A contemporary landscape of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions leads to inevitable phenomena of low birthweight.

Abstract

The objective of the study is to empirically examine the air pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and low birth weight in Pakistan through the cointegration and error correction model over a 36-year time period, i.e., between 1975 and 2012. The study employed the Johansen cointegration technique to estimate the long-run relationship between the variables, while an error correction model was used to determine the short-run dynamics of the system. The study was limited to the following variables, including carbon dioxide emissions, methane emissions, nitrous oxide emissions, GHG emissions, and low birth weight in order to manage robust data analysis. The results reveal that air pollution and GHG emissions significantly affects the low birth weight in Pakistan. In the long run, carbon dioxide emissions act as a strong contributor for low birth weight, as the coefficient value indicates there is a more elastic relationship (i.e., -1.214, p<0.000) between them, whereas in the short run, this results has been evaporated. Subsequently, in the short run, GHG emissions have a one-to-one corresponding relationship with the low birth weight in Pakistan. Nitrous oxide emissions, both in the short and long run, have a significant and less elastic relationship (i.e., -0.517 with p<0.001 and -0.335 with p<0.090). Methane emissions have no significant relationship with the low birth weight in Pakistan.