Economic growth, foreign investment, tourism, and electricity production as determinants of environmental quality: empirical evidence from GCC region

The impact of technological innovation and financial development on environmental pollution in gulf cooperation council - A linear and nonlinear ARDL approach

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are highly vulnerable to climate change, including rising sea levels, extreme weather, and other environmental and social issues. GCC countries showed remarkable economic growth and development. However, this growth and development put severe pressure on the environment, leading to the degradation of the Environment. Therefore, it is essential to investigate essential factors of environmental degradation, such as technological innovation and financial development. However, per capita income and energy consumption are also crucial factors of environmental degradation. Henceforth, the study carried out panel data from 2001 to 2019 to examine the influence of technological innovation, financial development, energy consumption, and per capita income on environmental degradation in GCC. After conducting necessary preliminary tests, the study employed a symmetric and asymmetric ARDL approach to quantify the numerical estimates. Both symmetric and asymmetric models show that technological innovation reduces environmental degradation, while energy consumption, per capita, and financial development expedite the ecological deterioration in GCC. The Wald tests demonstrate the asymmetric relationship between technological innovation, energy consumption, financial development, and environmental degradation. However, the study fails to find a significant asymmetric relationship between per capita and ecological degradation. The recommendations are added in the recommendation part of the paper.

Does environmental quality react asymmetrically to unemployment and inflation rates? African OPEC countries' perspective

Environmental degradation, inflation, and unemployment are unquestionably among the current global issues. However, there has not been an in-depth investigation of how unemployment and inflation rates affect environmental quality, particularly when considering the asymmetric scenario in oil-producing countries. This gap in the literature motivated this study to investigate how the environment (proxied by CO2 emissions) reacts to asymmetric shocks in inflation and unemployment rates using the panel NARDL model methodology. This study also examines whether the environmental Phillips curve (EPC) hypothesis holds true in the context of African OPEC countries over the period 1990 to 2019. The study presents three interesting findings. First, CO2 emissions are adversely associated with unemployment and inflation rates, meaning that protecting a healthy environment would have to come at the expense of two undesirable outcomes: losing employment and a decline in purchasing power. Second, the asymmetry analysis demonstrates that both negative unemployment and positive inflation shocks have a larger effect on CO2 emissions than the opposite scenario. Finally, long-term evidence exists to support the presence of the EPC in these countries.

Democracy, information, and communication technology infrastructure and environmental quality

Environmental degradation is an urgent global concern. While previous studies acknowledge the substantial effects of both democracy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on environmental quality, their joint effects remain underexplored. Addressing this gap, our research investigates the individual and synergistic effects of democracy and ICT infrastructure on environmental quality. Utilizing the system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, we assess a panel dataset from 152 countries between 2003 and 2019. Our results indicate that both democracy and ICT infrastructure advancements substantially improve environmental quality. Furthermore, an enhanced ICT infrastructure augments the positive effects of democratic practices on the environment and vice versa. However, when ICT infrastructure is insufficient, the positive influence of democratic systems on the environment becomes negligible, and similarly, without a solid democratic foundation, the benefits of ICT infrastructure on environmental quality are diminished. This underscores a synergistic relationship between democracy and ICT in fostering sustainable environmental progress. Consequently, our study offers significant insights into the multifaceted interplay between democracy, ICT infrastructure, and the environment.

Analysis of how environmental degradation affects clean energy transition: evidence from the UAE

Considering the alarming rate of environmental degradation, all countries are looking for solutions to close their environmental gaps in order to ensure long-term sustainability. In order to achieve green ecosystems, economies seeking clean energy are motivated to embrace environmentally friendly practices that can support resource efficiency and sustainability. In this sense, the current paper addresses measuring the link between CO₂ emissions, economic growth (GDP), renewable and non-renewable energy (RE), tourism, financial development, foreign direct investment, and urbanization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the link between CO₂ emissions and macroeconomic factors in the UAE. The UAE was chosen as the country for the case study as the UAE is one of the world's richest oil-based economies and one of the countries with the highest per capita income, adopts sustainable technologies, and has signed the Paris agreement supporting the transition to clean energy. To verify the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for UAE, the timespans for the years 1990-2021 have been chosen according to data availability. The long-run coefficients supported the EKC hypothesis of an inverted U shape for income and CO₂ emissions, according to the findings. Notably, urbanization and financial development both reduce pollution while foreign direct investment increases environmental pollution. The study recommended the creation of more environmental policies to promote sustainable business operations and nationwide green awareness, increase the use of clean energy technology, reduce energy intensity, and achieve a net zero carbon target.