Defining the role of renewable energy, economic growth, globalization, energy consumption, and population growth on PM(2.5) concentration: evidence from South Asian countries

Classification of aerosols using particle linear depolarization ratio (PLDR) over seven urban locations of Asia

Active lidar remote sensing has been used to obtain detailed and quantitative information about the properties of aerosols. We have analyzed the spatio-temporal classification of aerosols using the parameters of particle linear depolarization ratio and single scattering albedo from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) over seven megacities of Asia namely; Lahore, Karachi, Kanpur, Pune, Beijing, Osaka, and Bandung. We find that pollution aerosols dominate during the winter season in all the megacities. The concentrations, however, vary concerning the locations, i.e., 70-80% pollution aerosols are present over Lahore, 40-50% over Karachi, 90-95% over Kanpur and Pune, 60-70% and over Beijing and Osaka. Pure Dust (PD), Pollution Dominated Mixture (PDM), and Dust Dominated Mixture (DDM) are found to be dominant during spring and summer seasons.This proposes that dust over Asia normally exists as a mixture with pollution aerosols instead of pure form. We also find that black carbon (BC) dominated pollution aerosols.

Do renewable energy sources improve air quality? Demand- and supply-side comparative evidence from industrialized and emerging industrial economies

This study is an attempt to comparatively analyze the impact of renewable energy sources on air quality represented by particulate matter 2.5 concentrations utilizing panel data of 60 countries which are divided into two sub-panels industrialized economies and emerging industrial economies over the period 2010-2019. The study adopts both demand- and supply-side approaches and hence renewable sources are handled in two different structures, i.e., renewable energy consumption and production. Empirical results from both demand- and supply-side regressions strongly confirm the positive impact of renewable sources on air quality in all country groups, meaning that higher renewable energy production and consumption bring about improvement in air quality. In addition, this positive impact of renewables on air quality turned out to be higher in emerging industrial economies than that in industrialized ones. To be more precise, as all control variables are considered, a 10% increase in the production of renewable energy sources brings about a 0.66% improvement in air quality in industrialized economies while its impact is a value of 1.33% in emerging industrial economies. On the other hand, a 10% increase in consumption of renewable energy sources leads to a 0.62% improvement in air quality in industrialized economies and a 1.97% improvement in emerging industrial economies. As for control variables, industrialization gives rise to an increase in air pollution in all country groups, whereas economic growth and trade openness function as favorable factors for air quality. Although population density improves air quality in industrialized economies, it is found as one of the main pollutant factors in emerging industrial economies. Overall results proved that renewable sources improve air quality by reducing particulate matter 2.5 concentrations. Therefore, these countries, especially emerging industrial economies, should replace primitive energy sources like fossil fuels with renewables to bring down environmental degradation up to a reasonable level and increasingly continue to invest in renewable energy domain to reach their environmental sustainability targets. The study also provides some additional policy implications.

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.