Effect of Warming and Elevated O3 Concentration on CO2 Emissions in a Wheat-Soybean Rotation Cropland

A deeper understanding of the effects of experimental warming and elevated ozone (O3) concentration on carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes is imperative for reducing potential CO2 emissions in agroecosystems, but are less understood particularly in rotational wheat (Triticum aestivum)-soybean (Glycine max) croplands. In order to understand such effects on CO2 fluxes from winter wheat-soybean rotation, a field experiment was conducted by using the open-top chamber (OTCs) during the growing seasons of 2012 and 2013 at an agro-ecological station in southeast China. The experimental treatments included the control (CK), experimental warming (T, crop canopy temperature increased by ~2 °C), elevated O3 concentration (O, O3 concentration about 100 ppb) along with temperature enhancement (OT, elevated ~2 °C temperature plus 100 ppb O3). The results showed that warming significantly increased the mean CO2 fluxes (MCF) and the cumulative amount of CO2 (CAC) from soil and soil-crop systems, while elevated O3 and warming enhancement (OT) significantly reduced MCF and CAC. Besides, warming significantly reduced the biomass of winter-wheat, but it insignificantly decreased the biomass of soybean in the harvest period. The O and OT treatments significantly reduced the biomass of winter-wheat and soybean cropping systems in the harvest time. Both warming and elevated O3 concentration decreased the temperature sensitivity coefficients (Q10) in soil respiration during the experimental period. Overall, our results indicate that elevated O3 concentration compensates the effect of warming on CO2 emission to some extents, which has a positive feedback impact on the climate system.

Emergy-based environmental accounting of one mining system

Metal production from mineral resources is crucial for economic development. However, most mining activities usually target short-term financial benefits, rather than long-term consideration on ecological sustainability. To better understand the impact of metal production, systematic evaluation methods should be applied to complement current economic accounting tools. Under such a circumstance, this study proposes an emergy-based metal production evaluation framework, taking a life cycle perspective from the formation of mineral deposit to the final production of metal. Ecosystem service loss, CO₂ emissions, and emissions' impact are quantified, evaluating the comprehensive performance of a lead and zinc production system in Yunnan Province of China. The results show that minerals contribute significantly to the formation of lead and zinc production; however, emergy received in terms of money substantially undervalues environmental work associated with production. Such a metal production system relies heavily on nonrenewable resources and put enormous pressures on local ecosystems. The beneficiation subsystem generates the highest negative impact per emergy output, followed by the smelting and refining subsystem and the underground mining subsystem. From climate change point of view, producing 1 ton of lead bullion leads to 1.79E+03 kg CO₂eq. Electricity use contributes a dominated share to the total CO₂ emission of all subsystems. In addition, lead recycling can greatly reduce the overall CO₂ emission, indicating that it is necessary to build up a regional lead collection and recycling system. Finally, several policy suggestions are raised by considering the local realities, aiming to promote sustainable development of this industry.

Agricultural practices and quality of environment: evidence for global perspective

The study emphasizes to examine the causal relationship among CO₂ emission, agricultural value added, industrial production, urbanization, nuclear energy consumption, and economic growth across the panel of 59 countries. The data is collected from World Bank database over the period of 1982-2015. For econometric estimations, we have divided the sample into different income groups: low income, lower middle income, upper middle income, and higher income. In case of higher income countries, empirical results have reported the unidirectional causality from agricultural value added to CO₂ emission, whereas, bidirectional causality between nuclear energy consumption and CO₂ emission. Upper-middle-income countries have confirmed the bidirectional causality between CO₂ emissions and agricultural added; however, unidirectional causality runs from nuclear consumption to CO₂ emission. According to Granger causality estimations, agricultural value added and nuclear energy consumption do not cause the CO₂ emission in low income and lower-middle-income countries. Long-run estimations have mentioned that higher agricultural value added leads to increase the CO2 emission, in upper middle income and higher income countries. On contrary, in case of low-income and lower-middle-income countries, agricultural value added has inverse relationship with CO₂ emission. Higher nuclear energy consumption tends to reduce the CO₂ emission, except the upper-middle-income countries.

Role of biochar and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria to enhance soil carbon sequestration-a review

Global climate is undergoing significant changes due to extensive release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO₂ and methane in the atmosphere. These gases are produced and released as a result of anthropogenic activities and fossil fuel burnings which also result in depletion of soil carbon resources. Biochar has various distinctive properties, which contribute to make it an effective, economical, and eco-friendly approach for soil carbon sequestration. The versatility in physicochemical properties of biochar provides an opportunity to optimize its efficacy to obtain desired benefits. A critical review of the literature indicates that biochar and plant growth-promoting microbes have the potential to improve soil organic carbon (SOC). Recent studies have depicted a significant role of the combined application of plant growth-promoting microbes and biochar on SOC dynamics. In future, these areas need to be explored as these have the potential to improve SOC dynamics and it could be a better strategy to sustain natural resources and ultimately mitigation of the climate change.

China's cement demand and CO2 emissions toward 2030: from the perspective of socioeconomic, technology and population

China is the largest cement producer and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitter in the world. The country has attracted too much attention in calculating and comparing its CO₂ emissions. However, as the second largest CO₂ emitter after the fire power industry, China's long-term cement demand and cement-related CO₂ emission projections were not fully studied. The Chinese government, however, committed that by 2020 and 2030, China's per capita GDP of CO₂ emissions would be lower than that in 2005 by 40-45% and 60-65%, respectively. In this paper, China's cement demand in 2030 was projected based on the population size, urbanization rate, fixed assets investment, and per capita GDP. Furthermore, decoupling study in China's cement industry was also involved based on the GDP and CO₂ emissions during 2001-2015. We also used the diffusion rate of 12 types of CO₂ reduction measures and two changed scenarios of clinker-to-cement ratio, to project the cement CO₂ emission factors toward 2030 after determining the accounting scope. Meanwhile, the CO₂ emissions of China's cement industry through 2030 were projected naturally. The results showed that China's cement output in 2030 will be approximately 2000, 1650, and 937 Mt. based on the fixed assets investment, urbanization rate, and per capita GDP respectively. The projected two scenarios cement CO₂ emission factors were resp. 407.83 and 390.02 kg CO₂/t of cement which were 42.6 and 45.1% lower than that in 2005. The cement CO₂ emissions were projected to be in the range of 366 to 818 Mt. in 2030. Additionally, China's total cement output value has been decoupling from cement CO₂ emissions from 2012, which is mainly attributed to eliminating backward capacity, reducing excess capacity or the declining cement output. And decoupling economic from China's cement CO₂ emissions may change to be strong or weak decoupling in the near future. As cement production is one of the factors effecting cement CO₂ emissions, the most important measure for controlling cement CO₂ emissions is a reasonable capacity utilization rate. It is therefore important to control the growth of cement CO₂ emissions by regulating the capacity utilization rate within a reasonable range. Eliminating backward capacity, removing excess capacity, controlling new capacity, staggered production, and the "going global" of cement equipment can have great impacts in controlling the total amount of cement output and CO₂ emissions.

Carbon mineralization in soil as influenced by crop residue type and placement in an Alfisols of Northwest India

Carbon (C) mineralization of crop residues is an important process occurring in soil which is helpful in predicting CO₂ emission to the atmosphere and nutrient availability to plants. A laboratory experiment was conducted in which C mineralization of residues of rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum aestivum), maize (Zea mays), mungbean (Vigna radiata) and their mixtures was applied to the soil surface or incorporated into an Alfisols from Northwest India. C mineralization was significantly affected by residue placement and type and their interactions. Rice residue had a higher decomposition rate (k = 0.121 and 0.076 day^-1) than wheat (0.073 and 0.042 day^-1) and maize residues (0.041 day^-1) irrespective of placements. Higher decomposition rates of rice and wheat were observed when placed on soil surface than incorporated in the soils. Additive effects of the contribution of each residue type to C mineralization of the residue mixture were observed. When mungbean residue was added to the rice/wheat or maize/wheat mixture, decomposition of the residue mixture was enhanced. Crop residues with low N and high C/N ratio such as maize, wheat, rice and their mixtures can be applied on the soil surface for faster C and N mineralization, thereby helping to manage high volumes of residues under conservation agriculture-based practices in northwest India.

The trade-environment nexus in light of governance: a global potential

The theme of paper is to explore the trade-environment relationship and the role of institutions for 117 countries from global standpoint and five regions: Sub Saharan, European, Middle East and North Africa, Asia and Pacific, and Latin America and Caribbean, using the panel data span 2002-2014. By considering the endogeneity problem, to validate the nature of trade-environment nexuses, we applied the GMM first difference model in two steps. Likewise, Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality analysis is employed to affirm the causal relationship among the concern variables. The empirical findings of this study validate that the overall trade is significantly good to environment for sample countries (117) of the entire World, Europe, Asia, and Pacific regions. In further assessment, we incorporate interactive terms of institutions with trade, scale effect, and scale-technique effect. The estimated results confirm that institution is the persistent instrument for resolving the environmental problems. Furthermore, we find the evidence of inverted u shape EKC in overall selected sample of the World, Sub-Saharan, Europe, Asia, and Pacific regions. In contrast, there is no confirmation of inverted u shape EKC hypothesis in Middle East and North Africa regions. Similarly, no strong evidence of inverted u-shaped EKC hypothesis is observed in Latin-America and Caribbean region.

Decomposing the decoupling of CO2 emissions from economic growth in Cameroon

This paper applied the Tapio and LMDI methods based on an extended Kaya identity, to evaluate the decoupling and factors that influenced the relationship between economic growth and CO₂ emissions in Cameroon from 1990 to 2015. The analysis covered the two main sectors of Cameroon's economic activity, and the decoupling indicators were broken down into five factors. The results showed that Cameroon performed weak decoupling throughout this study period. A weak negative decoupling and a strong negative decoupling appeared during the periods 1990-1992 and 1993-1994, whereas a strong decoupling occurred only from 1994 to 1995 and between 2004 and 2006. From a general point of view, we found that demographic change, followed by energy intensity and economic activity, played a negative role in decoupling, while economic structure and emission factors had promoted the development of decoupling. A comparative analysis of the industrial and tertiary sectors revealed that industrial growth determined the degree of decoupling of CO₂ emissions from Cameroon's economic growth. The policy will need to optimize and significantly adjust the energy and industrial structures if Cameroon's 2035 emission reduction targets are to be reached. This requires a change in Cameroon's energy consumption and economic development pathways for optimal outcomes.

[Daily Variation of CO2 Flux at Water-Air Interface and Analysis of Its Affecting Factors in a Typical River of the Three Gorges Reservoir]

Diurnal and seasonal characterization of CO₂ partial pressure p(CO₂) and CO₂ areal flux F(CO₂) at the water-air interface in an anthropogenic river in the Three Gorges Reservoir area was studied. A tributary of the Jialing River in Chongqing Municipality was chosen, and daily and seasonal samples were taken in summer and autumn, focusing on riverine p(CO₂), F(CO₂), and their associated controls. Henry's law combined with the thin boundary layer model was adopted to estimate the CO₂ flux via the water-air interface. The results indicated that F(CO₂) was not high on average, namely (87.8±27.5) mmol·(m²·d)^-1 and (139.2±34.0) mmol·(m²·d)^-1 in summer and autumn, respectively. The water-air interface F(CO₂) showed significant hourly, daily, and seasonal variations. CO₂ release peaked around 09:00 and then slightly decreased. We also found that pH, alkalinity, water, and temperature were significantly related to p(CO₂) and F(CO₂), whereas pH and alkalinity were the best predictors of F(CO₂). This study aids understanding of the impacts of urbanization on CO₂ emissions in the rivers and helps to re-evaluate local riverine CO₂ budgets.

Financial development, globalization, and CO2 emission in the presence of EKC: evidence from BRICS countries

This study examines the impact of energy consumption, financial development, globalization, economic growth, and urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions in the presence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model for BRICS economies, by using a family of econometric techniques robust to heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. Results from LM test, CIPS and CADF unit root test, Westerlund Cointegration test, the Dynamic seemingly unrelated regression (DSUR), and Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality test show that (i) the data is cross sectionally dependent and heterogeneous; (ii) carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, financial development, globalization, economic growth, square of GDP and urbanization have integration of order one; (iii) the examined variables are co-integrated; (iv) energy consumption and financial development contribute to the carbon dioxide emissions whereas globalization and urbanization have negative but insignificant relationship with carbon dioxide emissions; (v) supports the EKC hypothesis in BRICS economies; (vi) bidirectional causality exists among energy consumption, financial development, economic growth and square of GDP with carbon dioxide emissions whereas globalization and urbanization have unidirectional relationship with carbon dioxide emissions. Since these panel techniques account for heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence in their estimation procedure, the empirical results are robust and reliable for policy recommendations. Furthermore, this study also uses time series tests (ADF, P-P, and FMOLS) to find the empirical results for each of the country and finds mixed results. Empirical findings directed towards some important policy implications.

Biodegradation of Some Organic Materials in Soils and Soil Constructions: Experiments, Modeling and Prevention

The decomposition of natural and synthetic polymeric materials (peat, humates, biochar, strongly swelling hydrogels and other soil conditioners) in a biologically and chemically active soil environment inevitably leads to a reduced ability to improve the structure, water-retention, absorptive capacity and fertility of artificial soil constructions in urbanized ecosystems and agro landscapes (constructozems). Quantitative assessment of the biodegradation process using field and laboratory incubation experiments, as well as mathematical modeling, showed the possibility of significant (up to 30⁻50% per year) losses of organic matter of constructozems and a corresponding deterioration of soil quality. Incubation experiments that track the carbon dioxide emission rates of polymeric materials under given thermodynamic conditions allow for the estimation of decomposition rates in addition to an exploration on the dependence of such rates on additions of microbial inhibitors. The use of nomographs provide an opportunity to optimize long-term amendment performance in soil constructions by identifying the most favorable depths to apply amendments to ensure stable functioning during desired in-service timelines in the built environment. The results of the study are useful for geo-engineers and landscaping practitioners.

The effect of ICT, financial development, growth, and trade openness on CO2 emissions: an empirical analysis

This study investigates the impact of Internet use, financial development, economic growth, and trade openness on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in selected European Union (EU) countries. To this end, pooled mean group (PMG) estimator is utilized for panel data from 2001 to 2014. Empirical findings suggest that Internet use has long-run relationship with CO₂ emissions and lowering the environmental quality in EU countries. Also, the electricity consumption has a positive and significant effect on CO₂ emissions. Moreover, interestingly, economic growth and financial development have a diminishing negative impact on CO₂ emission. Heterogeneous panel Granger causality results suggest unidirectional causality running from Internet use to CO₂ emissions. The finding implies that the European Union countries did not achieve the level of green information and telecommunication (ICTs) consumption. Overall, the innovative findings indicate that Internet use is raising the threat to the sustainable development. Thus, to curb and mitigate CO₂ emissions from Internet use and electricity consumption is the need of time to maintain the sustainable development in EU countries.

Influence of foreign direct investment on indicators of environmental degradation

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by looking at the influence of foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, and ecological footprint. In order to realize the aim of this study, we have utilized the augmented mean group estimator, which is supported by common correlated effect mean group estimator in the analysis for 20 countries. The panel results reveal that foreign direct investment has no effect on environmental degradation indicators. The panel results further reveal that gross domestic product, energy consumption, and urbanization are the main contributors to environmental degradation. The results at country level show that foreign direct investment and urbanization increase pollution in the developing countries while they mitigate pollution in the developed countries. Moreover, gross domestic product and energy consumption increase pollution for both developed and developing countries, which includes China and the USA. The negative impact of foreign direct investment on environmental degradation in the developed countries can be explained on the basis that these countries have strong environmental regulations, which makes it almost impossible for dirty foreign industries to invest therein. From the output of this research, several policy recommendations are enumerated for the investigated countries.

Existing agricultural ecosystem in China leads to environmental pollution: an econometric approach

Sustainable agriculture ensures food security and prevents starvation. However, the need to meet the increasing food demands of the growing population has led to poor and unsustainable agricultural practices, which promote environmental degradation. Given the contributions of agricultural ecosystems to environmental pollution, we investigated the impact of the agricultural ecosystem on environmental pollution in China using time series data from 1960 to 2014. We employed several methods for econometric analysis including the unit root test, Johansen test of cointegration, Granger causality test, and vector error correction model. Evidence based on the long-run elasticity indicates that a 1% increase in the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent to nitrous oxide from synthetic fertilizers will increase the emissions of CO₂ by 1.52% in the long run. Similarly, a 1% increase in the area of harvested rice paddy, cereal production, biomass of burned crop residues, and agricultural GDP will increase the carbon dioxide emissions by 0.85, 0.63, 0.37, and 0.22%, respectively. The estimated results indicate that there are long-term equilibrium relationships among the selected variables considered for the agricultural ecosystem and carbon dioxide emissions. In particular, we identified bidirectional causal associations between CO₂ emissions, biomass of burned crop residues, and cereal production. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

The effect of ICT on CO2 emissions in emerging economies: does the level of income matters?

In the modern era of globalization, the rapid increase in information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) contributes in various sectors of an economy; however, the environmental consequences of ICTs cannot be ignored. Therefore, the study investigates the nexus between ICTs, economic growth, financial development, and environmental quality in emerging economies. The novel feature of the study is that the interaction term of ICT is introduced with economic growth and financial development. The empirical findings of the study are based on panel mean group (MG) and augmented mean group (AMG) estimation methods from 1990 to 2015. The following empirical results are established: first the ICTs significantly affect CO₂ emissions. Second, the moderating effect of ICT and financial development stimulate the level of CO₂ emissions. Third, economic growth contributes CO₂ emission; however, the interaction between ICT and GDP mitigates the level of pollution. Policy thresholds with the R&D in ICT sector are required to mitigate the level of CO₂ emission. Introduction of green ICTs projects in the financial sector is a better choice to improve the energy efficiency.

Modeling the impact of transport energy consumption on CO2 emission in Pakistan: Evidence from ARDL approach

The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between transport energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emission (CO₂) from transport sector incorporating foreign direct investment and urbanization. This study is carried out in Pakistan by applying autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and vector error correction model (VECM) over 1990-2015. The empirical results indicate a strong significant impact of transport energy consumption on CO₂ emissions from the transportation sector. Furthermore, foreign direct investment also contributes to CO₂ emission. Interestingly, the impact of economic growth and urbanization on transport CO₂ emission is statistically insignificant. Overall, transport energy consumption and foreign direct investment are not environmentally friendly. The new empirical evidence from this study provides a complete picture of the determinants of emissions from the transport sector and these novel findings not only help to advance the existing literature but also can be of special interest to the country's policymakers. So, we urge that government needs to focus on promoting the energy efficient means of transportation to improve environmental quality with less adverse influence on economic growth.

Prediction and Analysis of CO₂ Emission in Chongqing for the Protection of Environment and Public Health

Based on the consumption of fossil energy, the CO₂ emissions of Chongqing are calculated and analyzed from 1997 to 2015 in this paper. Based on the calculation results, the consumption of fossil fuels and the corresponding CO₂ emissions of Chongqing in 2020 are predicted, and the supporting data and corresponding policies are provided for the government of Chongqing to reach its goal as the economic unit of low-carbon emission in the '13th Five-Year Plan'. The results of the analysis show that there is a rapid decreasing trend of CO₂ emissions in Chongqing during the '12th Five-Year Plan', which are caused by the adjustment policy of the energy structure in Chongqing. Therefore, the analysis and prediction are primarily based on the adjustment of Chongqing's coal energy consumption in this paper. At the initial stage, support vector regression (SVR) method is applied to predict the other fossil energy consumption and the corresponding CO₂ emissions of Chongqing in 2020. Then, with the energy intensity of 2015 and the official target of CO₂ intensity in 2020, the total fossil energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of Chongqing in 2020 are predicted respectively. By the above results of calculation, the coal consumption and its corresponding CO₂ emissions of Chongqing in 2020 are determined. To achieve the goal of CO₂ emissions of Chongqing in 2020, the coal consumption level and energy intensity of Chongqing are calculated, and the adjustment strategies for energy consumption structure in Chongqing are proposed.

Contrasting effects of nitrogen addition on soil respiration in two Mediterranean ecosystems

Increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is known to alter ecosystem carbon source-sink dynamics through changes in soil CO₂ fluxes. However, a limited number of experiments have been conducted to assess the effects of realistic N deposition in the Mediterranean Basin, and none of them have explored the effects of N addition on soil respiration (R _s ). To fill this gap, we assessed the effects of N supply on R _s dynamics in the following two Mediterranean sites: Capo Caccia (Italy), where 30 kg ha^-1 year^-1 was supplied for 3 years, and El Regajal (Spain), where plots were treated with 10, 20, or 50 kg N ha^-1 year^-1 for 8 years. Results show a complex, non-linear response of soil respiration (R _s ) to N additions with R _s overall increasing at Capo Caccia and decreasing at El Regajal. This suggests that the response of R _s to N addition depends on dose and duration of N supply, and the existence of a threshold above which the N introduced in the ecosystem can affect the ecosystem's functioning. Soil cover and seasonality of precipitations also play a key role in determining the effects of N on R _s as shown by the different responses observed across seasons and in bare soil vs. the soil under canopy of the dominant species. These results show how increasing rates of N addition may influence soil C dynamics in semiarid ecosystems in the Mediterranean Basin and represent a valuable contribution for the understanding and the protection of Mediterranean ecosystems.

Tapered US carbon emissions during good times: what's old, what's new?

In light of a slow buildup in CO₂ emissions since the recovery, this paper revisits the relationship between CO₂ emissions and the US economy using a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model, in which the determinants are identified through an expanded real business cycle model. We find convincing evidence that CO₂ emissions decline more rapidly during recessions than increase during expansions over the long run. Of all determinants considered, long-run asymmetry is fostered once vehicle miles traveled is controlled. This calls for a greater attention to public transportation development and vehicle miles traveled tax for slowing down stock buildup of CO₂ emissions during good times.

Effect of lower and higher alcohol fuel synergies in biofuel blends and exhaust treatment system on emissions from CI engine

The present study deals with performance, emission and combustion studies in a single cylinder CI engine with lower and higher alcohol fuel synergies with biofuel blends and exhaust treatment system. Karanja oil methyl ester (KOME), widely available biofuel in India, and orange oil (ORG), a low carbon biofuel, were taken for this study, and equal volume blend was prepared for testing. Methanol (M) and n-pentanol (P) was taken as lower and higher alcohol and blended 20% by volume with KOME-ORG blend. Activated carbon-based exhaust treatment indigenous system was designed and tested with KOME-ORG + M20 and KOME-ORG + P20 blend. The tests were carried out at various load conditions at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. The study revealed that considering performance, emission and combustion studies, KOME-ORG + M20 + activated carbon are found optimum in reducing NO, smoke and CO₂ emission. Compared to KOME, for KOME-ORG + M20 + activated carbon, NO emission is reduced from 10.25 to 7.85 g/kWh, the smoke emission is reduced from 49.4 to 28.9%, and CO₂ emission is reduced from 1098.84 to 580.68 g/kWh. However, with exhaust treatment system, an increase in HC and CO emissions and reduced thermal efficiency is observed due to backpressure effects.

The relationship between CO2 emission, energy consumption and economic growth in Malaysia: a three-way linkage approach

This study examines the three-way linkage relationships between CO₂ emission, energy consumption and economic growth in Malaysia, covering the 1975-2015 period. An autoregressive distributed lag approach was employed to achieve the objective of the study and gauged by dynamic ordinary least squares. Additionally, vector error correction model, variance decompositions and impulse response functions were employed to further examine the relationship between the interest variables. The findings show that economic growth is neither influenced by energy consumption nor by CO₂ emission. Energy consumption is revealed to be an increasing function of CO₂ emission. Whereas, CO₂ emission positively and significantly depends on energy consumption and economic growth. This implies that CO₂ emission increases with an increase in both energy consumption and economic growth. Conclusively, the main drivers of CO₂ emission in Malaysia are proven to be energy consumption and economic growth. Therefore, renewable energy sources ought to be considered by policy makers to curb emission from the current non-renewable sources. Wind and biomass can be explored as they are viable sources. Energy efficiency and savings should equally be emphasised and encouraged by policy makers. Lastly, growth-related policies that target emission reduction are also recommended.

Growth-corruption-health triaca and environmental degradation: empirical evidence from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand

This study examines the impact of economic growth, corruption, health, and poverty on environmental degradation for three countries from ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand using annual data over the period of 1994-2014. The relationship between environmental degradation (pollution) by carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and economic growth is examined along with some other variables, namely health expenditure, poverty, agriculture value added growth, industrial value added growth, and corruption. The ordinary least squares (OLS) method is applied as an analytical technique for parameter estimation. The empirical results reveal that almost all variables are statistically significant at the 5% level of significance, whereby test rejects the null hypotheses of non-cointegration, indicating that all variables play an important role in affecting the environment across countries. Empirical results also indicate that economic growth has significant positive impact, while health expenditures show significantly negative impact on the environment. Corruption has significant positive effect on environment in the case of Malaysia; while in the case of Indonesia and Thailand, it has insignificant results. However, for the individual analysis across countries, the regression estimate suggests that economic growth has a significant positive relationship with environment for Indonesia, while it is found insignificantly negative and positive in the case of Malaysia and Thailand, respectively, during the period under the study. Empirical findings of the study suggest that policy-makers require to make technological-friendly environment sequentially to surmount unregulated pollution, steady population transfers from rural areas to urban areas are also important, and poverty alleviation and better health provision can also help to improve the environment.

Sectoral output, energy use, and CO2 emission in middle-income countries

Middle-income countries are currently undergoing massive structural changes towards more industrialized economies. In this paper, we carefully examine the impact of these transformations on the environmental quality of middle-income countries. Specifically, we examine the role of sector value addition to GDP on CO₂ emission nexus for middle-income economies controlling for the effects of population growth, energy use, and trade openness. Using recently developed panel methods that consider cross-sectional dependence and allow for heterogeneous slope coefficients, we show that energy use and growth of industrial and service sectors positively explain CO₂ emissions in middle-income economies. We also find that population growth is insignificantly associated with CO₂ emission. Hence, our paper provides a solid ground for developing a sustainable and pro-growth policy for middle-income countries.

Grazing intensity significantly affects belowground carbon and nitrogen cycling in grassland ecosystems: a meta-analysis

Livestock grazing activities potentially alter ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles in grassland ecosystems. Despite the fact that numerous individual studies and a few meta-analyses had been conducted, how grazing, especially its intensity, affects belowground C and N cycling in grasslands remains unclear. In this study, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis of 115 published studies to examine the responses of 19 variables associated with belowground C and N cycling to livestock grazing in global grasslands. Our results showed that, on average, grazing significantly decreased belowground C and N pools in grassland ecosystems, with the largest decreases in microbial biomass C and N (21.62% and 24.40%, respectively). In contrast, belowground fluxes, including soil respiration, soil net N mineralization and soil N nitrification increased by 4.25%, 34.67% and 25.87%, respectively, in grazed grasslands compared to ungrazed ones. More importantly, grazing intensity significantly affected the magnitude (even direction) of changes in the majority of the assessed belowground C and N pools and fluxes, and C : N ratio as well as soil moisture. Specifically,light grazing contributed to soil C and N sequestration whereas moderate and heavy grazing significantly increased C and N losses. In addition, soil depth, livestock type and climatic conditions influenced the responses of selected variables to livestock grazing to some degree. Our findings highlight the importance of the effects of grazing intensity on belowground C and N cycling, which may need to be incorporated into regional and global models for predicting effects of human disturbance on global grasslands and assessing the climate-biosphere feedbacks.

Does financial development reduce environmental degradation? Evidence from a panel study of 129 countries

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of financial development on CO2 emission in 129 countries classified by the income level. A panel CO2 emission model using urbanisation, GDP growth, trade openness, petroleum consumption and financial development variables that are major determinants of CO2 emission was constructed for the 1980-2011 period. The results revealed that the variables are cointegrated based on the Pedroni cointegration test. The dynamic ordinary least squares (OLS) and the Granger causality test results also show that financial development can improve environmental quality in the short run and long run due to its negative effect on CO2 emission. The rest of the determinants, especially petroleum consumption, are determined to be the major source of environmental damage in most of the income group countries. Based on the results obtained, the investigated countries should provide banking loans to projects and investments that can promote energy savings, energy efficiency and renewable energy to help these countries reduce environmental damage in both the short and long run.