CO2 emissions, but HC served as a stimulant for environmental quality enhancement by declining the level of CO2 emissions. In contrast, GDP growth and URB strengthen the CO2 emissions levels. Moreover, in VECM framework, estimated findings reveal that the covariables Granger-cause EF and CO2 emissions, inferring that causality flows asynchronously from its covariables to EF and CO2. Impulse response function (IRF) revealed that the responses in EF and CO2 emissions ascribed to changes in its covariables. The outcome of the study has some implications for environmental policy strategists to prepare sustainable environment policies and other responsible authorities for sustainable development goal (SDGs), academician and scholars. All the stakeholders involved in environmental economics and policymakers can evaluate this study to design proper policy framework with respect to the environment. There are few studies that explore the dynamic nexus between ECI, TIN and HC with environmental quality in the control environment of URB and GDP growth using the STIRPAT model for India.

Offshoring the scarring causes and effects of environmental challenges faced by the advanced world: an empirical evidence

In contemplating the prospects of advanced world countries, researchers stand divided among two groups: one group crying "melting of glaciers" and the group denying global warming as a significant concern while reaping the fruits of growth. One persistent concern for the other group is much desirable economic growth at the cost of environmental degradation, which is now reaching a scale where the global climate is become not only unsustainable but also causing a significant threat to our existence. In our opinion, environmental degradation should be taken very seriously now, particularly by pointing out the necessary variables causing it so that effective policy designs are formulated. The present study also gives a brief overview of the environmental repercussions with references to technology-led growth in developed countries. We have incorporated the direct composition effect captured by the capital-labor ratio (K/L), indicating that advanced countries use environmentally friendly technology for production processes. We propose that the most vulnerable impact of economic activities on environmental degradation (measured through carbon dioxide emissions) are urbanization, trade, and energy use. The latter is probably more policy-oriented, is undoubtedly more easily measured, and could be deeply analyzed for policy formulation. Whereas, in the urban areas, emissions of carbon dioxide particulate with an increase in population and development and serve as a significant concern for global environmental sustainability.

The effect of financial development and economic growth on ecological footprint: evidence from top 10 emitter countries

This study investigates the effect of financial development and economic growth on ecological footprint by including non-renewable energy consumption and trade openness as additional determinants. For this purpose, annual data of 10 countries with the highest ecological footprint (China, the USA, India, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Korea, Turkey, and the UK) for the period 1992-2017 is used. The Westerlund and Edgerton (2007) Panel LM bootstrap test results reveal that there is cointegration between the variables. Additionally, the results obtained from the Common Correlated Effects (CCE) coefficient estimator show that financial development, economic growth, and non-renewable energy consumption negatively affect environmental quality by increasing ecological footprint. On other hand, the effect of trade openness on ecological footprint is found to be statistically insignificant. In addition, according to the panel causality test results, a unidirectional causality from financial development to ecological footprint is found while bidirectional causality between economic growth and ecological footprint exists. Therefore, it would be beneficial for policymakers in such countries to direct financial resources to green energy production and consumption and to encourage projects and practices.

An empirical assessment of the tripartite nexus between environmental pollution, economic growth, and agricultural production in Sub-Saharan African countries

A lot of attention has been paid to environmental pollution worldwide, due to the increase in anthropogenic activities. Massive investment in non-renewable energy options raises questions regarding environmental sustainability and how to maximize food and non-food output while still preserving a healthy ecosystem. To this end, the present study explores the three-way nexus between economic growth, CO₂ emission, and agriculture-value added will accounting for other control variables across a balanced panel of selected African economies from 1997 to 2020. Panel econometrics method of the generalized method of moments (two-step difference GMM) is used to obtain a robust result. From the present study, the environmental pollution model shows that economic growth significantly contributes to environmental pollution in Africa. Additionally, the food price index, capital, and FDI promote pollution, while agricultural production and labor decrease pollution. In the case of the economic growth model, the findings reveal that environmental pollution supports the growth-led pollution hypothesis. Also, the food price index and capital ameliorate economic growth, while foreign direct investments decrease economic growth. Finally, the agricultural production model indicates that economic growth increases agricultural production when the interaction term between GDPC and FDI is included in the model. In summary, the combination of explanatory variables, environmental pollution, capital, and foreign direct investment decreases agricultural production. On the contrary, the food price index and labor promote agricultural production in Africa. Furthermore, the study provides a lot of policies for authorities and stakeholders in Sub-Saharan African countries and other developing economies.

Drivers of the Green Paradox in Europe: An empirical application

The green paradox describes an undesirable and socially inefficient phenomenon caused by the expansionary reactions of the supply as a response to the various mechanisms that combat climate change. This article seeks to understand and aggregate the different drivers of this phenomenon portrayed in the literature, as well the empirical evidence associated and the proposed solutions. For this purpose, compilation and systematization of the various scientific contributions up to date in this context have been elaborated and the driver's effective impact on the European scenario was evaluated, using a balanced panel for 28 countries in Europe over 1996-2018 and the generalized method of moments (GMM) econometric procedure. Proxies for all provocateurs identified in the state of the art were incorporated in this study: (i) environmental taxes, (ii) green support, (iii) uncertain property rights, (iv) emissions limit (cap), and (v) temporal lag. The dependent variables used are (1) the ratio between the annual production/extraction of oil and the consumption of primary energy and (2) the carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity. We have obtained evidences that the hiatus in the implementation of the European emission cap mechanism has generated a strong green paradox. Moreover, a robust reflection regarding the economic and environmental adequacy of green supports should be considered due to its questionable net benefits. Lastly, we offer some recommendations of public environmental policies that escape the paradoxical phenomenon, through the enunciation of the conditionalities of these provocateurs.

Impact of coal rents, transportation, electricity consumption, and economic globalization on ecological footprint in the USA

Over the last three decades, the world has been facing the phenomenon of the ecological deficit as the ecological footprint is continuously rising due to the persistent decline of the per-capita bio-capacity. Moreover, there is a substantial increase in globalization and electricity consumption for the same period, and transportation is contributing to economic prosperity at the cost of environmental sustainability. Understanding the determinants of ecological footprint is thus critical for suggesting appropriate policies for environmental sustainability. As a result, this study analyzes the impacts of economic globalization, transportation, coal rents, and electricity consumption in ecological footprint in the context of the USA over the period 1995 to 2018. The data have been extracted from "Global Footprint Network," "Swiss Economic Institute," and "World Development Indicators." The current study has also applied the flexible Fourier form nonlinear unit root test to examine the stationarity among variables. For the empirical estimation, a novel technique, the "quantile auto-regressive distributive lag model," is applied in the study to deal with the nonlinear associations of the variables and to evaluate the long-term stability of variables across quantiles. The study's findings indicate that coal rents, transportation, and globalization significantly and positively contribute to the deterioration of ecological footprints at different quantile ranges in the short and long run. Electricity consumption is found to have a positive and significant impact at lower quantile ranges in the long run but not have a significant impact in the short run. The study suggested that lowering the dependence of the transport sector on fossil fuels, more use of hydroelectricity, and stringent strategies to curb coal consumption would be helpful to reduce the positive influence of these variables on ecological footprints in the USA.

Is Moderating effect of Uncertain Economic Policies helpful for a Sustainable Environment in Emerging Economies?

The basic priority to neutralize carbon emissions (CE) is to achieve the sustainable development goal of climate action. In this regard, the role of renewable energy (RE) is widely debated. Transition to RE and environment-related innovation in technologies (ERIT) is a need of the hour. However, the challenge of uncertain economic policies in the transition process is interesting to study. Therefore, the present study intends to add a value to the literature by re-examining the interactive effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in RE and ERIT and the transition process towards carbon neutrality. The second-generation econometric methodology is applied to empirically test the proposed interactive linkage of EPU, RE, ERIT, and CE. Findings reported the negative role of EPU in adopting RE and ERIT in seven emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. However, the ERIT and RE are found to be supportive of neutralizing the CE. Emerging seven (E7) countries are suggested to be consistent in their economic policies to nurture the transition process toward a sustainable environment.

The effect of mineral saving and energy on the ecological footprint in an emerging market: evidence from novel Fourier based approaches

Environmental degradation has been one of the hot topics discussed since the 1980s. In the literature, CO₂ emissions are generally used to represent environmental degradation. However, in this study, environmental degradation is examined in the context of ecological footprint. The study aims to investigate the effect of economic growth, energy consumption, and mineral saving on the ecological footprint in Turkey for the period of 1975-2017. For this purpose, the bootstrap autoregressive distributed lag model with a Fourier function (FARDL) method is utilized to test the long-term relationship between the variables. The findings indicate a long-term relationship between the variables. In addition, long-run estimation results based on the FARDL model show that economic growth and mineral saving increase the ecological footprint in Turkey. The conclusion discusses these findings and presents long-term policy recommendations for Turkey.

Are the impacts of renewable energy use on load capacity factors homogeneous for developed and developing nations? Evidence from the G7 and E7 nations

Both developed and underdeveloped economies worldwide are now more concerned than ever in respect of achieving environmental sustainability. Accordingly, the majority of the global economies have ratified several environment-related pacts to facilitate the tackling of global environment-related problems. Although these problems are assumed to be addressed using diverse mechanisms, limiting the use of fossil fuels has often been recognized as the ultimate enabler of environmental sustainability. Against this backdrop, this study aims to assess the environmental impacts associated with higher renewable energy use, controlling for economic growth and population size, in the context of the G7 and E7 countries using data from 1997 to 2018. Moreover, instead of using the traditional environmental quality proxies, this study tries to proxy environmental degradation with the load capacity factor levels of the countries of concern. The long-run associations among the study's variables are confirmed by outcomes generated from the cointegration analysis. Besides, regression analysis highlighted that integrating renewable energy into the energy systems while withdrawing from the use of fossil fuels can help to improve environmental quality by increasing the load capacity factor levels. In contrast, economic growth and population size expansion are evidenced to impose environmental quality-dampening impacts by reducing the load capacity factor levels. However, the findings, in the majority of the cases, are seen to differ across the groups of the G7 and E7 countries, especially in terms of the variations in the magnitudes of marginal environmental effects over the short and long run. Lastly, the causality analysis confirms the directions of the causal relationships among the variables of concern. Based on these results, a couple of policy interventions are recommended for improving environmental quality in the G7 and E7 countries.

Linkage of natural resources, economic policies, urbanization, and the environmental Kuznets curve

Natural resource rents (NRR) and economic policies are considerably studied to determine ecological footprints. Currently, due to global uncertainty, renewable energy adoption, and increasing urbanization, every economy is facing challenges to control its ecological footprints. The available literature on the said linkages in the emerging seven economies is inconclusive. Therefore, this study is designed to re-estimate the linkages of NRR, urbanization (URB), economic policy uncertainty (EPU), energy structure (ES), and EFP under the "Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis." Data from 1992 to 2020 is used for empirical evidence, along with robust econometric calculations. The EKC hypothesis does not apply to the E7 economies, according to the findings. The energy structure is assisting in limiting ecological footprints and hence aids in environmental cleanup. The role of NRR, EPU, and URB in limiting the EF, on the other hand, is not encouraging. To minimize environmental degradation, emerging economies should reconsider their economic policies, natural resource rents, and rapid urbanization.

Factor market distortion, technological innovation, and environmental pollution

Factor market distortion is a critical factor that affects environmental pollution, and technological innovation is regarded as a new opportunity to alleviate environmental pollution. Based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2019, this study constructs an intermediary effect model to test the influence mechanism of factor market distortion on regional environmental pollution and the intermediary effect of technological innovation, exploring these effects based on spatial differentiation characteristics. This study shows that factor market distortion protects industries with backward production capacity, high resource consumption, serious pollution, and low production efficiency from elimination; hinders the transformation and upgrading of the regional industrial structure; and forms a lock in the sloppy growth mode, which directly affects the improvement of regional environmental quality. This study reveals the influence of factor market distortions on environmental pollution. This provides empirical evidence for giving play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and promoting green technology innovation.

Have international remittance inflows degraded environmental quality? A carbon emission mitigation analysis for Ghana

Despite the considerable contributions of remittances to households and economic advancements, their environmental implications have received little attention in empirical research. This study was, therefore, conducted to help fill that gap, using Ghana as an evidence. In achieving the above goal, robust econometric methods that control for endogeneity, heteroscedasticity and serial correlation among others, were engaged for the analysis. From the results, the studied variables were first-differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long run. The elasticities of the predictors were explored via the FMOLS, DOLS and CCR estimators, and from the results, remittance inflows worsened the ecological quality in Ghana through high CO2 emissions. Also, population growth and energy utilization were not friendly to the country's environment; however, technological innovations improved environmental quality in the nation via low CO2 effusions. The VECM was employed to examine the path of causalities amidst the series, and from the results, there were bidirectional causalities between remittance inflows and CO2 emissions and between population growth and CO2 emanations. Also, a causation from energy utilization to CO2 effluents was discovered; however, there was no causality between technological innovations and CO2 exudates in the country. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that, authorities should enact regulations to control the activities of polluting industries that are being financed by remittances. Also, households and individuals should minimize their use of remittances to finance carbon-intensive items, like automobiles and air-conditioners among others, that add to environmental pollution in the country.

China's 2060 carbon-neutrality agenda: the nexus between energy consumption and environmental quality

This study examined the nexus between energy consumption and environmental quality in light of China's 2060 carbon-neutrality agenda utilizing annual frequency data from 1971 to 2018. In order to obtain valid and reliable outcomes, more robust econometric techniques were employed for the analysis. From the results, all the variables were first differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long-run. The elastic effects of the predictors on the explained variable were explored through the ARDL, FMOLS, and the DOLS techniques, and from the discoveries, energy utilization worsened environmental quality in the country via more CO2 emissions. Also, industrialization and urbanization deteriorated the country's environmental quality; however, technological innovations improved ecological quality in the nation. On the causal connections between the variables, a unidirectional causality from energy consumption to CO2 effluents was discovered. Also, feedback causalities between industrialization and CO2 secretions, and between urbanization and CO2 exudates were disclosed. However, there was no causality between technological innovations and CO2 emanations. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that, since energy consumption pollutes the environment, the country should transition to the utilization of renewable energies. Also, the government should allocate more resources to the renewable energy sector. This will help increase the portion of clean energy in the country's total energy mix. Furthermore, research and development that are linked to the utilization of green energies should be supported by the government. Data constraints were the main limitation of this exploration. Therefore, in the future, if more data become available, similar explorations could be conducted to check the robustness of our study's outcomes.

Green investments, financial development, and environmental quality in Ghana: evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach

Numerous studies have examined the influence of macroeconomic factors on environmental quality in Ghana. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no study on the connection between green investments, financial development, and environmental quality in the context of this Sub-Saharan African country. This study was therefore conducted to help fill this gap using annual frequency time series data ranging from 1970 to 2018. In attaining the objectives of this study, robust econometric techniques were employed. From the results, all the variables were first differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long run. The dynamic ARDL simulations technique with the support of the ARDL estimator was employed to examine the elastic effects of the predictors on the response variable, and from the discoveries, green investments improved environmental quality in Ghana both in the long and the short run via carbon dioxide mitigations. However, in both the long and the short run, financial development and energy utilization had a detrimental influence on environmental quality due to their positive influence on carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the N-shaped association between national income and environmental pollution was validated for Ghana. On the causal directions amidst the variables, there was no causality between green investments and environmental degradation was evidenced; however, a bidirectional causality between financial development and environmental pollution was also discovered. Also, unidirectional causalities running from national income and energy consumption to environmental degradation were discovered. Based on the findings, the study recommend that investments in green sources should be intensified to help improve environmental quality in Ghana. Furthermore, improving developments in the financial sector is a vital means through which the country could attain its sustainable development goals.

The role of liquefied petroleum gas in decarbonizing India: fresh evidence from wavelet-partial wavelet coherence approach

India is predominantly a fossil fuel-intensive South Asian country that has traditionally settled for higher economic gains at the expense of lower environmental quality. However, in the contemporary era, it has become essential for India to come up with viable solutions that can enable the nation to transform its economy into a low-carbon one. Although replacing fossil fuel use with renewable energy sources is assumed to be the ideal pathway to decarbonizing the Indian economy, achieving this clean energy transition involves a long-term process. Thus, the Indian government should rather consider adoption of interim solutions to the environmental pollution problems faced by the nation. Against this backdrop, this study looks at whether enhancing the consumption level of liquefied petroleum gas, a relatively cleaner fossil fuel, can help India reduce its carbon dioxide emissions figures and attain environmentally sustainable economic growth. The econometric analysis is designed as per the theoretical framework of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis whereby the effects of economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions are examined controlling for liquefied petroleum gas consumption in the context of India between 1990 and 2018. Based on the findings from the autoregressive distributed lag model bounds test analysis, it is witnessed that there are long-run cointegrating relationships among per capita levels of carbon dioxide emissions, real gross domestic product, and liquefied petroleum gas consumption of India. Besides, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is found to be valid only in the short run; however, it does not sustain in the long run since the economic growth-carbon dioxide emissions nexus is observed to follow a U-shaped relationship in the long run. Moreover, higher liquefied petroleum gas consumption is found to boost carbon dioxide emissions in the short run while reducing it in the long run. Furthermore, the findings from the wavelet and partial wavelet coherence and causality analyses also advocate in favor of promoting the use of liquefied petroleum gas in India in order to significantly curb the energy use-related carbon dioxide emission figures of the nation. Hence, considering these important findings, this study recommends that the Indian government should design policies for augmenting liquefied petroleum gas into the national energy mix and also adopt relevant green economic growth strategies in order to facilitate environmentally-sustainable growth of its economy.

Reinvestigating the pollution haven hypothesis: the nexus between foreign direct investments and environmental quality in G-20 countries

One of the most commonly debated concerns regarding foreign direct investment inflows is the associated environmental adversities that accompany the influx of foreign funds. As a result, assessing the environmental impacts of foreign direct investment inflows is necessary for achieving environmentally friendly economic growth in the contemporary era. Accordingly, the global economies including the members of the Group of Twenty (G-20) should focus on attracting clean foreign direct investments. Against this backdrop, controlling for energy consumption and urbanization, this extant study scrutinizes the effects of foreign direct investment inflows on the carbon dioxide emission figures of selected G-20 countries between 1992 and 2018. The econometric analysis conducted in this paper involves recently developed methods that are efficient in handling cross-sectionally dependent heterogeneous panel data sets. Besides, the analysis is also conducted for sub-panels of high-, upper-middle-, and lower-middle-income G-20 countries to evaluate the possible heterogeneous environmental effects across the G-20 countries belonging to different income levels. Overall, the results highlight that higher foreign direct investment inflows surge carbon dioxide emissions whereby the pollution haven hypothesis is evidenced to hold for the G-20 nations of concern. Similarly, both at the aggregated and disaggregated levels, greater consumption of energy is witnessed to boost carbon dioxide emissions in the long run. Moreover, urbanization is found to trigger carbon dioxide emissions for the G-20 nations overall and the lower-middle-income G-20 nations. Further, the causality analysis reveals that carbon dioxide emissions have bidirectional causal relationships with foreign direct investment inflows, energy consumption, and urbanization. In line with these major findings, this study recommends that the governments of the G-20 countries inhibit inflows of dirty foreign direct investments, reduce fossil fuel dependency, and adopt green urbanization policies for achieving higher economic growth without marginalizing environmental well-being.

Role of alternative and nuclear energy in stimulating environmental sustainability: impact of government expenditures

Environmental sustainability is fundamental to the survival of our planet and ourselves, as polluted air, water, and land severely affect communities and society to thrive and damage the quality of life. This study examined the role of alternative and nuclear energy in stimulating the environment sustainably while mediating the function of government expenditure and economic growth in the top three highest CO₂ emitter countries. We apply advanced econometric methodologies for empirical analysis from 1981 to 2016 and find long-run relationships among the variables that suggest general government final consumption expenditure and economic growth are positively related to CO₂ emissions. Moreover, alternative and nuclear energy and the square root of economic growth (EKC) improve environmental sustainability. The general government's final consumption expenditure and economic growth deteriorate environmental sustainability. Policymakers in the top three highest CO₂ emitter countries are encouraged to adopt a comprehensive approach to access the compatibility of alternative and nuclear energy sources, changing the source of uranium from mined ore to seawater, encourage, tide, and include macroeconomic stabilization, public and private fiscal position goals with the environmental sustainability policies. Moreover, governments are suggested to incorporate green fiscal policies to address the global environmental challenges and promote a green economy. Aligning government expenditures with environmental goals, reflecting externalities in prices, broader fiscal reform by making fiscal space for clean and green investment is highly encouraged to achieve the sustainable development goals' target. Study limitations and directions for future research in the area are presented.

Effects of economic complexity, economic growth, and renewable energy technology budgets on ecological footprint: the role of democratic accountability

The economic structure of countries can influence economic growth, energy demand, and environmental footprints. However, the literature on economic complexity and ecological footprint (EFP) nexus is scarce. Besides, democracy is an important factor that may affect environmental policies and environmental sustainability. Hence, this paper investigates the effect of democracy, economic complexity, and renewable energy technology budgets on the EFP in G7 countries controlling income and financial development from 1985 to 2017. The findings from Westerlund (J Appl Econ 23:193-233, 2008) and other cointegration methods depict cointegration among variables. The long-run estimates from the continuously updated fully modified method unfold that economic complexity contributes to reducing the EFP. However, greater democratic accountability boosts the EFP figures rather than reducing them. On the flipside, renewable energy technology budgets and financial development are evidenced to mitigate EFP. Moreover, the study unveils a U-shaped linkage between economic growth and EFP, which indicates that an increase in income level will boost EFP. Further, the study found causality from economic complexity, democracy, and renewable energy budgets to EFP. Based on these findings, it is pertinent for the G7 countries to increase the manufacturing of sophisticated and complex products. In addition, enhancing renewable energy technology budgets is essential to ensure environmental well-being.

Does financial development reinforce ecological footprint in Singapore? Evidence from ARDL and Bayesian analysis

Singapore has been ranked in the most dynamic financial market and the highest ecological deficit country, indicating that the trade-off hypothesis may exist. The main goal of the present study is to probe the impact of financial development, economic growth, and human capital on ecological footprint in Singapore from 1980 to 2016. The outcomes obtained from the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method have failed to provide a clear impact of financial sector development on ecological footprint. However, the Bayesian analysis reveals that both financial development and economic growth have a harmful influence on EF, while the impact of human capital is beneficial. A theoretical conclusion derived is that monetary expansion policies should be associated with improving human capital to achieve the United Nations SDGs in the context of Singapore. The findings of the study are of particular interest to policymakers for developing sound policy decisions for sustainable economic progress which is not at the cost of environment.

Impact of financial inclusion and infrastructure on ecological footprint in OECD economies

Financial inclusion (FI) is the backbone for every economy; however, a sustainable environment is also inevitable. Therefore, this study investigates the nexus of FI and environment, i.e., ecological footprint (EF) by controlling energy consumption (EC), economic growth (Y), infrastructure (INF), and corruption (CR) in OECD countries from 2004 to 2017. To validate this nexus, the study builds an index of FI and infrastructure through "Principal Component Analysis" (PCA). Furthermore, to estimate the above-said nexus, the study uses the "augmented mean group (AMG), and common correlated effects mean group (CCE-MG)" techniques to produce reliable results. Findings report the supportive role of INF by indicating the need to promote INF to attain a sustainable environment. However, FI, EC, and CR are found to be prominent reasons for environmental degradation. The study has robust policy implications for OECD economies.

Mitigating energy production-based carbon dioxide emissions in Argentina: the roles of renewable energy and economic globalization

The energy sector of Argentina is predominantly reliant on fossil fuels. Consequently, such fossil fuel dependency within the nation's power sector, in particular, has aggravated the environmental quality in Argentina by amplifying the nation's energy production-based carbon emission levels. However, keeping into consideration the international commitments pledged by Argentina under the Paris Accord and the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, it is pertinent for this South American country to curb its energy production-based emission of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Against this milieu, this study examines the impacts of renewable electricity generation, economic globalization, economic growth, and urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions generated from the production of electricity and heat in the context of Argentina. Using annual frequency data from 1971 to 2016, recent econometric methods are applied to control for multiple structural breaks in the data. The major findings from the ecnometric analyses affirmed long-run associations between renewable electricity generation, economic globalization, economic growth, urbanization, and energy production-based carbon dioxide emissions in Argentina. Besides, enhancing renewable electricity output shares is found to curb these emissions while economic globalization and urbanization are witnessed to boost them. Moreover, renewable electricity generation and economic globalization are found to jointly reduce the energy production-related carbon dioxide emissions in Argentina. The results also validate the authenticity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Finally, the causality analysis reveals evidence of unidirectional causalities running from renewable electricity generation, economic globalization, economic growth, and urbanization to energy production-related carbon dioxide emissions in Argentina. In line with these findings, this study recommends several viable policies which can be implemented to help Argentina control the growth of its energy production-based carbon dioxide emissions.

FDI, Green Innovation and Environmental Quality Nexus: New Insights from BRICS Economies

One major concern about foreign direct investment (FDI) is the potential negative environmental impact due to increased CO2 emissions. However, there is a possibility that FDI mitigates CO2 emissions through green innovation and creates a cleaner environment. In the existing literature, there is no significant empirical evidence on the linkage among FDI, green innovation and CO2 emissions in the context of BRICS countries. Hence, this study aims to analyze the impact of FDI and green innovation on the environmental quality of BRICS economies for 1990–2014. The study employed Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators for empirical data analysis. The study’s findings depict that foreign direct investment, energy use, and economic growth have a significant and positive impact on the CO2 emissions of BRICS economies. Moreover, green innovation has a significant inverse impact on CO2 emissions. The results show bidirectional causalities between CO2 emissions and green innovation, trade openness and CO2 emissions, energy use and CO2 emissions, and urbanization and CO2 emissions. Additionally, the findings reveal a one-way causality from CO2 emissions to GDP and CO2 emissions to urbanization. This study offers essential policy recommendations for the environmental sustainability of BRICS countries through green innovation.

Trends in Renewable Electricity Generation in the G20 Countries: An Analysis of the 1990–2020 Period

The use of electricity from non-renewable sources increases environmental impacts. Therefore, several countries have committed to increase the use of renewable sources. Considering the importance of the Group of Twenty (G20), this article aims to identify trends in renewable electricity supply in these countries. The data collected are from the International Energy Agency (IEA) between 1990 and 2020. The methods measured the production of each type of electricity in the G20 matrices and identified the influence of the population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and CO2 emissions in renewable electricity production using multiple linear regression. In terms of results, Brazil and Canada have the most renewable electricity matrices and higher per capita renewable production than non-renewable. Saudi Arabia presented the smallest renewable matrix throughout the analyzed period. All 20 countries have varied electrical production, with different amounts of solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal, and tidal energy. Countries with the highest GDP are not necessarily the largest producers of renewable electricity. Hydroelectric energy, the biggest highlight in renewable production, is making room for other sources such as wind and solar, which grew the most in terms of participation in the electrical matrices. The waste, geothermal, and tidal energy participation have shown a timid but constant growth.

Financial development and environmental sustainability in West Africa: evidence from heterogeneous and cross-sectionally correlated models

Although West African nations are flourishing economically of late, they still have environmental issues due to the high rate of emissions in the bloc. Despite the worsening environmental condition, there have been limited studies on the causal agents of this situation in the region. Therefore, drawing strength from the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their targeted impacts of 2030, this study explored the nexus between financial development and environmental sustainability in West Africa (WA) for the period 1990 to 2016. The cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) estimator alongside the cross-sectionally augmented distributed lag (CS-DL) and the cross-sectional augmented error correction (CAEC) estimators were engaged to examine the elastic effects of the explanatory variables on the explained variable and from the results, financial development was harmful to environmental sustainability in WA through high carbon emissions. Also, control variables foreign direct investments, energy consumption, industrialization, and population growth were detrimental to the sustainability of the environment. On the causal connections amid the series, a unidirectional causality from financial development and population growth to carbon emissions was uncovered. Also, feedback causalities between foreign direct investments and carbon emissions, between energy consumption and the effluents of carbon, and between industrialization and environmental pollution were unraveled. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that the countries should integrate environmental welfare objectives into their financial development policies. Also, the nations should ensure that their citizens have access to energy that is affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern (SDG 7). Finally, improvement in energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and good use of resources (SDG 12) should be promoted by the nations. The above recommendations if seriously taken into consideration will help the region to combat climate change and its impacts, which is the focus of SDG 13. The main flaw of this exploration was the lack of data for some specific time periods. Therefore, in future when such data become available, similar investigations could be carried out to confirm the robustness of the study's results.

The relevance of economic freedom for energy, environment, and economic growth in Asia-Pacific region

This paper investigates the relationship between energy intensity, economic freedom, and carbon emissions. The problem of environmental degradation, economic freedom, and energy use is mainly studied for developed economies; however, this study has selected forty-one Asia-Pacific economies representing all income groups of the World Bank's classification. In the presence of income, economic freedom plays a dual role for environment and energy: direct impact and as moderating factor impact. Here, we empirically test for a panel of 41 Asia-Pacific countries using the autoregressive distributed lag approach. Our findings suggest, although there is no bidirectional causality between all the variables, the long-run estimates of economic freedom for economy and environment are positive. The results imply for substantial structural reforms with a favorable economic and regulatory environment for Asia-Pacific countries. Our empirical analysis also implies that GDP growth levels for Asia-Pacific countries are becoming increasingly dependent on economic freedom and energy intensity. The results underline the critical role played directly and indirectly by economic freedom in creating an atmosphere that promotes research and development activities to help reduce energy intensity shortly to solve environmental problems.

Revisiting the energy-economy-environment relationships for attaining environmental sustainability: evidence from Belt and Road Initiative countries

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious development project initiated by the Chinese government to foster economic progress worldwide. In this regard, this study aims to investigate the dynamics of energy, economy, and environment among 42 BRI developing countries using an annual frequency panel dataset from 1995 to 2019. The major findings from the econometric analyses revealed that higher levels of energy consumption, economic growth, population growth rate, and FDI inflows exhibit adverse environmental consequences by boosting the CO₂ emission figures of the selected developing BRI member nations. However, it is interesting to observe that exploiting renewable energy sources, which are relatively cleaner compared to the traditionally-consumed fossil fuels, and fostering agricultural sector development can significantly improve environmental well-being by curbing the emission levels further. On the other hand, financial development is found to be ineffective in explaining the variations in the CO₂ emission figures of the selected countries. Besides, the causality analysis shows that higher energy consumption, FDI inflows, and agricultural development cause environmental pollution by boosting CO₂ emissions. However, economic growth, technology development, financial progress, and renewable energy consumption are evidenced to exhibit bidirectional causal associations with CO₂ emissions. In line with these findings, several relevant policies can be recommended for the BRI to be environmentally sustainable.

Do natural gas, oil, and coal consumption ameliorate environmental quality? Empirical evidence from Russia

Environmental degradation stemming from the combustion of conventional energy sources is not only a major factor behind climate change but it also poses an adverse impact on human health. Undoubtedly, fossil fuels are major drivers of economic growth; however, their detrimental environmental impacts are of global concern. In the literature, there is no comprehensive empirical evidence on the linkage between the use of different energy sources and carbon dioxide emissions in the context of Russia, a nation that is ranked third in the list of the top carbon dioxide-emitting global countries. Hence, this paper aims to scrutinize the relationships between oil consumption, natural gas consumption, coal consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions controlling economic growth for Russia over the 1990-2016 period. The findings from the econometric analysis indicate that carbon dioxide emissions in Russia have long-run associations with economic growth and consumption of oil, gas, and coal. The long-run elasticity estimates reveal that economic growth is not directly harming Russia's environmental quality. However, higher oil, gas, and coal consumption degrades environmental quality by boosting the level of carbon dioxide emissions in Russia. In addition, the results from the Granger causality analysis confirm the existence of both long and short-term causal connections among the variables of concern. In line with these findings, several policy recommendations to address the environmental challenges in Russia are put forward.

The asymmetric associations between foreign direct investment inflows, terrorism, CO2 emissions, and economic growth: a tale of two shocks

Foreign direct investments can exert ambiguous effects on the environmental quality of the host economies. At the same time, terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon that affects human life, FDI inflows, economic growth, and, most importantly, environmental well-being. Hence, it can be expected that there are relationships between terrorism, foreign direct investment inflows, and carbon dioxide emissions. However, in the previous literature, less attention has been given to explore these nexuses. In addition, the possible non-linearities in data are also mostly ignored in the preceding related studies. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the linear and non-linear influences of terrorism and foreign direct investment inflows on carbon dioxide emissions, controlling for energy consumption and economic growth within the model, on carbon dioxide emissions in the context of ten global economies that are most impacted by terrorism. To this end, we used the data from 1973 to 2016 and deployed the linear and non-linear autoregressive distributed lag methods to scrutinize the environmental impacts of the explanatory variables of concern. The results confirmed the presence of non-linearities in the relationships between terrorism, inflows of foreign direct investments, and carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the positive shocks to terrorism and foreign direct investment inflows significantly deteriorate the environment with a dominating effect. Unlike the previous studies, this current study validates the pollution haven hypothesis for the sample economies. Energy consumption and economic growth  were also evidenced to exacerbate the carbon dioxide emission levels in all selected countries. Based on these results, we recommend that our sample economies should focus on promoting education, employment, economic stability, and public awareness to eradicate terrorism which, in turn, can mitigate the emissions of carbon dioxide further. In addition, stringent environmental regulations on foreign direct investment inflows are required to reduce the adverse environmental effects of such sources of foreign finance. Furthermore, the international firms should be encouraged to invest in cleaner technologies by offering them tax benefits and other financial incentives.

Carbon neutrality potential of the ASEAN-5 countries: Implications from asymmetric effects of income inequality on renewable energy consumption

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries are lagging behind the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to increase the share of renewable energy use and to reduce income inequality. Therefore, this study scrutinises the asymmetric effect of income inequality on renewable energy consumption in order to assess the possibility of the major ASEAN-5 countries adopting the carbon neutrality goal. The study employs a nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, from 1990 to 2015. By using four income inequality proxies, the empirical results show, firstly, that an alleviation of income inequality promotes the consumption of renewable energy in the long run, and vice versa. Secondly, the asymmetric effect is found and confirms that the positive shock (worsening of inequality) of income inequality generates a larger impact on the consumption of renewable energy compared to the result from negative shock (improvement of inequality). Lastly, the Hatemi-J asymmetric Granger causality tests reveal bidirectional causality between the positive inequality shock and the consumption of renewable energy. Consequently, in terms of policy implication, there is a strong argument to reduce the degree of income inequality in ASEAN-5 in order to promote the consumption of renewable energy and to increase the feasibility of adoption of carbon neutrality targets in the region.

The carbon dioxide neutralizing effect of energy innovation on international tourism in EU-5 countries under the prism of the EKC hypothesis

Mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions has become an utmost important global agenda, keeping into consideration the associated environmental hardships. As a result, it is important to unearth the factors which can neutralize carbon emissions to transform the world economy into a low-carbon one. Against this backdrop, this study explores the carbon dioxide neutralizing effects of economic growth, international tourism, clean energy promotion, and technological innovation in the context of five European Union (EU-5) nations during the 1990-2015 period. This study's main contribution is in terms of its approach to test the interaction effect between foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and energy innovation on carbon dioxide emissions. The econometric analysis chronologically involves the employment of unit root, cointegration, causality, and regression methods. Overall, the findings support the inverted-U-shaped economic growth-carbon dioxide emissions nexus to verify the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Besides, the Pollution Haven Hypothesis in the context of the selected panel is also verified as higher FDI inflows are seen to boost the carbon dioxide emission levels. The results also confirm that energy innovation moderates the harmful effect of air transport (a proxy for international tourism) on carbon dioxide emissions during the developing stage of the tourism industry. On the other hand, renewable energy promotion is found to curb carbon dioxide emissions. These findings suggest that the European governments need to enhance investments in their respective renewable energy sectors and simultaneously ensure the development of clean industries, which can collectively help these nations become carbon-neutral in the future.

Can nuclear energy fuel an environmentally sustainable economic growth? Revisiting the EKC hypothesis for India

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.

A STIRPAT-based investigation on the role of economic growth, urbanization, and energy consumption in shaping a sustainable environment in the Mediterranean region

The Mediterranean region is highly vulnerable to undesired consequences of global warming triggered by industrialization, urbanization, and mostly fossil energy consumption. However, the region has also great renewable energy generation potential such as solar and wind, which enables countries in the region to considerably mitigate CO₂ emissions, the main driver of global warming. Developing countries around the world have less impact on carbon emissions than the developed Global North. Therefore, developing countries in the Mediterranean region are affected by the carbon burden of the first industrialized and developed European countries. This study investigates the role of economic growth, fossil and renewable energy consumption, and urbanization of developing Mediterranean countries in CO₂ emissions by using annual data covering 1995-2016 period. To this end, it follows a STIRPAT model including gross domestic product per capita, urbanization, and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption. Considering cross correlation among countries, panel data methodologies are employed to estimate how carbon emissions respond to increase in gross domestic product, urbanization, and disaggregated energy consumption. Empirical results reveal that gross domestic product and fossil energy increase CO₂ emissions; urbanization and renewable energy decrease CO₂ emissions.

Carbonization and atmospheric pollution in China: The asymmetric impacts of forests, livestock production, and economic progress on CO2 emissions

The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has surged over the years as a consequence of diverse humans activities such as deforestation and farming, in particular. The rapidly growing agriculture and farm mechanization have contributed to substantial increases in energy use and carbon dioxide emissions across the globe. It is hypothesized that agriculture significantly contributes to a country's economy to which China is no exception. Hence, the main intention of the current study was to explore the asymmetrical influences of cereal crop production, forestry production, and economic progress on CO₂ emissions in China between 1970 and 2017. The non-linear ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) bounds testing method was used to determine the short- and long-run dynamics linked with positive and negative shocks to the explanatory variables. The findings indicate that positive shocks to cereal crop production deteriorate the atmospheric quality by intensifying carbon dioxide emissions only in the long run, while the impacts of negative shocks in this regard are statistically insignificant. Ironically, shocks to forestry do not exhibit any significant impact on China's carbon dioxide emission levels. Moreover, carbon dioxide emissions demonstrate a strong progressive association with the positive shocks to energy resources utilized within the Chinese economy. Additionally, positive and negative shocks to economic progress are evidenced to boost and reduce the carbon dioxide emission figures in the long run. Lastly, negative shocks to livestock production are witnessed to increase carbon dioxide emissions only in the short run. Hence, for achieving the Chinese carbon-neutrality agenda, it is recommended to prioritize the use of renewable energy resources, particularly for producing cereal crops, in order to curb carbon dioxide emissions in China. Simultaneously, the Chinese economic growth policies should integrate environmentally-friendly schemes to counter the adversative environmental influences related to the economic progress in China.