Do population density, economic growth, energy use and exports adversely affect environmental quality in Asian populous countries?

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This study aims to investigate the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy use, economic growth, exports and population density for a panel of 11 Asian populous countries over the period of 1960–2014. The panel cointegration tests and panel Granger causality tests are employed to examine this relationship; the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) methods are used to explore the long run effects of other variables on the CO2 emissions. The main results are: (i) energy use, exports and population density adversely affect environmental quality in the long run; (ii) there exists a short-run unidirectional Granger panel causality running from energy consumption, gross domestic product (GDP) and exports to CO2 emissions, from energy consumption and exports to GDP, from exports to energy consumption, from population density to exports, and a bidirectional panel causality between GDP and population density; and (iii) a long-run bidirectional Granger causality between these variables is also present. Important policy implications are noted based on these findings.