Dynamic Effect of Oil Resources on Environmental Quality: Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Selected African Countries

Inquiring the impact of rural-urban migration, construction sector, and agriculture irrigated land on environmental degradation: insights from urbanized Asian countries

The present study investigates the influence of rural-urban migration, construction sector share, and agriculture-irrigated land on environmental quality in urbanized Asian nations. For analysis, panel data from seven highly urbanized economies from 1996 to 2020 is utilized. The study employed an augmented mean group (AMG) estimator to find short and long-run results. The empirical discoveries depict that rural-urban migration increases energy demand in urbanized areas and significantly contributes to deteriorating environmental quality. The findings also reveal that the expansion of construction sectors is a significant source of high cement production, which also increases carbon emissions and environmental pollution by increasing the concentration of particulate matter in the atmosphere. The findings also exposed the role of agriculture-irrigated land, contributing to carbon emissions in urbanized Asian economies. The study also investigated the impact of the square term of irrigated agricultural land on environmental deterioration, revealing that adding agricultural land will further intensify environmental degradation by increasing carbon emissions in the atmosphere. A policy framework to reduce environmental damage in Asian economies caused by rural-to-urban migration, the building industry, and irrigated agricultural land was recommended based on the study's findings.

Exploring the impact of public funds and eco-friendly innovations on reducing carbon pollution in North Africa

The main objective of this study is to examine the impacts of green energy and public investment on the CO2 emissions in North Africa. Moreover, the study also tests the existence of the N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for North African countries between 1995 and 2018. These factors were analyzed using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimators to obtain estimations of heterogeneous parameters. The outcome of these tests and examinations showed that the N-shaped curve was confirmed. Secondly, The results of the study also demonstrate the effectiveness of renewable energy as an eco-friendly innovation in reducing carbon emissions. This finding highlights the positive impact that renewable energy sources can have in terms of emitting fewer carbon emissions compared to traditional energy sources. Moreover, public investment, which interprets government expenditure, and urbanization contribute to environmental degradation by increasing CO2 emissions in the case of North African countries. Furthermore, the findings also indicated a trade-off effect resulting from the correlation between CO2 emissions and economic development. Based on these findings, the study recommends that economic policymakers in North African countries prioritize transforming the structure of government expenditures to improve environmental quality, optimize the utilization of revenues from non-environmentally friendly energy resources to accelerate the energy transition, increase the exploitation of renewable energy, and promote environmental awareness in society. By implementing these recommendations, North African countries can balance economic growth and environmental quality while reducing their carbon footprint.

The asymmetric effect of agriculturalization toward climate neutrality targets

Agricultural activities immensely contribute to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). This study investigates the heterogeneous effect of agricultural production (AGRIP) on three major GHGs emissions, i.e., carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and methane (CH₄) under the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework using a balanced panel data of 90 countries from the period 1991 to 2019. Second-generation panel unit root and cointegration tests are conducted to account for cross-sectional dependence. The findings suggest that there is a long run equilibrium among target variables. Evidence from panel quantile regression suggests that AGRIP significantly reduced CO₂ emissions, and the effect is stronger in lower quantiles (least carbon emitters). On the other hand, AGRIP increases N₂O and CH₄ emissions in all quantiles. However, AGRIP is homogeneously distributed across N₂O quantiles while the effect is stronger in higher quantiles (high methane emitters) in the case of CH₄ model. Concerning agricultural trade, exports impede CO₂ emissions but increase N₂O and methane emissions. Agricultural imports are positively associated with all GHGs emissions. The effect of agricultural trade is largely heterogeneous and varies across different quantile levels of GHGs emissions. The EKC is fully valid for CO₂ and N₂O but not for the methane emissions model. Based on the results, it is suggested that high GHGs emitter should shift their agricultural activities from traditional to sustainable approaches along with green trade policies to achieve climate neutrality targets.

Assessing the moderating effect of institutional quality on economic growth-carbon emission nexus in Nigeria

This study explores the relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide and the moderating effect of institutional quality in Nigeria from 1990 to 2020, by employing long-run and short-run dynamic ARDL regression, quartile regression and Granger causality test for the estimation. Utilizing CO2 per capita emissions; GDP per capita, a proxy for economic growth; capital stock (CAPSTK), proxy for capital investment in Nigeria and control of corruption and regulatory quality (COC and RGQ) which represent the effective environmental regulations and laws put in place for the control and prevention of environmental degradation, the study found a significant cointegration between CO2 emissions and economic growth (lnGDP) in Nigeria. Furthermore, an N-shaped nexus exists between CO2 emissions and economic growth in the long-run and short-run instead of the inverted U-shape curve postulated by the EKC hypothesis. This was confirmed by both ARDL and quartile regression results. Similarly, InCAPSTK contributed significantly to the growth of CO2 emissions in Nigeria both in the long run and short run; although, the short run did so at 10% significant level. Contrary to expectations, control of corruption (COC) contributes significantly to CO2 emissions in the long run, but when it interacts with income (InGDP [Formula: see text] COC), it significantly contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions. More so, regulatory quality (RGQ) had no significant impact on CO2 emissions in Nigeria either in the long run or short run, even when it interacts with InGDP. This finding is further supported by the quartile regression outcomes and Granger causality. The study therefore concludes that CO2 emissions-economic growth nexus in Nigeria assumes an N-shape both in the long run and short run. Based on the results, the study recommends that Government should pursue industrialisation policy with sophisticated method of production that will bring about rapid economic progress and at the same time support environmental sustainability.

Green investments, financial development, and environmental quality in Ghana: evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach

Numerous studies have examined the influence of macroeconomic factors on environmental quality in Ghana. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no study on the connection between green investments, financial development, and environmental quality in the context of this Sub-Saharan African country. This study was therefore conducted to help fill this gap using annual frequency time series data ranging from 1970 to 2018. In attaining the objectives of this study, robust econometric techniques were employed. From the results, all the variables were first differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long run. The dynamic ARDL simulations technique with the support of the ARDL estimator was employed to examine the elastic effects of the predictors on the response variable, and from the discoveries, green investments improved environmental quality in Ghana both in the long and the short run via carbon dioxide mitigations. However, in both the long and the short run, financial development and energy utilization had a detrimental influence on environmental quality due to their positive influence on carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the N-shaped association between national income and environmental pollution was validated for Ghana. On the causal directions amidst the variables, there was no causality between green investments and environmental degradation was evidenced; however, a bidirectional causality between financial development and environmental pollution was also discovered. Also, unidirectional causalities running from national income and energy consumption to environmental degradation were discovered. Based on the findings, the study recommend that investments in green sources should be intensified to help improve environmental quality in Ghana. Furthermore, improving developments in the financial sector is a vital means through which the country could attain its sustainable development goals.

Financial development and environmental sustainability in West Africa: evidence from heterogeneous and cross-sectionally correlated models

Although West African nations are flourishing economically of late, they still have environmental issues due to the high rate of emissions in the bloc. Despite the worsening environmental condition, there have been limited studies on the causal agents of this situation in the region. Therefore, drawing strength from the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their targeted impacts of 2030, this study explored the nexus between financial development and environmental sustainability in West Africa (WA) for the period 1990 to 2016. The cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) estimator alongside the cross-sectionally augmented distributed lag (CS-DL) and the cross-sectional augmented error correction (CAEC) estimators were engaged to examine the elastic effects of the explanatory variables on the explained variable and from the results, financial development was harmful to environmental sustainability in WA through high carbon emissions. Also, control variables foreign direct investments, energy consumption, industrialization, and population growth were detrimental to the sustainability of the environment. On the causal connections amid the series, a unidirectional causality from financial development and population growth to carbon emissions was uncovered. Also, feedback causalities between foreign direct investments and carbon emissions, between energy consumption and the effluents of carbon, and between industrialization and environmental pollution were unraveled. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that the countries should integrate environmental welfare objectives into their financial development policies. Also, the nations should ensure that their citizens have access to energy that is affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern (SDG 7). Finally, improvement in energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and good use of resources (SDG 12) should be promoted by the nations. The above recommendations if seriously taken into consideration will help the region to combat climate change and its impacts, which is the focus of SDG 13. The main flaw of this exploration was the lack of data for some specific time periods. Therefore, in future when such data become available, similar investigations could be carried out to confirm the robustness of the study's results.

Effect of Battery Electric Vehicles on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 29 European Union Countries

This analysis explored the effect of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in a panel of twenty-nine countries from the European Union (EU) from 2010 to 2020. The method of moments quantile regression (MM-QR) was used, and the ordinary least squares with fixed effects (OLSfe) was used to verify the robustness of the results. The MM-QR support that in all three quantiles, economic growth causes a positive impact on GHGs. In the 50th and 75th quantiles, energy consumption causes a positive effect on GHGs. BEVs in the 25th, 50th, and 75th quantiles have a negative impact on GHGs. The OLSfe reveals that economic growth has a negative effect on GHGs, which contradicts the results from MM-QR. Energy consumption positively impacts GHGs. BEVs negatively impacts GHGs. Although the EU has supported a more sustainable transport system, accelerating the adoption of BEVs still requires effective political planning to achieve net-zero emissions. Thus, BEVs are an important technology to reduce GHGs to achieve the EU targets of decarbonising the energy sector. This research topic can open policy discussion between industry, government, and researchers, towards ensuring that BEVs provide a climate change mitigation pathway in the EU region.