Role of public-private partnerships investment in energy and technological innovations in driving climate change: evidence from Brazil

Impact of public-private partnerships investment and FDI on CO2 emissions: A study of six global investment countries

This study investigates the impact of public-private partnerships investment in energy and FDI on environmental quality in global investment countries during 1995-2018. Economic growth, technological innovations and consumption of clean energy are also considered as additional determinants of environmental quality. The study applied advanced panel econometric models. Our empirical results affirm the evidence of a long-run association between environmental quality and its determinants. Specifically, economic growth as well as clean energy use improves quality of environment by lowering carbon emissions. Public-private partnerships investment in energy, FDI and technological innovations decrease carbon emissions. Energy consumption (generated from fossil fuel) increases carbon emissions. Heterogeneous causality evidence indicates the presence of a unidirectional causality relation from carbon emissions to public-private partnerships investment in energy and a feedback causality occurs between consumption of clean energy and CO2 emissions. This empirical evidence provides new insights for both policymakers and governments to support public-private partnership investments in energy for the improvement of quality of environment in global investment countries.

The impact of public-private investment in energy on environmental degradation: evidence from major investment countries

The objective of the present study is to explore the impact of public-private investment in energy, foreign direct investment, urbanization, and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on environmental degradation in major investment countries during the period 1998Q4-2018Q4. In doing so, the cross-sectional dependence test and CIPS panel unit test were employed to identify the cross-sectionally dependency and the integrational properties/stationarity among the variables. Furthermore, we opted for Westerlund (2007) panel cointegration test to check the long-run association among the variables. To achieve the short-run and long-run elasticities, we have recommended cross-sectional-autoregressive distributive lag (CS-ARDL). The study outcomes revealed that public-private partnership in energy is negatively and significantly impacting CO2 emissions in both the short run and the long run. Furthermore, foreign direct investment and urbanization are negatively related to CO2 emissions, while renewable energy is positively affected it. However, the coefficients are insignificant. Moreover, non-renewable energy has a positive and substantial influence on CO2 emissions. Lastly, study outcomes offer several policy insights to develop investment in public and private partnerships in the energy sector to reduce CO2 emissions in major investment countries.

Can environmentally friendly technology help China to achieve a carbon neutrality target by 2060? An asymmetrical based study in China

Climate change-related environmental challenges are prompting an increasing number of countries to set carbon-neutral targets. Since 2007, China has pursued numerous initiatives to attain carbon neutrality by 2060, including increasing the percentage of non-fossil energy, developing zero-emission and low-emission technologies, and taking actions that reduce CO2 emissions or boost carbon sinks. As a result, utilizing quarterly data from 2008/Q1 to 2021/Q4, and applying the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach, this study evaluates the effectiveness of the measures taken by China to improve the ecological situation. The results of the study show that the measures enacted to reduce CO2 emissions did not accomplish their ultimate purpose. Specifically: (i) high-speed railways and new energy vehicles do not improve the environment in the long run; (ii) investments and patents in the energy sector, as well as low-carbon sources, will degrade the environment; (iii) only investments in the treatment of environmental pollution will improve the ecological situation. Various policy implications are suggested based on the empirical results in order to attain environmental sustainability.

The asymmetric relationship between public-private partnerships investment in energy and environmental degradation for sustainable development: new evidence from quantile-on-quantile regression approach

According to the United Nations Agenda, the 2023 sustainable environment is necessary to secure this planet's future; public-private partnerships investment in energy is crucial to sustainable development. The research examines the quantile association between public-private partnership ventures in energy and environmental degradation in ten developing nations, and data is used from January 1998-December 2016. The advanced econometrics quantile-on-quantile regression approach is used to control the issues of heterogeneity and asymmetric relationship. According to the quantile-on-quantile approach, there is a strong positive association between public-private partnerships in energy and environmental degradation in Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and India. But the negative relationship is observed on different quantiles of China, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Thailand, and the Philippines. The findings suggest that the world needs to act as a single community and divert its resources toward renewable energy sources to control climate change; also, to accomplish the UN 15-year road map of Agenda 2023 with 17-SDGs; out of these 17 sustainable goals, SDG-7 is related to affordable and clean energy, SDG-11 is about sustainable cities and communities, and SDG-13 focuses on climate action for sustainable development.

Can fiscal decentralization be the route to the race to zero emissions in South Africa? Fresh policy insights from novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations approach

There has been a plethora of debate on the link between fiscal decentralization and a drop in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, even though the evidence supporting this assertion is relatively sparse. Although the precise nature of this relationship is still up for discussion, economic hypothesis postulates that fiscal decentralization has an impact on environmental sustainability. Some researchers claim that fiscal decentralization could potentially result in a race to the top, while some believe it would lead to a race to the bottom. This analysis intends to shed light on the precise processes by which this connection may work in South Africa between 1960 and 2020 in light of current discussions in environmental and development economics. In contrary to previous studies, this paper employs a cutting-edge dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations methodology to evaluate the positive and negative variations in fiscal decentralization on CO2 emissions. Our findings demonstrate the prevalence of the race to the top strategy by illustrating how fiscal decentralization has a bearing on CO2 emissions reduction in the short and long terms. In accordance with the findings, greater fiscal decentralization should be implemented through the transfer of more powers to regional authorities, especially in the realm of environmental legislation considerations, in a bid to preserve South Africa's environmental integrity. By establishing a lower tier of government and defining roles at the federal and provincial divisions, South Africa could adopt strategies to improve green environment in an effort to fulfill the energy-saving tasks of fiscal expenditures.

Analyzing the role of green innovation and public-private partnerships in achieving sustainable development goals: a novel policy framework

The environment's quality is the cornerstone for every country's long-term growth. Pakistan, like other countries, is embracing modern, efficient technologies to build a sustainable environment following the SDGs. In this situation, policymakers and experts have emphasized more on environmental factors. To do this, the study explores the impact of green innovation (GI), public-private partnerships in energy (PPP), energy use (EU), economic development (ED), and power prices (PP) on CO2 emissions in Pakistan from 1980 to 2019. The research uses a novel econometric technique for estimating environmental factors, notably the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations (ARDLS) model and spectral frequency domain causality (SFDC), to examine positive and negative shocks for the prediction of the short-, medium-, and long-run impact of selected determinants, respectively. Additionally, robustness checks were performed using the fully modified OLS (FMOLS), dynamic OLS (DOLS), and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR) estimations. The short and long-term empirical findings indicate that GI lowers emissions; nevertheless, PPP, EU, and ED have a significant impact on emissions in the short run, while the EU increases emissions in the long run. PP, on the other hand, reduces emissions both short and long-term. The FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR estimations indicate significant discoveries. Additionally, the SFDC finding supports the long, medium, and short-term causation theories. This research advocates green innovation for a greener manufacturing process and PPP investment in renewable energy. In addition, the Pakistani government considers these variables while designing a comprehensive protracted environmental plan to meet SDGs 7 and 13.

Revisiting the nexus between fiscal decentralization and CO2 emissions in South Africa: fresh policy insights

The argument over fiscal decentralization and carbon dioxide emission (CO₂) reduction has received much attention. However, evidence to back this claim is limited. Economic theory predicts that fiscal decentralization affects environmental quality, but the specifics of this relationship are still up for debate. Some scholars noted that fiscal decentralization might lead to a race to the top, whereas others contended that it would result in a race to the bottom. In light of the current debates in environmental and development economics, this study aims to provide insight into how this relationship may function in South Africa from 1960 to 2020. In contrast to the existing research, the present study uses a novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulation approach to assess the positive and negative changes in fiscal decentralization, scale effect, technique effect, technological innovation, foreign direct investment, energy consumption, industrial growth, and trade openness on CO₂ emissions. The following are the main findings: (i) Fiscal decentralization had a CO₂ emission reduction impact in the short and long run, highlighting the presence of the race to the top approach. (ii) Economic growth (as represented by the scale effect) eroded ecological integrity. However, its square (as expressed by technique effect) aided in strengthening ecological protection, validating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. (iii) CO₂ emissions were driven by energy utilization, trade openness, industrial value-added, and foreign direct investment, whereas technological innovation boosted ecological integrity. Findings suggest that further fiscal decentralization should be undertaken through further devolution of power to local entities, particularly regarding environmental policy issues, to maintain South Africa's ecological sustainability. South Africa should also establish policies to improve environmental sustainability by strengthening a lower layer of government and clarifying responsibilities at the national and local levels to fulfill the energy-saving functions of fiscal expenditures.

Investigating the moderating role of economic policy uncertainty in environmental Kuznets curve for South Africa: Evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach

South Africa, one of the emerging markets and fast-developing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa recognised for varying world's natural assets on the international market, has recorded significant economic growth in the previous several years. However, aside from the ecological repercussions of energy generation, how economic uncertainties moderate the effects of energy intensity, renewable and non-renewable energy usage, and economic complexity on the environment has largely gone unnoticed. As a result, this paper addresses an important empirical vacuum by exploring the moderating influence of economic policy uncertainty in the environmental Kuznets curve for South Africa from 1960 to 2020. Results from the novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations framework reveal the following key findings: (i) economic policy uncertainty accelerates environmental degradation in both the short and long run; (ii) economic growth (as measured by the scale effect) increases environmental degradation, whereas the square of economic growth (as measured by the technique effect) slows it down, confirming the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis; (iii) environmental quality is deteriorated by energy intensity, economic complexity, non-renewable energy usage, and trade openness; (iv) the use of renewable energy and technological innovation increase environmental quality; (v) whereas the moderating effects of economic policy uncertainty on the environmental impacts of energy intensity, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption result in an increase in environmental destruction, its moderating effect on environmental implication of economic complexity plays an important role in improving environmental quality. These findings permit us to draw important policy recommendations for South Africa for improving environmental quality.

The nexus between remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability in Pakistan

Globally, the issues about sustainable development are on the increase. Moreover, these issues are rising every day in Pakistan, as remittances are increasing, technology innovation is ambiguous, natural resources are degraded, and economic expansion might pose serious challenges to the environment. Thus, this research looks at how remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, and economic growth affect carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ emissions in Pakistan by controlling energy consumption and urbanization from 1990 to 2019. The Bayer and Hanck test of combined cointegration discloses a cointegration between remittances, natural resources, technological innovations, economic growth, and CO₂ emissions. Moreover, the autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) proposes a significant positive association between remittances and CO₂ emissions in the long run, indicating that the increase in remittances distresses the environmental performance of Pakistan. Our study confirms that natural resources decrease CO₂ emissions while technological advancement, economic progress, energy use, and urbanization increase CO₂ emissions. In addition, the results of robustness checks by employing fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares are parallel to the conclusions of ARDL estimations. Furthermore, the frequency causality test results show that remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, economic growth, energy use, and urbanization cause CO₂ emissions at different frequencies. Therefore, to achieve the sustainable development goals, appropriate policy repercussions can be developed toward advanced and environmentally sustainable sources of energy.

The role of green growth, green financing, and eco-friendly technology in achieving environmental quality: evidence from selected Asian economies

Many countries are trying to achieve carbon neutrality targets by using environment-friendly technology and green growth. Thus, this analysis effort to identify the key role of green growth in improving the environmental quality. This study investigates the impact of green growth, income, environmental taxes, environment-friendly technology, renewable energy, and financial development in the context of 12 Asian economies over the period of 1990 to 2018. This study used the method of cross-section - augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) to find out the impact of green growth and growth (GDP) on environment quality with some plausible variables under the scheme of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The study employed the method of CS-ARDL and for robustness the augmented mean group (AMG) method to find out the impact of green growth and GDP growth on environment quality with some plausible variables under the scheme of EKC. The results of CS-ARDL concluded that CO₂ is significantly affected by GDP growth, green growth, and technological change in the context of Asian economies. The GDP square is inversely and the GDP growth is positively related to the CO₂, indicating the presence of inverted U-shaped EKC in this region. But the inverse relationship between green growth and green growth square and concave EKC is observed in Asian countries. The study used the Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel test to gauge the causality between the variables. This study suggested that policymakers should focus on transforming the country's energy system in ways that will reduce energy-related CO₂ emissions faster than previously expected.

Environmental sustainability and public-private partnerships investment in energy in Bangladesh

The current paper examines the effect of public-private partnerships investment in energy (PPIE) on CO₂ emissions while taking economic growth (GDP), foreign direct investment (FDI), and trade openness (TOP) into consideration for Bangladesh from 1997 to 2019. This paper utilizes Bayer and Hanck cointegration approach, fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, canonical regression, and frequency domain causality technique. The outcome of this paper reveals that (i) the cointegrating association among PPIE, GDP, FDI, TOP, and CO₂ emissions is verified; (ii) PPIE, GDP, and TOP affect environmental sustainability negatively; (iii) in the long term, PPIE, FDI, and TOP Granger-cause CO₂ emissions in Bangladesh. This research suggests technical development for a greener production procedure and public-private partnership funding in green energy. Therefore, as a policy endorsement, this study proposes to invest in the latest technological advancements to manufacture environmentally sustainable goods via public-private partnerships.

The asymmetric effect of renewable energy and trade on consumption-based CO2 emissions: The case of Italy

Although numerous studies in the literature have been conducted to model CO₂ emissions, there is a lack of empirical knowledge of consumption-based CO₂ emissions, which are adjusted for international trade, specifically. Therefore, the present study aims to close this gap in the literature in the case of Italy, while capturing the asymmetric effect of trade, renewable energy, and economic growth on consumption-based CO₂ emissions. The present study uses the Gregory-Hansen test for cointegration with regime shifts, Markov switching regression, nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL), and frequency domain causality test. The study's outcomes reveal that (1) the asymmetric effect of import on consumption-based CO₂ emissions is positive, implying that rising import is associated with declining consumption-based environmental quality; (2) export, renewable consumption, and economic growth reduce consumption-based CO₂ emissions in Italy. Moreover, these outcomes are supported by the outcomes of the frequency domain causality test. These innovative insights may prompt policy-makers to implement eco-friendly methods, such as renewable energy distribution and environmental innovation, to achieve a greener future. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:784-795. © 2021 SETAC.

Does trade openness mitigate the environmental degradation in South Africa?

The debate over the role international trade plays in determining environmental outcomes has considerably generated more heat than light. Theoretical work has been successful in identifying a series of hypotheses linking openness to trade and environmental quality, but the empirical verification of these hypotheses has seriously lagged. This study revisits the dynamic relationship between trade openness and environmental quality in South Africa using time series data over the period 1960-2020. The recently developed novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) simulation framework has been used. The outcomes of the analysis indicate that (i) trade openness deteriorates environmental quality in the long run, although it is environmentally friendly in the short run; (ii) the scale effect increases CO₂ emissions, whereas the technique effect contributes to lower it, thus validating the presence of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis; (iii) energy consumption, foreign direct investment, and industrial value-added contribute to environmental deterioration; (iv) technological innovation improves environmental quality; (v) the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) exists; and (vi) InSE, InTE, InOPEN, InEC, InFDI, InTECH, and InIGDP Granger-cause InCO₂ in the medium, long, and short run suggesting that these variables are important to influence CO₂ emissions. In light of our empirical evidence, this paper suggests that the international teamwork to lessen carbon emissions is immensely critical to solve the growing trans-boundary environmental decay and other associated spillover consequences.

Pathway towards Sustainability in Selected Asian Countries: Influence of Green Investment, Technology Innovations, and Economic Growth on CO2 Emission

Green investment and technology innovations are generally considered as an effective factor to mitigate CO2 emissions as these enhance cleaner production and energy efficacy. Thus, this study investigated the influence of green investment, technology innovations, and economic growth on CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries for the period 2001 to 2019. The Cross-Section dependency (CSD) signified the cross-section dependence in the panel countries, whereas CIPS and CADF testing affirmed the stationarity of all variables at the first difference. Consequently, the Westerlund cointegration method recognized a long-term association among variables. The outcomes of Panel Fully Modified OLS and Panel Dynamic OLS results indicated that green investment and technology innovations are helpful in mitigating CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries. In addition, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) postulate is validated for the given time period and indicated inverted U-shaped linkages between the economic growth and CO2 emission. The outcomes of the remaining variables, including population growth, energy consumption, FDI inflow, and trade, are estimated to have an augmenting influence on CO2 emission. Our results regarding the FDI–CO2 emissions nexus support the presence of the pollution-haven hypothesis. Moreover, the estimated results from PFMOLS and PDOLS are validated by Granger Causality, and AMG and CCEMG tests. The study suggests the adoption of renewable sources as energy input and the promotion of innovations for energy efficiencies to reduce CO2 emissions in Asian economies.

The Impact of Public-Private Partnership Investment in Energy and Technological Innovation on Ecological Footprint: The Case of Pakistan

This novel research looked into the role of public-private partnership investment in energy in affecting Pakistan’s long-term environmental sustainability. Employing time series data from 1992 to 2018 and utilizing the autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) model, we found a long-term equilibrium association of ecological footprint with public-private partnership investment in energy, technological innovation, economic growth, and trade openness. Our outcomes showed a significant positive association between public-private partnership investment in energy and ecological footprint in the long-run and the short-run, specifying that the increase in public-private partnership investment in energy affects the environmental sustainability of Pakistan. Similarly, our study confirmed that technological innovation, economic growth, and trade openness increase the ecological footprint in Pakistan. It demonstrates that these factors are unfavorable to the sustainable environment in Pakistan. Furthermore, robustness check findings are analogous to the results of ARDL estimates, utilizing dynamic ordinary least squares and fully modified ordinary least squares. On the basis of the research conclusions, a multi-pronged sustainable development goal (SDG) model was proposed that addresses SDG 8 and SDG 13 while incorporating SDG 17 as a medium.