A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part II: synthesizing the insights

Can we live within environmental limits and still reduce poverty? Degrowth or decoupling?

This study examines the nexus of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption (EC) and gross domestic products (GDP), using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test approach of co-integration and error-correction model (ECM) for the period 1971–2015. The aim of the research is to i) examine the relationship between CO2 and GDP as “cross-coupling, relative decoupling, or absolute decoupling,” and validate the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis; ii) detect causality between CO2 emissions, EC, and GDP, and scrutinize their impacts. The ARDL results confirm a long-run and short-run co-integration relationship between the variables. The relationship between CO2 emissions and GDP is “relatively decoupling,” and the EKC exists in China. Its CO2 emissions are more explained by EC and contribute twofold of GDP. In the long run, there was significant negative causality from CO2 emission and GDP to EC. This indicates Chinese economic development structure should be re-designed towards energy-saving and decarbonized economic structure. Moreover, the central and provincial governments of China should synchronize optimal energy utilization and green economic structure to mitigate environmental deterioration and climate change.

Energy-related activities are a major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A growing body of knowledge clearly depicts the links between human activities and climate change. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil and other human activities has released carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and other heat-trapping GHG emissions into the atmosphere and thus increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 emissions. The main human activities that emit CO2 emissions are (1) the combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity, accounting for about 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 31% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, (2) the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel to transport people and goods, accounting for about 31% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 26% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, and (3) industrial processes such as the production and consumption of minerals and chemicals, accounting for about 15% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 12% of total ...

One of the tools for rational use of material resources is the assessment of the efficiency of the use of the enterprise's material resources. Efficient use of material resources is the main factor in the successful operation of companies whose main task is to increase profits. As a result of the efficient use of material resources, the cost of production decreases, which in turn affects its competitiveness. To solve this problem, general indicators are used that characterize the efficiency of the use of the enterprise's material resources. But general indicators allow you to get only a general idea of the level of efficiency of the use of material resources. This article discusses the effective use of the company's material resources and their assessment. The influence of rational use of material resources on the economic performance of the enterprise and the quality of products is described. The calculation of general and specific indicators of the efficiency of use of material resources is given.

Sustainable use of natural resources would entail ensuring that derived economic benefits today do not undermine the welfare of generations to come. On this basis, this study examines the nexus between natural resource rents and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions disaggregated into production and consumption‐based (i.e., trade‐adjusted) CO2 emissions for a selected panel of 45 developing and transition economies over the period 1995–2017. The empirical model also incorporates the impacts of population, affluence, and energy intensity. The results show that affluence increases production‐based CO2 emissions by 1.407%, with the EKC's predicted inverted U‐shaped curve only explaining consumption‐based CO2 emissions. Economic reliance on natural resource rents and energy intensification contribute 0.022% and 0.766%, respectively, to CO2 emissions embedded in territorial production inventories and 0.035% and 0.583%, respectively, to CO2 emissions embedded in consumption inventories. The bootstrap non‐causality test shows that historical data on each variable has significant predictive power for future CO2 emissions from both sources. The historical information about natural resource rents has significant predictive power over the future levels of affluence and energy intensity. Clearly, the results show that the environmental impact of natural resource rents is stronger when CO2 emissions are adjusted for trade and varies among the countries, with Bangladesh, Guinea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe among the most affected countries. Overall, this study provides motivation for policies to keep the use of natural resources within sustainable limits.

Climate mitigation and adaptation planning (CMAP) has recently been implemented across the EU-28 to reduce GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O). Thus, the aim of this study was to provide an overview of GHG emissions from the agricultural sector in the EU-28 from 1990 to 2019, and cluster the EU-28 countries regarding their total GHG emissions. The results emphasize the positive impact of CMAP through a negative trend of the total GHG emissions (−2653.01 thousand tons/year, p < 0.05). Despite the positive and not significant trend of the total CO2 emissions, both CH4 and N2O exhibited a negative and significant trend. At the country scale, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands showed the highest reduction in total GHG emissions, by −282.61thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), −266.40 thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), and −262.91 thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), respectively. The output of the multivariate analysis approach indicates changes in the pattern of GHG emissions between 1990 and 2019, where CO2 emissions decreased in the case of Poland and Czechia. The output of this study highlights the positive impact of CMAP, adopted by EU countries, in minimizing GHG emissions. Despite some fluctuations in CO2 emissions, strategies for attaining carbon neutrality in the agricultural sector, across the European Union, should be pursued.

Elucidating the complex mechanism between urbanization, economic growth, carbon dioxide emissions is fundamental necessary to inform effective strategies on energy saving and emission reduction in China. Based on a balanced panel data of 31 provinces in China over the period 1997-2010, this study empirically examines the relationships among urbanization, economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at the national and regional levels using panel cointegration and vector error correction model and Granger causality tests. Results showed that urbanization, economic growth and CO2 emissions are integrated of order one. Urbanization contributes to economic growth, both of which increase CO2 emissions in China and its eastern, central and western regions. The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions in the western region was larger than that in the eastern and central regions. But economic growth had a larger impact on CO2 emissions in the eastern region than that in the central and western regions. Panel causality analysis revealed a bidirectional long-run causal relationship among urbanization, economic growth and CO2 emissions, indicating that in the long run, urbanization does have a causal effect on economic growth in China, both of which have causal effect on CO2 emissions. At the regional level, we also found a bidirectional long-run causality between land urbanization and economic growth in eastern and central China. These results demonstrated that it might be difficult for China to pursue carbon emissions reduction policy and to control urban expansion without impeding economic growth in the long run. In the short-run, we observed a unidirectional causation running from land urbanization to CO2 emissions and from economic growth to CO2 emissions in the eastern and central regions. Further investigations revealed an inverted N-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth in China, not supporting the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Our empirical findings have an important reference value for policy-makers in formulating effective energy saving and emission reduction strategies for China.

Exploring the role of Fintech, Green Finance and Natural Resources towards Environmental Sustainability: A study on ASEAN economies

Summary Cities, contributing more than 75% of global carbon emissions, are at the heart of climate change mitigation. Given cities' heterogeneity, they need specific low-carbon roadmaps instead of one-size-fits-all approaches. Here, we present the most detailed and up-to-date accounts of CO2 emissions for 294 cities in China and examine the extent to which their economic growth was decoupled from emissions. Results show that from 2005 to 2015, only 11% of cities exhibited strong decoupling, whereas 65.6% showed weak decoupling, and 23.4% showed no decoupling. We attribute the economic-emission decoupling in cities to several socioeconomic factors (i.e., structure and size of the economy, emission intensity, and population size) and find that the decline in emission intensity via improvement in production and carbon efficiency (e.g., decarbonizing the energy mix via building a renewable energy system) is the most important one. The experience and status quo of carbon emissions and emission-GDP (gross domestic product) decoupling in Chinese cities may have implications for other developing economies to design low-carbon development pathways.

MENA region is full of natural resources and has a huge mineral sector in their economies. CO2 emissions are increasing global warming and foreign trade and investments can play their roles in determining CO2 emissions in the resource-rich MENA countries. Moreover, spatial linkages are expected in the emissions and trade relationship, which could catch less attention in the environmental literature of the MENA region. Thus, the present research is motivated to capture the contributions of exports, imports, and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in consumption-based CO2 (CBC) emissions in twelve MENA economies from 1995 to 2020 by applying Spatial Autoregressive (SAR) Model. Our results exhibit the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Moreover, the impact of exports is found negative in direct and total estimates. Thus, exports of the MENA region are reducing CBC emissions in the MENA region and transferring emissions to their importing partners. Moreover, the spillovers of exports are found positive and exports of one MENA country are also responsible for the transfer of CBC emissions to other MENA neighboring countries, which corroborates the trade linkages of the MENA region. Imports have a positive effect on CBC emissions in direct and total effects. This result confirms the fact of energy-intensive imports of the MENA region, which have environmental consequences in the domestic economies and the whole MENA region. FDI increases CBC emissions in direct and total estimates. This result substantiates the pollution Haven hypothesis in the MENA region and is in line with the fact that FDI is mostly coming in the mineral, construction, and chemical sectors. The study suggests that MENA countries should promote exports to reduce CBC emissions and to reduce energy-intensive imports in the region to save the environment from CBC emissions. Moreover, FDI should be attracted to the clean production process and environmental standards should be raised to avoid the environmental problems of FDI in the MENA region.

中国区域间隐含碳排放转移研究

Carbon peaking strategies for industrial parks: Model development and applications in China

PurposeThis study aims to shed light on the experience of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in balancing three main pillars: the environmental criteria, the reduction of CO2 emissions and the economic growth. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework, it will assess the causal relationship between economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, trade openness and energy use and environmental indicators such as CO2 emissions.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis relies on a period of 40 years (1981–2020) where data is extracted from the World Bank database. This study uses the unit root test for time series stationarity, the optimal lag length test, the “Johansen” test for co-integration and the vector error correction model.FindingsThe paper concludes to two major findings. On a short-term basis, CO2 emissions and economic indicators are negatively correlated, whereas on a long-term basis, there is no association between CO2 emissions and economic indicators in the UAE.Research limitations/implicationsThe research ends with important recommendations. It illustrates the importance of rationalizing the use of primary resources and the necessity to embrace successful and efficient policies in the energy production.Practical implicationsMore specifically, UAE is urged to address the problem of CO2 emissions in the electricity sector and increase awareness of the use of environmentally friendly processes in the transport and industrial sectors. While setting their economic agendas, UAE are encouraged to meet environmental criteria and invest in renewable energy projects such as “Shams 1”, the largest solar power plant outside of Spain and the USA.Originality/valueThe current study is significant in its research on the environmental impact of economic development, trade openness and energy use policies in the UAE. It uses CO2 emissions as an environmental proxy and evaluates the environmental policies adopted in the UAE to reduce its impact.

Sustainability is an increasingly important issue in the modern world and an essential concept that is increasingly gaining importance in today's world. It refers to the responsible use of natural resources while ensuring that future generations can meet their needs. The impact of human activities on the environment is becoming more apparent, with climate change and biodiversity loss being some of the major challenges that we face today. Considering the foregoing discussion, the present study comprises two main objectives: firstly, to find out the relationship between economic growth, which is measured by the growth of GDP per capita and CO2 emissions per capita in the BRICS nations, and to find out unidirectional or bidirectional causality between carbon emissions and proxies of economic growth based on the data collected from the world development indicator for the period 1990 to 2022. The results suggest that a bi-directionally causality exists between carbon emissions per capita and economic growth per capita in the BRICS countries.

Is green growth happening? An empirical analysis of achieved versus Paris-compliant CO2–GDP decoupling in high-income countries