Does urbanization boost environmental impacts in Colombia? An extended STIRPAT–LCA approach

Abstract

The relationship between urbanization and technological progress on environment, mainly CO2 emissions, has been extensively studied in the last decades; however, little effort has been made to understand such a relationships in developing countries. This work focuses on understanding the effects of urbanization and some technological factors on the Colombian electricity consumption. This topic is addressed from several environmental impact dimensions rather than solely focusing on CO2 emissions. An extended STIRPAT model, in combination with LCA approaches, was applied in a balanced panel dataset of 27 states, over the period of 2003 to 2018. Our findings suggest that urbanization is the major driver of electricity consumption and climate change in Colombia. Our results address the lack of information about this topic in developing countries and also, they contribute to understand the main features of emissions in Colombia and the key driving forces behind their environmental impacts. Finally and given the current trends on population and urban growth, we conclude with some recommendations aimed to relevant stakeholders.