The effects of environmental taxes, renewable energy consumption and environmental technology on the ecological footprint: Evidence from advanced panel data analysis

Environmental management and the circular economy: Analysing the role of environmental fiscal measures in promoting clean production and consumption in OECD countries

Pollution, material waste, and emissions cause environmental degradation. The public sector implements environmental interventions to reduce pollution and emissions and to make waste circular. Environmental fiscal interventions are crucial for reducing emissions, material waste, pollution, and unsustainable production and consumption. This study focuses on the role of environmental fiscal measures in promoting clean production and consumption in 22 OECD countries. Continuously Updated Efficient Generalized Method of Moments (CUE-GMM) and 2-step Efficient GMM methods are applied to panel data from 2000 to 2022. The empirical analysis reveals the positive impact of environmental protection expenditures, renewable energy adoption, and technological innovation on clean production and consumption. However, environmental taxes and credits to the private sector negatively impact and are ineffective and distortionary for the transition to clean production and consumption. The findings validate the public good theory that environmental protection expenditures promote clean production and consumption technologies. However, the Pigouvian tax theory is not valid for the OECD countries. This study suggests re-evaluating the existing environmental taxation framework. The findings imply that tax credits, environmental research and development expenditures, adopting renewable energy sources, and technology for green practices will promote responsible production and consumption in OECD countries.

From policy to progress: Environmental taxation to mitigate air pollution in OECD countries

Environmental taxes play a critical role in mitigating air pollution and fostering sustainability by internalizing the social costs of environmental damage. By imposing financial disincentives on polluters, these taxes encourage cleaner practices and technological innovation. Using panel ARDL models, this study examines the impact of environmental taxes on CO₂ emissions across 38 OECD countries, accounting for cross-sectional dependence, non-stationarity, and heterogeneity. Findings reveal a significant long-run negative relationship between environmental taxes and CO₂ emissions and support the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in high-income nations. The analysis highlights that while environmental taxes effectively reduce emissions at moderate and high levels, their impact diminishes at lower emission levels. Moreover, disaggregated analysis of fossil fuel consumption demonstrates a substantial decline in coal and oil usage, whereas natural gas consumption exhibits a positive association with taxes, reflecting a shift toward less carbon-intensive energy sources. The study emphasizes the importance of well-designed environmental tax schemes to maximize policy effectiveness.

Do the effects of aggregate and disaggregate energy consumption on different environmental quality indicators change in the transition to sustainable development? Evidence from wavelet coherence analysis

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations (UN) member states in 2015, half of the target period has been exceeded. However, China, whose energy consumption relies heavily on fossil resources, remains at the top of the list of global polluters. Therefore, investigating the environmental impacts of energy types is essential to China's path towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-7 and SDG-13. Based on this motivation, the paper offers new insights into the energy-environment literature for China with wavelet coherence analysis (WCA). This approach can investigate the relationship between variables in a periodic manner based on the frequency behavior of the models. The paper separately analyzes the effects of primary energy consumption (PEC), fossil energy consumption (FEC), renewable energy consumption (REC), nuclear energy consumption (NEC), GDP, and population (POP) on three different environmental indicators in China. Using two environmental pollution indicators (carbon emission (CO2) and ecological footprint (EF)) and one environmental quality indicator (load capacity factor (LCF)), the paper allows for comparison and robustness checks on the environmental impacts of energy indicators. Empirical findings reveal the following: (i) Except for REC and POP in the CO2 model, the variables in all three models largely move together during the period under observation; (ii) variables other than POP have consistent coefficient signs; (iii) PEC, FEC, NEC, and GDP increase CO2 and EF while decreasing LCF; (iv) the effect of NEC on LCF is more obvious until 2000; (v) unlike the others, REC affects CO2 and EF negatively and LCF positively; (vi) there is bidirectional causality between PEC and environmental indicators but not for REC; (vii) the causality relations of other variables with environmental indicators differ in terms of model, time, and direction of causality. In light of the findings, the paper highlights that only the REC improves environmental quality in China. Other energy indicators contribute to environmental degradation. China, whose ecological deficit has increased dramatically in recent years, urgently needs to reduce its dependence on fossil energy sources by accelerating investments in REC. Governments should also review nuclear energy policies, which are expected to help achieve carbon neutrality.

Air pollution and life expectancy in the USA: Do medical innovation, health expenditure, and economic complexity matter?

Regardless of a country's income level, air pollution poses a significant environmental threat to human health. Long-term exposure to air pollution often triggers cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Thus, air pollution significantly reduces life expectancy worldwide. The USA is one of the world's largest polluters of CO2 emissions, often used to represent air pollution. In this context, the main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between air pollution and life expectancy in the USA. In doing so, we control for the role of medical innovation, health expenditures, economic complexity, and government effectiveness using data for the period 1995-2019. The results indicate the existence of a cointegration relationship in the proposed model. The long-run coefficients are statistically positive for medical innovation and negative for CO2 emissions, economic complexity, and government effectiveness. On the other hand, health expenditures are ineffective in terms of life expectancy. Accordingly, medical innovation raises life expectancy, whereas CO2 emissions, economic complexity, and government effectiveness decrease it. Higher economic prosperity and health expenditures are not always beneficial to life expectancy. Therefore, policymakers need to take action to reduce air pollution and increase the comprehensiveness of economic prosperity benefits and health expenditure efficiency.

Ecological footprint spillover effects in Europe: New insights from dynamic spatial panel data model with common shocks

This comprehensive study addresses the urgent global challenges of climate change and environmental degradation by focusing on the Ecological Footprint (EF). Unlike previous studies, it introduces a novel approach incorporating spatial spillover, temporal effects, and common shocks in panel data analysis. The spatial spillover effect highlights the influence of trade, pollution havens, and competition between neighboring countries on EF. The temporal effects emphasize the significance of historical production patterns and export strategies in shaping the current EF. The study also considers the impact of exogenous common shocks, such as international agreements and global events, on EF. Utilizing a dynamic spatial panel data model with common shocks, the research examines 40 European countries from 1992 to 2020, revealing the significant impact of biocapacity, energy consumption, industrialization, and globalization on EF. Findings indicate that spatial spillover effects contribute to EF transfer, emphasizing the need for collaborative global efforts. The study sheds light on the interconnectedness of environmental impacts and underscores the importance of considering both weak and strong forms of cross-sectional dependence in achieving accurate estimations. The research enriches our understanding of EF determinants and provides nuanced insights for policymakers striving to develop effective strategies for sustainable resource management and environmental conservation.

Mitigating environmental pollution in China: Unlocking the potential for high-quality innovation

The nexus between environmental pollution (EP) and technological innovation is crucial for achieving sustainable development. However, existing literature has paid less attention to the new form of high-quality innovation (HI) in environmental management. This paper uses panel data from 31 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2020, employing the two-stage least squares method to investigate the relationship between HI and EP. The empirical results reveal that HI can effectively reduce the EP, which holds after multiple robustness tests, and this effect is more obvious in southern China. Meanwhile, HI drives clean and efficient energy transition and decreases EP. Moreover, increased environmental regulation weakens the influence of HI on EP. The major contributions of this study are constructing an HI index including innovation, human capital, and government support and examining its influence on EP in China. The findings encourage government to implement policies of innovation-driven transformation, energy conservation and emissions reduction.

A bibliometric analysis-based literature review of the relationship between sustainable water management and green innovations in the agricultural sector

Global water demand has grown intensively over the last three decades, and the predictions suggest this trend will continue. Sustainable Water Management (SWM) defines water-based principles and action frameworks interconnecting societal, economic, and environmental aspects to establish and maintain good practices serving long-term objectives related to water resources. Water scarcity, deterioration of water quality, less effective water technologies, hydrological changes caused by climate change, and increased water demand require the thorough revision of conventional approaches, new methods, and new policy measures. The research methodology in this paper includes a comprehensive review and bibliometric analysis of relevant literature on water management and sustainable development, including empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, and policy documents. The study explores the conceptual context of SWM, reveals the barriers hindering its core progress, evaluates the impact of green innovations on the development of novel operations, and gets an insight into the current policy and regulatory framework for SWM. Besides giving a review of the current practices and perspectives in SWM, the results of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between sustainable water management and green innovations in the agricultural sector and provide possible directions toward adopting effective strategies and policies to promote a more intense permeation of the SWM approach.

Asymmetric impact of patents on green technologies on Algeria's Ecological Future

This study examines how patents on green technologies impact Algeria's ecological footprint from 1990 to 2022 while controlling for economic growth and energy consumption. The objectives are to analyze the asymmetric effects of positive and negative shocks in these drivers on ecological footprint and provide policy insights on leveraging innovations and growth while minimizing environmental harm. Given recent major structural shifts in Algeria's economy, time series data exhibits nonlinear dynamics. To accommodate this nonlinearity, the study employs an innovative nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach. The findings indicate that an upsurge in green technologies (termed as a positive shock) significantly reduces the ecological footprint, thereby enhancing ecological sustainability. Interestingly, a decline in green technologies (termed as a negative shock) also contributes to reducing the ecological footprint. This highlights the crucial role of clean technologies in mitigating ecological damage in both scenarios. Conversely, a positive shock in economic growth increases ecological footprint, underscoring the imperative for environmentally friendly policies in tandem with economic expansion. Negative shocks, however, have minimal impact. In a similar vein, positive shock in energy consumption increases ecological footprint, underlining the importance of transitioning towards cleaner energy sources. Negative shock has a smaller but still noticeable effect. The results confirm asymmetric impacts, with positive and negative changes in the drivers affecting Algeria's ecological footprint differently. To ensure long-term economic and ecological stability, Algeria should prioritize eco-innovation and green technology development. This will reduce dependence on fossil fuels and create new, sustainable industries.

Does Market-Based Environmental Regulation Improve the Residents' Health: Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on DID

Improving the residents' health is an important strategy for addressing the declining population dividend in China under the new development paradigm. Based on the panel data of 290 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2021, this paper uses environmental tax as a quasi-natural experiment, and adopts a DID model to explore the impact of market-based environmental regulation on the residents' health. The results show that the implementation of environmental tax can significantly reduce the population mortality rate, indicating an enhancement in residents' health outcomes. Mechanism analysis shows that environmental tax mainly relies on air quality to improve the residents' health. Also, the heath effect of environmental tax will be effective with the increase of income, and it's stronger in administrative border areas. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of environmental tax on residents' health in western regions and resource-based cities is significantly stronger than those in central and eastern regions and non-resource-based cities. This paper provides new evidence for a comprehensive understanding of the impact of market-based environmental regulations on residents' well-being, offering insights for the implementation of green development strategies.