Environmental aspect of energy transition and urbanization in the OPEC member states

Examining the Energy-Environmental Kuznets Curve in OECD Countries Considering their Population

This research aims to examine the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in 37 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over the period from 1960 to 2019. Panel Quantile Regressions (QR) show that for the lower quartile, economic growth does not impact emissions; for the central quartile a U-shaped curve emerges; while for the upper quartile, an N-shaped curve is found. In addition, cointegrating regressions highlight that economic growth, fossil fuel consumption, and population exert a detrimental effect on the environment, while renewable energy consumption reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. These results are confirmed by panel causality tests since a feedback mechanism is found between CO2 emissions and the remaining series. Furthermore, single-country estimates provide evidence of great variability in the sample.

The effects of gas flaring as moderated by government quality in leading natural gas flaring economies

This study seeks to address pertinent economic and environmental issues associated with natural gas flaring, especially for the world's leading natural gas flaring economies (i.e. Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela, and Nigeria). By applying relevant empirical panel and country-specific approaches, the study found that fuel energy export positively impacts economic growth with elasticity of ~ 0.22 to ~ 0.24 for the panel examination. It is further revealed that environmental quality in the panel is hampered by increase in economic growth, gas flaring, fuel energy export, and urbanization. Moreover, for the country-wise inference, government quality desirably moderates economic and environmental aspects of gas flaring in Venezuela and Nigeria, and in Russia and Iran respectively. However, government quality moderates gas flaring to cause economic downturn in the USA. Additionally, economic growth increased with increase in urbanisation (in Iraq and the USA), gas flaring (in Iran and the USA), government quality (only in the USA), and fuel energy export (only in Algeria) while economic growth downturn is due to increase urbanisation in Russia and the USA, increase in fuel energy export in the USA, and increase in government quality in Russia. Meanwhile, environmental quality is worsened through intense carbon dioxide emission from increased urbanisation activity (in Iraq, Iran, Algeria, and Nigeria), increased fuel energy export (in Nigeria), increased natural gas flaring (in Algeria and Nigeria), increased GDP (in Russia, Iran, USA, Algeria, and Venezuela), and high government quality (in Iran). Interestingly, the result revealed that increase in GDP (in Nigeria), increase in urbanisation (in the USA), and increase in gas flaring (in Algeria and Nigeria) dampens environmental quality. Importantly, this study offers policy insight into sustainable approaches in natural gas production, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality.

An environmental assessment of the impacts of corruption, foreign investment inflow and trade liberalization in the rapidly emerging Malaysian Economy

In the wake of various catastrophic consequences of climate change, Malaysia, a rapidly developing economy, is also inevitably experiencing environmental degradation that merits prompt and serious attention from policymakers and its government. Hence, this study simultaneously highlights the short and long-run dynamic connections between carbon emission in Malaysia and the trio of corruption levels, foreign investment inflow, and trade liberalization. The study also controls for a combination of other factors including energy use, GDP, and urbanization. A robust empirical analysis was conducted on time series observations for the country based on the recent Dynamic ARDL simulation. It was observed that Malaysia's per capita pollution levels significantly reduces based on the corruption perception levels during the sampling period while the economic expansion's effect on emission levels is positive. Additionally, urbanization, trade levels and energy use all aggravate the emission levels. On the other hand, although FDI poses an insignificant environmental damage in the short run, its environmental sustainability enhancement roles were supported by its long-run negative impacts on carbon emission. Lastly, the EKC was established and as such, essential policy directions were provided for stakeholders in the rapidly emerging Malaysian economy.

Assessing environmental sustainability in top Middle East travel destinations: insights on the multifaceted roles of air transport amidst other energy indicators

The Middle Eastern region is well-known for its flourishing tourism industry as the aviation sector contributes over US$213 billion to the regional GDP while air transport-related activities account for over 3.3 million jobs. Howbeit, the environmental impacts of this flourishing industry remain questionable. Hence, this study examines the tourism-emissions nexus in the Middle Eastern region from the perspective of air transportation while underscoring the multifaceted roles of major indicators like globalization, income, and energy use in the region. The empirical analysis of data spanning from 1975 to 2018 was conducted with advanced panel data analytical approach using the CS-ARDL technique. The sample selection was guided by available statistics on international tourist arrivals from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO 2020), with a focus on the case of the five leading travel destinations in the region including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Oman, and Qatar. The robustness of the evaluated outputs was checked after which result-based policy suggestions were enunciated for authorities and other regional stakeholders. The analysis indicated that air transportation although boosting tourism has constituted significant detrimental environmental impacts on the reviewed destinations with an estimated long-run elasticity of ∼1.03. Additionally, while the trio of globalization, energy utilization, and income expansion exacerbate environmental degradation, the lowest carbon-triggering magnitude was observed from the regional income expansion. Thus, while the aviation sector facilitates the growing quest to diversify from a primary sector-based economy (mainly resources exploitation) to other prospective service industries like tourism, the study posits the need for authorities to put measures in place to address the environmental side effect of air transportation.

Comparative analysis of the USA's Washington Ferries and road transport carbon emissions using the Trozzi and Vaccaro and Greatest Integer functions

Countries' sectors are currently under great scrutiny for their response to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile and the general effect of the sectoral activities on the environment. As in the agenda of all sectors, environmental concerns and investigations are of high importance in shipping and maritime transport. Amidst the rising forms of globalization, the need for sustainable transportation is constantly increasing. However, the machines that are the cornerstone of transportation largely depend on fossil fuels, thus resulting in environmental degradation. Notably, environmental-related degradation has continued to account for global warming, climate change, and ocean acidification. Shipping is considered the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per ton per mile of transported unit load when compared against road transportation. In this study, six ferry lines (FLs) of Washington State Ferries were calculated to compare ship-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those from road transportation as if the carried vehicles had used the highway instead of transport by FL. While making these calculations, the Greatest Integer function (GIF) and Trozzi and Vaccaro function (TVF) were utilized. From the examined three scenarios, i.e., all passengers travel by car instead of ferry as scenario 1, all ferries carry both cars and passengers as scenario 2, and all car-free passengers travel by bus instead of ferry as scenario 3, the outlined results are as follows: (i) none of the cars were carried by the ferry, and car-free passengers preferred traveling by their own cars as observed in scenario 1; (ii) hypothetical scenarios (1 to 3) in which the road vehicles carried on FLs had instead used the highway, and the total potential CO2 emissions of these road vehicles were calculated as 2,638,858.138, 704,958.2998, and 1,394,148.577 tonnes per year, respectively. Policy-wise, this study revealed the management strategies for CO2 emissions reduction for two transport modes, shipping and road transportation, under current conditions.

Technological innovations, renewable energy, globalization, financial development, and carbon emissions: role of inward remittances for top ten remittances receiving countries

Asides from renewable energy consumption, technological innovation and remittances are mostly ignored as critical tools and resources that can be adopted to ameliorate environmental worries, even when remittances have more considerable resource inflow than official development aids. Based on this information, the current research investigates the implications of technological innovation, remittances, globalization, financial development, and renewable energy on CO₂ emissions in top remittances-receiving countries from 1990 to 2021. To obtain reliable estimates, we use a battery of advanced econometric techniques and method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) method. The AMG results suggest that innovation, remittances, renewable energy, and financial development alleviate CO₂ emanations, whereas globalization and economic growth worsen environmental sustainability by increasing CO₂ emissions. Besides, the MMQR results confirm that renewable energy, innovation, and remittances decrease CO₂ emissions across all quantiles. A bidirectional causality exists amid financial development and CO₂ emanations, and across remittances and CO₂ emissions. However, one-way causality flows from economic growth, renewable energy and innovation to CO₂. This study suggests some essential measures for ecological sustainability in light of the findings.

The impact of democracy and income on CO2 emissions in MINT countries: evidence from quantile regression model

This study analyses the relationship between democracy and environmental pollution in the MINT countries using a panel data spanning 1971-2016. It also investigates the interactive effect of income and democracy on CO2 emissions. We used various estimation techniques for the analysis, ranging from the quantile regression, OLS-fixed effect and GLS-random effect regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors to control for cross-sectional dependence while a panel threshold regression is used for robustness check. The results showed existence of long-run relationship between CO2 emissions and the explanatory variables. The quantile regression results for interaction model indicate that economic growth, democracy and trade openness promote environmental pollution via their positive effects on CO2 emissions. Primary energy however reduces pollution across the lower and middle quantiles but enhances it in higher quantiles. The interaction effect is negative and statistically significant across all quantiles. This implies that democracy has a significant role in moderating the impact of income on CO2 emission in the MINT countries. It thus follows that if the MINT countries radically strengthen democracy and enhance income, it would be possible for them to achieve greater economic development and reduce CO2. In addition, a single threshold model is used to identify the asymmetry in response to CO2 emissions at lower and upper levels of democratic regimes. The results showed that once the degree of democracy is above the threshold level, an increase in income would reduce CO2 emissions but once it is below the threshold level, the effect of income becomes insignificant. Based on these results, the MINT countries need to strengthen democracy, enhance income level and relax trade barriers.

The role of alternative energy and globalization in decarbonization prospects of the oil-producing African economies

This study assesses the environmental impacts of the energy mix of mainly oil-producing African nations. The economic aspects of decarbonization prospects were also viewed from the perspectives of fossil energy dependence among the countries. More insights on the impacts of energy mix on decarbonization prospects were also provided on a country-specific analysis basis via the application of second-generation econometric techniques in assessing carbon emission levels across the countries between 1990 and 2015. From the results, only renewable resources proved to be a significant decarbonization tool among the understudied oil-rich economies. Moreover, the consequences of the trio of fossil fuel consumption, income growth, and globalization are diametrically opposed to achieving decarbonization as the rise in their usage significantly acts as pollutant-inducing tools. The validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) conjecture was also upheld for the combined analysis of the panel countries. The study thus opined that the reduction in conventional energy dependence will enhance environmental quality. Consequently, given the advantages of the geographical locations of these countries in Africa, concerted strategies for more investment in clean renewable energy sources like solar and wind were suggested to policymakers among other recommendations.

CO2 emissions policy thresholds for renewable energy consumption on economic growth in OPEC member countries

Purpose

This study aims to examine the nexuses between economic growth, trade openness, renewable energy consumption and environmental degradation among organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) members over the period 1990–2019.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical strategy for the study includes dynamic heterogeneous panel pooled mean group (PMG), mean group (MG) estimators and dynamic panel threshold regression (TR) analysis. For clarity, PMG and MG are used to explore the long-run relationship between the variables, whereas TR is used to uncover the actionable and complementary policy thresholds in the nexuses between green growth and environmental degradation.

Findings

The empirical evidence is based on the significant estimates from PMG and TR. First, using PMG, the study finding revealed a long-run relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation via the PMG estimator. Second, using TR, the study revealed an actionable threshold for carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) metrics tons per capita (mtpc) not beyond a critical mass of 4.88mtpc, and the complementary policy threshold of 85% of the share of trade to gross domestic product, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

The policy relevance of the thresholds is apparent to policymakers in the cartel and for policy formulation. The policy implication of this study is straightforward.

Originality/value

The novelty of this study stalk in the extant literature on providing policymakers with an actionable threshold for CO2 emissions with the corresponding complementary threshold for trade policies in the nexuses between green growth and the environment.

Does environmentally friendly energy consumption spur economic progress: empirical evidence from the Nordic countries?

Exploring energy use-growth nexus can proffer valuable clues to policymakers and stakeholders on both economic and environmental sustainability targets. Unlike extant studies, this study focuses on the effects of renewable energy consumption on the economic progress of the Nordic countries including Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. The empirical analysis encompasses two distinctive renewable energy consumption indicators while accounting for influential factors like research and development (R&D) expenditures, and both human and physical capital components within the traditional growth model framework. The DCCE estimator was deployed for the empirical analysis covering the available sample data between 1995 and 2020. From the results, the estimated impact of renewable energy consumption on economic progress varies according to its measurement vis-à-vis the utilized indicator 1 (renewable as % of total energy use) and indicator 2 (distinctive renewable power sources and biofuels). In the case of the former indicator, the impacts were insignificant while a positive significant impact on growth was seen across all model evaluations using both the GDP and per capita income levels of the Nordic countries in the latter indicator. Furthermore, both R&D expenditures and human capital component are essential significant long-run drivers of both economic growth and income levels in the bloc while physical capital formation produced contrary evidence on economic progress in the bloc. As such, policy implications and recommendations to enhance economic progress were suggested in the main text for the Nordic countries in view of renewable energy development and the bloc's environmental sustainability drive. Notably, strategic policy implementation should be geared towards encouraging more R&D expenditures, especially in renewable energy developments to facilitate economic growth and income levels while further positioning the Nordic bloc on environmental sustainability path.

Nuclear energy consumption and energy-driven growth nexus: a system GMM analysis of 27 nuclear utilizing countries across the globe

While the general environmental quality level continues to decline in today's global economy, aggregate energy consumption levels are often linked to countries' economic growth and environmental performances, thereby overlooking the specific roles of individual energy types. Thus, this study focuses on examining nuclear energy consumption-growth nexus in 27 selected nuclear energy-consuming countries across the globe. The system GMM estimator was applied to available post-2008 global financial crisis data spanning from 2010 to 2020 while accounting for influential factor inputs (labor and capital) within the framework of the traditional growth model. The results posit that both capital and labor significantly induce economic growth levels among the countries, while nuclear energy consumption is not a significant driver of growth levels despite some evidence of its positive roles. Hence, more investments in nuclear energy production are recommended to trigger an overall consumption level that will not only yield significant desirable economic growth impacts among the countries but also enhance possible environmental benefits in contrast to the growing environmentally detrimental fossil energy consumption among the countries.

Estimating the energy consumption function: evidence from across the globe

The motivation for the current study stem from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) such as access to clean (SDG-7) and responsible energy consumption (SDG-12) and climate change mitigation (SDG-12). This chase for these goals is pertinent for sustainable economic growth and environmental sustainability. This becomes necessary given the global demand for energy which comes has it environmental consequences given anthropogenic effect. To this end, the present study seeks to identify the factors determining the energy consumption function for 79 economies across the globe. For empirical investigation, 44 years data of five regions, namely Asia and Pacific, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and Arab States, is analyzed. A multivariate regression model and the method of least squares are employed to achieve set of objectives. The least squares result of the regions and single country of the regions are not significantly different from each other. Every region exhibits a common narrative that economic growth, carbon emissions, and urbanization are the key factors determining the consumption function in most of the sample economies. The empirical findings revealed that energy consumption function is determined by economic growth, urbanization, and carbon emissions. In the light of these findings, it is recommended that energy policy needs to be designed considering the significance of economic growth and environmental quality, and consequently it leads toward the achievement of the sustainable development goals.

Building Critical Infrastructures: Evaluating the Roles of Governance and Institutions in Infrastructural Developments in Sub-Sahara African Countries

BACKGROUND

The Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region has notably been in the limelight of infrastructural deficit discussions over the decades. Although the region's infrastructural development is gradually improving, the levels and pace of development remain generally poor compared to the rest of the world.

OBJECTIVES

This study thus aims to empirically examine the roles of governance and institutions in infrastructural developments in the Sub-Sahara African (SSA) region toward addressing the pressing needs for critical infrastructures for the region.

RESEARCH DESIGNS

The empirical strategies utilized in the study include the Common Correlated Efficient Mean Group (CCEMG) and Dynamic CCEMG methods among others. These empirical approaches were applied to analyze data on governance and institutional quality proxies for the SSA region to achieve the study's objectives while controlling for the effects of industrial value-added, foreign capital inflow (FDI), and overall economic growth for the understudied period (1990-2019).

RESULTS

The results reflect the essence of governance and institutional quality as these variables significantly boost infrastructural development in SSA. In addition, industrialization and growth also show a favorable impact on the development of infrastructure thus reflecting that the transition from agrarian to industrial economies occurs in parallel with infrastructure development in the SSA. However, FDI inflows were not found to be significantly instrumental to infrastructural development in the region.

CONCLUSIONS

Hence, the SSA must strive to strengthen institutions and harmonize their industrial and economic push with infrastructural developments while encouraging potential foreign investors to diversify investments to infrastructural projects beyond the usual primary sector/resource-based activities.

Retrospecting on resource abundance in leading oil-producing African countries: how valid is the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in a sectoral composition framework?

Policymakers and authorities in Africa are often concerned about economic growth and stability owing to the long history of socioeconomic problems that have bedeviled the continent for years. However, increasing environmental degradation challenges in recent times beckons for adequate attention considering Africa's vulnerability to climate change and environmental disasters. Thus, the current study examines the illustrious environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in a sectoral composition framework of fossil resources abundance among leading oil-producing African economies, including Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, and Egypt, using a combination of quantile regression (QR) approach and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) for data between 1995 and 2016. Based on the empirical results from the study, three main factors significantly increase environmental pollution through CO₂ emissions among the countries, namely: fossil energy consumption, income levels, and the shares of the manufacturing sector in the total gross domestic product (GDP). While income growth exacerbates pollution, the negative impacts of the income square were only significant at the lower and mid quantiles of the understudied periods in the QR estimates. Thus, the EKC hypothesis was not convincingly upheld for the countries as its validity demonstrates significant quantile effects. Furthermore, the tripartite causality nexus among real income, resource rent, and share of the service sector in GDP, which is unobserved in the share of the manufacturing sector, reflect the infamous Dutch disease argument among the resource-dependent countries. Hence, to promote environmental sustainability and address resource dependency toward the actualization of SDGs (1, 8, 12, and 13), the study recommends energy portfolios diversification alongside economic diversification.

Synthesizing urbanization and carbon emissions in Africa: how viable is environmental sustainability amid the quest for economic growth in a globalized world?

Global emission statistics show that Africa is among the least carbon-emitting continents. However, the rising drive for economic growth amid urbanization and globalization in recent years has continued to attract the attention of policymakers to the attendant potential environmental risks. Hence, using robust empirical techniques, this study examines the impacts of increasing urbanization alongside its interactions with energy portfolios on environmental prospects of 15 selected African countries including the most urbanized and leading oil producers in the continent of Africa. The results of the analysis produced insightful implications for achieving both environmental and economic sustainability for the understudied countries. Firstly, the trio of urbanization, economic globalization, and income levels aggravate environmental degradation among these countries as they were found to be essential drivers of carbon emission levels over the understudied period (1990-2015). Secondly, while urbanization significantly poses threat to environmental sustainability, the evidence obtained regarding its interaction with energy portfolios of the understudied countries differs. The significant detrimental environmental impacts of the interaction between urbanization and energy portfolios were only confirmed in the context of fossil energy consumption among the countries, while renewables exist as a significant decarbonization channel within the framework of the increasing level of urbanization among the countries. Thirdly, the study upholds the EKC conjecture. Hence, policymakers and authorities in Africa should capitalize on maximizing the benefits of the huge renewable resource potentials on the continent through adequate investments in green energy technologies for urban infrastructures toward the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs 11 and 13).

Do economic policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk surge CO2 emissions? New insights from panel quantile regression approach

In recent times, economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and geopolitical risk (GPR) are increasing significantly where the economy and environment are affected by these factors. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to investigate whether EPU and GPR impede CO₂ emissions in BRICST countries. We employ second-generation panel data methods, AMG and CCEMG estimator, and panel quantile regression model. The conclusions document that most of the variables are integrated at I (1), and there exists co-integration among considered variables of the study. Moreover, we note that EPU and GPR have a heterogeneous effect on CO₂ emissions across different quantiles. EPU adversely affects CO₂ emissions at lower and middle quantiles, while it surges the CO₂ emissions at higher quantiles. On the contrary, geopolitical risk surges CO₂ emissions at lower quartiles, and it plunges CO₂ emissions at middle and higher quantiles. Furthermore, GDP per capita, renewable energy, non-renewable energy, and urbanization also have a heterogeneous impact on CO₂ emissions in the conditional distribution of CO₂ emissions. Based on the results, we discuss the policy direction.

Consumption-based carbon emission and foreign direct investment in oil-producing Sub-Sahara African countries: the role of natural resources and urbanization

The intensification of international trade movements and economic interconnectivity has far-reaching implications for many macroeconomic indicators, not to mention ecological consequences. To this end, this analysis examines the dynamic interaction between foreign direct investment (FDI), natural resources, economic advancement, and urbanization on consumption-based carbon emission which is adjusted to global trade for oil-producing Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The time frame for this analysis is from 1990 to 2018. To examine the nature of relationship between the outlined variables, a balanced panel econometric analysis alongside augmented mean group (AMG), common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG), and the Driscoll-Kraay(DK) OLS techniques while the system-GMM was utilized for robustness purposes. The outcomes reveal that income increases consumption-based carbon emission within the range of 0.668 to 1.1333%; natural resources also increase consumption-based carbon emission within the range of 0.0159 to 0.2304%; FDI on the other hand increases consumption-based carbon emission around 0.0156 to 0.186%, while urbanization increases consumption-based carbon emission within the range of 0.0231 to 0.6176% in the long run. Thus, there is a positive relationship between consumption-based carbon emission and all the understudied variables within the oil-producing Sub-Sahara Africa countries thereby affirming the pollutant haven hypothesis for the countries on the premises that foreign direct investment inflow has a detrimental influence on the receiving economies alongside natural resource. Hence, the outcomes suggest the need to pursue low-carbon strategies for a cleaner and friendly environment.

Accounting for the combined impacts of natural resources rent, income level, and energy consumption on environmental quality of G7 economies: a panel quantile regression approach

As the argument widens on the need to cut down on global carbon emissions, this study addresses environmental degradation using a combination of second-generation empirical methodologies including, quantile regression (QR), augmented mean group (AMG), fully modified ordinal least square (FMOLS), and dynamic ordinal least square (DOLS) to examine the impacts of natural resource rents alongside disaggregated energy consumption on the environmental quality of the G7 economies within the framework of the stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model. The empirical findings reveal that the total natural resources rent indicates a positive significant relationship with pollution in all the quantiles except Q 0.05. Additionally, the findings for renewable energy consumption are adverse and significant throughout the assessed quantiles while fossil fuel energy consumption is reported to have a positive and significant effect on carbon dioxide emissions, thus, increasing environmental degradation experienced in the G7 economies. The extended findings from the Granger causality analysis also show that income levels combined with fossil fuel use have a strong effect on environmental degradation, while the total natural resources rent granger causes clean energy consumption within the G7 countries. This finding supports the assertions that natural resource revenue is mostly channeled into further productivity avenues which consequently lead to further environmental degradation. As such, while maintaining targeted revenue agenda, we strongly recommend that productivity gains from natural resource rents within the G7 economies should be harnessed for investment in clean energy for a more sustainable environment.

Does interaction between technological innovation and natural resource rent impact environmental degradation in newly industrialized countries? New evidence from method of moments quantile regression

As a contribution to the technological innovation-natural resource rent-environment literature, this study examines the technological innovation and natural resource rent in an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) multivariate framework. We employed reliable, robust, and efficient novel panel estimations methods on a sample of 10 newly industrialized countries (NICs) over the periods 1990 and 2018. To achieve our study objective, we employ the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) approach to analyze the effects of the exogenous variables over the range of diverse quantiles of carbon emissions. Results generated from the MMQR mimic that of the three heterogeneous linear panel estimations (fully modified ordinary least square, the dynamic ordinary least square, and the fixed effects ordinary least square) in terms of the sign and magnitude. The result affirms the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in NICs across all quantiles (0.1-0.95). In addition, technological innovation and renewable energy consumption improve environmental quality in NICs across quantiles (0.1-0.95), while the joint impact of technological and natural resource rent mitigates environmental degradation from lower to higher quantiles (0.1-0.90). Moreover, technological innovation is found to exert an indirect favorable impact on the environment through the pathway of natural resources. Thus, technological innovation can be anticipated to enhance sustainable natural resources exploration in the NICs. In line with these crucial outcomes, this research proposes that the NICs should promote technological innovation, promote sustainable natural resource exploitation, and expedite economic expansion rates via the sustainable transformation of their production and consumption processes.

Empirical Studies on Biomass Briquette Production: A Literature Review

The densification of raw material into fuel briquettes is one of the routes to convert biomass into energy. This method provides uniformity to the solid fuel, better physical and energy properties, facilitating its storage and transport, in addition to more homogeneous combustion. Given the importance of these characteristics, this work presents a literature review, emphasizing the experimental levels of the variables of the briquetting process, as well as on the most relevant quality parameters for obtaining briquettes. We also carry out a survey of the main technologies used in the production of briquettes, as well as the experimental methodologies and statistical analysis used in the planning and validation of processes. It was observed among the studies that the raw material granulometry, followed by pressure, initial moisture, compaction time and binder are the most used process variables for the production of briquettes. Other factors, such as the proportion of biomass, process temperature and thermal pre-treatments are used to obtain greater energetic and physical responses. Among the works, divergences were observed regarding the relevance and interaction of some process variables on the quality variables of the briquettes, indicating the need for the experiments to be mathematically modeled.

The environmental aspects of conventional and clean energy policy in sub-Saharan Africa: is N-shaped hypothesis valid?

In the energy-environment literature, a handful of the advanced economies, mostly the European Union countries, have met some of the national environmental sustainability targets. Consequently, most of these countries are renewing their policies for 2040, while the African bloc largely seems to have a longer path to emerge from the woods. Giving this insight, we are compelled to draw inferences from the role of major energy sources (conventional and renewable) in the sub-Saharan Africa's drive for environmental sustainability target. To achieve this objective, we examine the validity of an N-shaped hypothesis for sub-Saharan region which has received less documentation in the extant literature. Thus, this study employed the pooled mean group autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality approaches as estimation techniques. Our empirical results show that conventional and renewable energy aspects respectively worsen and improve environmental quality in both short and long run. Importantly, the study establishes the validity of the N-shaped hypothesis in the two periods (short and long run) as reported by the study regression with 17.830% for GDP growth, -2.241 % for quadratic form of GDP, and 0.094% for cubic form of GDP growth, respectively, in the long run. Moreso, renewable energy shows a magnitude of -1.306% and -0.157% for short- and long-run period, respectively, on carbon dioxide emission. The implication is that environmental quality in the sub-Saharan region is potentially characterized in cycles of worse (decreased quality), improvement (better quality), and again worse (deceased quality) resulting from the significant change in the region's economic prosperity. In addition to the ARDL approach, the causality analysis further reiterates that there is significant causality from the energy forms and economic expansion to carbon emission at least in one direction. While examining the validity of N-shaped hypothesis for the first time for Africa, the study offers policy perspective to the governments and environmental stakeholders in the panel countries, especially to re-engineer the region's economic dynamics if the region must meet the anticipated Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

The trilemma of innovation, logistics performance, and environmental quality in 25 topmost logistics countries: A quantile regression evidence

While the deployment of technological innovation was able to avert a devastating global supply chain fallout arising from the impact of ravaging COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, little is known about potential environmental cost of such achievement. The aim of this paper is to identify the determinants of logistics performance and investigate its empirical linkages with economic and environmental indicators. We built a macro-level dataset for the top 25 ranked logistics countries from 2007 to 2018, conducting a set of panel data tests on cross-sectional dependence, stationarity and cointegration, to provide preliminary insights. Empirical estimates from Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), and Quantile Regression (QR) model suggest that technological innovation, Human Development Index (HDI), urbanization, and trade openness significantly boost logistic performance, whereas employment and Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) fail to respond in such a desirable path. In turn, an increase in the Logistic Performance Index (LPI) is found to worsen economic growth. Finally, LPI exhibits a large positive effect on carbon emissions, which is congruent with a strand of the literature highlighting that the modern supply chain is far from being decarbonized. Thus, this evidence further suggest that more global efforts should be geared to attain a sustainable logistics.

The impact of energy consumption on environmental quality: empirical evidence from the MINT countries

Rapid increases in energy consumption and economic growth over the past three decades are considered the driving force behind rising environmental degradation, which remain a threat to people and healthy environment. This study investigates the impact of energy consumption on environmental quality in the MINT countries using a panel PMG/ARDL modelling technique, and the Granger causality test spanning from 1971 to 2017. The empirical results confirm the existence of long-run nexus among the variables employed. The results also reveal that economic growth, energy consumption and bio-capacity have a positive and statistically significant effect on environmental degradation during the long run period. We find that a 1% increase in primary energy consumption leads to 0.4172% increase in environmental deterioration in the long-run period, but it is insignificant in the short run. This implies that energy consumption deteriorates environmental quality through a negative effect of ecological footprint. The result also suggests that as MINT countries increase the use of energy to accelerate pace of economic growth, environmental quality would deteriorate through increased ecological footprints. The coefficient of the error correction term (ect) is negative and significant (- 0.2306), suggesting that ecological footprint, a measure of environmental degradation would converge to its long-run equilibrium in the MINT region by 23.06% speed of adjustment every year due to contribution of economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization and biocapacity. The Granger non-causality test results reveal a unidirectional causal relationship from economic growth, energy consumption, and urbanization to ecological footprint and from economic growth to biocapacity. The results further show bi-directional causality between biocapacity and ecological footprint as well as between biocapacity and economic growth. Moreover, urbanization causes economic growth and biocapacity Granger-causes urbanization. Based on these findings, policy implications are adequately discussed.

Renewables as a pathway to environmental sustainability targets in the era of trade liberalization: empirical evidence from Turkey and the Caspian countries

The quest for improved environmental quality through low-carbon emission has been explored in this study in the wake of the growing call for a transition to renewable energy use amidst widening trade relations between Turkey and the countries in the Caspian region including Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. This study draws strength from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) and their impact by 2030. These SDGs encompass pertinent targets on responsible energy consumption (SDG-12), access to clean and affordable energy (SDG-7), and climate change action (SDG-13). Empirical evidence from the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) technique corroborated by the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) technique shows that a percent rise in renewable energy consumption level significantly abates carbon emission among these countries by about 0.26% while growing globalization vis-à-vis a percent increase in openness to trade significantly hampers environmental quality via inducement of carbon emission level by 0.32%. Extended findings from the Granger causality analysis corroborate the significance of the long-run coefficients with regard to the double-edged benefits of renewable energy consumption in enhancing both environmental quality and income levels through lower carbon emission and sustainable economic growth stimulations among the countries. The study confirmed the inverted U-shape relation between income growth and environmental deterioration, thus validating the EKC hypothesis for Turkey and the Caspian countries. This suggests that both blocs are still at the scale stage of their growth trajectory, where the emphasis is focused on increasing income level relative to environmental sustainability. As such, important policy measures were provided in the concluding section of this study.