Emissions Trends and Labour Productivity Dynamics Sector Analyses of De-coupling/Recoupling on a 1990-2005 Namea

This paper provides new empirical evidence on Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC) for greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants at sector level. A panel dataset based on the Italian NAMEA over 1990-2005 is analysed, focusing on both emission efficiency (EKC model) and total emissions (IPAT model). Results show that looking at sector evidence, both decoupling and also eventually re-coupling trends could emerge along the path of economic development. CH4 is moderately decreasing in recent years, but being a minor gas compared to CO2, the overall performance on GHGs is not compliant with Kyoto targets, which do not appear to have generated a structural break in the dynamics at least for GHGs. SOx and NOx show decreasing patterns, though the shape is affected by some outlier sectors with regard to joint emission-productivity dynamics, and for SOx exogenous innovation and policy related factors may be the main driving force behind observed reductions. Services tend to present stronger delinking patterns across emissions. Trade expansion validates the pollution haven in some cases, but also show negative signs when only EU15 trade is considered: this may due to technology spillovers and a positive ‘race to the top’ rather than the bottom among EU15 trade partners (Italy and Germany as the main exporters and trade partner in the EU). Finally, general RD the emission-labour elasticity estimated in the latter is generally different from 1, suggesting that in most cases, and for both services and industry, a scenario characterised by emissions saving technological dynamics. Further research should be directed towards deeper investigation of trade relationship at sector level, increased research into and efforts to produce specific sectoral data on ‘environmental innovations’, and to verifying the value of heterogeneous panel models capturing sector heterogeneity.

This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking in income–environment dynamic relationships for CO2 and air pollutants at the sector level. A panel dataset based on the Italian NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) over 1990–2007 is analyzed, focusing on both emissions efficiency (EKC model) and total emissions (IPAT model). Results show that, looking at sector evidence, both decoupling and also eventually re-coupling trends could emerge along the path of economic development. The overall performance on greenhouse gases, here CO2, is not compliant with Kyoto targets. SOx and NOx show decreasing patterns, though the shape is affected by some outlier sectors with regard to joint emission-productivity dynamics. Services tend to present stronger delinking patterns across emissions than manufacturing. Trade expansion validates the pollution haven in some cases, but also shows negative signs when only EU15 trade is considered. This may due to technology spillovers and a positive ‘race to the top’ rather than the bottom among EU15 trade partners. General R&D expenditure shows weak correlation with emissions efficiency. SUR estimators (Seemingly Unrelated Regressions) suggest that, as regards manufacturing, the slope varies across sectors. Further research should be directed towards deeper investigation of trade relationship at the sector level and increased research into and efforts to produce specific sectoral data on ‘environmental innovations’.

The relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and income per capita (GDPpc) is widely discussed in the environmental literature, generally known as ‘Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)’. The study primarily contributes to the literature on the EKC by (a) focusing on a sample of less developed countries (LDCs), (b) controlling for per capita GDP scaled by a factor of two (in logs), (c) controlling for lagged per capita GDP squared (in logs), and (d) controlling for per capita GDP cubed (in logs). The effect of environmental regulation on trade and FDI inflows evaluates the ‘Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH)’ across nations. The extended version of the EKC (EV‐EKC) framework validates the population‐based emission, generally known as ‘IPAT hypothesis’ where (I) is measured by air pollution (i.e. CO2 emissions), (P) is measured by population growth, (A) is measured by GDPpc, and (T) is measured by FDI inflows, trade, and energy demand. The study selected a panel of 24 LICs for the period of 2002–2016 for robust inferences. The results supported the inverted U‐shaped EKC hypothesis under the new beta's transformation in panel econometric techniques. The results partially supported the ‘PHH’ where FDI inflows are significantly associated with the CO2 emissions; while trade openness is not statistically significant in the prescribed regression apparatus. Population growth decreases carbon emissions to support the ‘genius’ principle, which rejected the IPAT hypothesis, whereas energy demand increases carbon emissions across countries.

The objective of the study is to analyze the dynamic linkages between technology factors and carbon emission in a panel of 26 selected European countries from 2000 to 2017. The results of the panel fixed-effect regression model show the monotonic increasing function between agriculture technology and carbon emissions. In contrast, panel quantile regression confirmed the inverted U-shaped 'Agriculture Technology Kuznets curve (ATKC)' of carbon emissions at 30th quantile distribution to 80th quantile distribution with the turning points of 12,60,000 tractors to 9,68,000 tractors, respectively. The results further exhibit the negative relationship between high-technology exports and carbon emissions, as high-technology exports have a positive impact on environmental quality in order to reduce carbon emissions across countries. The relationship between ICT goods exports and carbon emissions is complimentary, while R&D expenditures have a negative relationship with carbon emissions in a given period. The study substantiates the 'pollution haven hypothesis (PHH)' that is controlled by trade liberalization policies. The telephone and mobile penetrations have a differential impact on carbon emissions in both of the prescribed statistical techniques, which needs fair economic policies in order to delimit carbon emissions through green ICT infrastructure. The results further exhibit the 'material footprint' that is visible at the earlier stages of economic development while it is substantially decreasing at the later stages to verify 'environmental Kuznets curve (EKC)' hypothesis with a turning point of US$45,700. Finally, the study shows the positive relationship between industry value-added and carbon emissions that sabotaged the process of green development across countries. The study concludes that green ICT infrastructure is imperative for sustainable production and consumption, and climate change protection with cleaner production techniques and environmental regulations that reshape the international policies towards sustained growth.

The aim of this study is to test the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution haven (PH) hypotheses in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). An important methodological point that has been over-looked by many studies is that environmental quality is not only correlated in time but also in space. For this purpose, the study applies spatial panel econometric analysis using a balanced panel of 35 SSA nations from 2002 to 2015 to examine the EKC and PH hypotheses. Both spatial interdependence and individual heterogeneity are accounted for through the application of the spatial Durbin model (SDM) so as to avoid potential bias and inefficiencies in parameter estimates. As proxies for environmental quality, panel data aggregates on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the depletion of natural resources are utilised. The findings offer proof for the EKC theory about the depletion of natural resources in SSA. The EKC theory, however, does not apply to CO2 emissions. Moreover, the study finds that the positive scale effect of trade outweighs the negative technique effect of trade, which indicates that trade liberalisation has a negative effect on both environmental quality indices. This discovery supports the PH theory. The study also demonstrates positive spatial spill-over for natural resource depletion between neighbouring countries and negative spatial spill-over for carbon dioxide emission between close countries.

Is China's development conforms to the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis and the pollution haven hypothesis?

Air pollution, global greenhouse gases (GHG), water pollution and water resources degradation are among the most serious environmental concerns that encounter the Qatar country. In nowadays, it is commonly known that the effects of environment degradation exceed its direct negative impacts on climate changes to cover its impacts on Human health, nation livelihood and cultural integrity. So, we advocate that understanding and determining factors explaining environmental degradation remain an important question of research. Moreover, by determining factors that explain environment degradation, policymakers, researchers and international institutions can help on recommending the adequate economic policies that can improve the environment quality and the live standing of inhabitants. In the empirical literature, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is the most powerful tool used to investigate the relationship between environment degradation and some macroeconomics and financial variables. Following the EKC hypothesis, the relationship between economic growth and environment degradation is inverted-U shaped. From the economic perspective, this means that initially economic growth increases environment degradation and then declines it after a threshold point of income per capita. More specifically, at initial level of economic growth, an increase in income is linked with an increase in energy consumption that raises environment degradation. After reaching a critical level of income, the spending on environment protection is increased, and hence environment degradation tend to decrease. From an econometrical or statistical perspectives, the EKC hypothesis have been firstly tested using the basic EKC equation which relies the environment degradation proxy to the real GDP and to a nonlinear term of the real GDP (the squared real GDP). If the EKC hypothesis holds then the real GDP and the squared real GDP have respectively a positive and negative signs. This EKC hypothesis has been firstly introduced by Kuznets (1955) when examining the relationship between economic growth and income inequality which shows that this relationship is inverted U-shaped. Grossman and Krueger (1995) are the first to examine this relationship between environment degradation and economic growth in their seminal paper published on the Quarterly Journal of Economics. They found that this relationship is inverted U-shaped which validates the EKC hypothesis. Empirically, until now no consensus has been reached about the true nature of the relation between real GDP and environment degradation. Evidence for the EKC hypothesis is very mixed. Overall, the results seem to depend in many factors including the specification, the pollutants and the econometrics technique used. First, empirical studies show that the results in term of positive and negative relationships as well as in term of magnitude differ significantly for the same country depend on the specification studied, linear, quadratic or cubic. Moreover, the inclusion of other factors in the right hand of the regression such as urbanization, trade openness, financial development and political stability have a significant impact on the magnitude of the income per capita variables coefficients. Second, the results differ significantly following the environment degradation proxy used. For instance, Horvath (1997) and Holtz-Eakin and Selden (1995) suggest that the use of global pollutants leads to continuously rise the levels of environment degradation or to a high levels of income per capita turning point, see also Esteve and Tamarit (2011). Third, the results also seem to depend in the econometric approach employed. In this paper, we investigate the case of the Qatar economy for several reasons. First, Qatar 2030 vision has given a high importance to questions related to air pollution, climate change and their impacts on economic sustainability. Second, the rapid increase of economic growth of the Qatar economy in the last two decades has been accompanied with an increase in energy consumption, urbanization and international trade. These factors are among the most important factors largely used in theoretical and empirical literature to explain environment degradation. Third, following the world health organization (WHO), local air pollution levels in Qatar has frequently exceeded recommended levels and are more time higher than the international standards. In fact, compared to the WHO's standards for PM10 for the 24-hour average and for the annual average concentration of 50 ug/m 3 and 20 ug/m 3 the Qatar's national air quality standards are far from these values. For instance, the values for PM10 is around 150 ug/m 3 for 24 hours average concentration and to 50 ug/m 3 for the annual average concentration. The data set used in this paper consists on macroeconomics and financial data, including CO 2 emissions, ecological foot print, real GDP per capita, energy use, urbanization, financial development and openness trade, to investigate the EKC hypothesis for the Qatar economy. All the dataset except the ecological foot print variable are collected from the world Bank's development indicators (WDI). The ecological footprint data is obtained from the National Footprint Accounts (NFAs) of the Global Footprint Network. This variable is employed as second proxy of environment quality measures. This data set used is a quarterly data and covers the period 1975Q1 to 2007Q4 for variables used for ecological footprint equation and covers the periods 1980Q1 to 2010Q4 for the CO 2 emissions equations variables. This paper contributes to the empirical literature of the EKC hypothesis in many ways. First, to our knowledge this paper is the first to consider the case of the Qatar economy as a single country to test the EKC hypothesis as well as the different directions of causality between variables. Second, in addition to the CO 2 emissions largely employed in the empirical literature, in this paper we employ also the ecological footprint as a new proxy of environmental degradation. Third, we use recent development of cointegration approach with structural breaks which is also rarely used for the case of EKC hypothesis. As tests of cointegration with shifts in the cointegration vector, we use the Gregory and Hansen (1996), Hatemi-J (2008) and to investigate the causal relationship between all variables using standard Granger causality tests. Fourth, to our knowledge this paper is the first study that uses Markov Switching Equilibrium Correction Model with shifts in both the intercept and the income per capita coefficient for the long run relationship between environment degradation and its key determinants. The empirical findings of this paper are useful for Qatari policymakers and especially for the ministry of environment of the Qatar government. Moreover, economic implications and economic policy are proposed and discussed. [1] P.O.Box: 2713-Doha-Qatar. Email: lcharfeddine@qu.edu.qa. Office: (+974) 4403-7764(+974) 4403-7764, Fax: (+974) 4403-5081. 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The objective of the study is to examine the dynamic linkages between population growth, price level, poverty headcount ratio, and carbon emissions under investigation of different plausible hypothesis, including "population-induced poverty trap," "welfare-reducing effects," "environmental Kuznets curve," and "pollution haven" hypotheses in the cross-sectional setting of 98 developed and developing countries for the period of 2011. The study used cross-sectional regression and switching regression regime for empirical analysis. The result shows a positive relationship between changes in price level and carbon emissions that verify "welfare-reducing effects," while there is a negative relationship between population growth and poverty at varying poverty threshold to support the "Gary Becker human capital theory." Further, there is a positive relationship between poverty rates and carbon emissions across countries. The results verified the "pollution haven" hypothesis in account of increase in pollution through financial liberalization policies. A U-shaped relationship is found between economic growth and carbon emissions in a given time period. The study concludes that globalized world should have to be careful when devising environmental sustainability policies, as it is important to provide social safety nets to the lower income strata group; hence, it would be helpful to achieve global green development agenda.

This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking and Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKCs) for greenhouse gases and air pollutant emissions in Italy. Two panel datasets, sectoral disaggregated National Accounts Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) and geographically disaggregated emissions at provincial level, are analyzed. These highly disaggregated datasets provide a very large heterogeneity and can help to overcome the shortcomings of the usual approach to EKC based on cross-country data. We find mixed evidence supporting the EKC hypothesis. The analysis of NAMEA-based data shows that some of the emissions, such as two greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4,) and CO, produce inverted-U shaped curves with coherent within range turning points. Other pollutants (SOX, NOX, and PM10) show monotonic or even N shaped relationship. Evidence also highlights that the aggregated outcome should hide some heterogeneity. In fact, services tend to present an inverted-N shape in most cases. Manufacturing industry shows a mix of inverted-U and N shapes, depending on the emission considered. The same applies to total industry (not only manufacturing): though a turning point has been experienced. N shapes may be important in a policy perspective as the may lead to increased emissions with respect to very high levels of the income driver. The analysis of provincial data shows that inverted-U relationships are present for some of the emissions, such as CH4, NMVOC, CO and PM10, with coherent within-range turning points. Other emission trends show a monotonic relationship (CO2 and N2O), or in some cases an inverted-N shaped relationship (SOX and NOX). In general, EKC evidence is more pronounced for GHGs. Nevertheless, taken jointly, the two analyses suggest that delinking is primarily driven by industrial activities, with private transport and household activities confirming a lower efficiency in environmental terms. Such conclusions may provide interesting suggestions for policy making.

The paper tests the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, pollution havens hypothesis and evaluates primary energy consumption impacts on emissions. Changes in emissions of examined pollutants in the European Union are in line with the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. The turning point is the highest for CO2 and four times lower for SOx. These results indicate that as the economy grows the demand for a clean local environment grows first, and is followed by the demand for clean global environment. More intense external trade reduces CO2 and SOx emissions, which provides evidence for the pollution havens hypothesis. Primary energy consumption in the EU has a statistically significant positive effect on examined emissions. Europe’s energy sector (and Polish in particular) is very dependent on fossil fuels. Despite the existing problems, the EU can serve as an example of sustainable development for less developed countries.

PurposeThis study evaluates the impact of carbon emission on life expectancy in Nigeria. The study also investigates the mediating role of agricultural output and foreign direct investment as suggested by the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH), respectively.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses and theories were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Primary data were collected using cross-sectional survey design. Questionnaires were distributed and responses were used to measure the latent variables of the study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the measurement models, while path analysis was used to estimate the coefficients of the structural equations.FindingsCarbon emission was found to have a negative and significant impact on life expectancy. This impact constituted both direct and indirect effects that were mediated by both foreign direct investment and agricultural output. Carbon emission and agricultural output were found to play significant roles that lead to a further negative- and significant-mediated relationship of carbon emission with life expectancy.Originality/valueUnlike many previous studies on air pollution, this study investigates carbon emission in particular as well as the mediating role of agricultural output and foreign direct investment in the carbon emission and life expectancy relationship. The use of SEM also fills a methodological gap as it computes coefficients of mediation and controls for measurement bias and multicollinearity.

Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic development: Evaluating alternative and plausible environmental hypothesis for sustainable growth

Purpose: This study investigates the dynamic relationship between macro-economic variables, specifically FDI and economic growth (GDP per capita), and their impact on GHG emissions in Zambia. Using time series data from 1990 to 2022, this investigation tested the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH). Materials and Methods: The econometric analysis made use of the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to evaluate the short run and long run relationship among the variables while the granger causality test was used to analyze the causal relationship among the variables. Findings: The findings revealed that the EKC does not hold in Zambia, indicating a U-shaped relationship between economic growth and GHG emissions. Furthermore, FDI in Zambia supports environmental sustainability, aligning with the Pollution Halo Hypothesis (PHAH) rather than the PHH at least at the low level of current Zambia’s output. The granger causality results indicated that there exists a positive unidirectional causal relationship from GDP per capita to GHG emissions and no causality relationship among the rest of the variables. Unique contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: These results provide insights for policymakers to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability hence the study suggested policy recommendations aimed at strengthening regulations, promoting green technology, and attracting sustainable foreign investment.

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between air pollution and life expectancy considering the roles of institutional quality, agricultural output, foreign direct investment (FDI) and other socio-economic variables in Nigeria from 1981Q1 to 2019Q4.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed spliced quarterly data from annual series collected from the World Bank development indicators and Central Bank of Nigeria. The dynamic multivariate models were analysed using the vector error correction mechanism (VECM), variance decomposition and Granger causality techniques.FindingsThe VECM result indicated a statistically significant adverse effect of air pollution on life expectancy. However, institutional quality, gross domestic product per capita, agricultural output, government social expenditure and school enrolment rate ameliorate the adverse health effects of air pollution, while FDI had mixed effects on life expectancy at different significance levels and at varying lag lengths. The Granger causality result revealed a uni-directional causality from air pollution to life expectancy; bidirectional causal chain between agriculture, FDI, government social expenditure and life expectancy, while a uni-directional causal linkage run from life expectancy to income per head and from school enrolment to life expectancy respectively. However, there is no evidence of causation between institutional quality and life expectancy due to weak institutional quality, but foreign direct invest causes carbon emission in a uni-directional manner in line with pollution haven hypothesis.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's modelling is limited by not considering the resource curse variable in the model due to paucity of data. Nigeria is the biggest crude oil exporter in Africa and ranks 13th globally with daily output of about 2.4 m barrels. Thus, the negation of resource curse in air pollution–life expectancy nexus de-emphasises the effectiveness of rich resources on health and environment. Future studies could address this limitation by incorporating resource curse in environmental-health models for Nigeria.Practical implicationsIt is imperative for the country to adopt stringent anti-air pollution strategies that would establish a balance between FDI attraction and agricultural expansion to the benefits of her citizens' longevity. Also, education should be considered as a strategic action to enhance life expectancy through expansion in the provision, accessibility and affordability to improved school enrolment rate. The choice of quarterly time series over annual data helped to establish the current relationship between air pollution and life expectancy using efficient estimators.Originality/valueThe study contributes to literature by disaggregating yearly series into quarterly series, which has implications for the efficiency of the estimates, unlike earlier studies which ignored this fundamental process. The result of this study produced reliable policy direction for improvement in life expectancy in an emerging economy since quarterly estimates are more robust and reliable for forecasting than its yearly counterpart. The outcome of the study extended the original tenets of the Grossman's health stock theory using the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution haven hypotheses (PHH).

A set of 17-year panel data (1996–2013) across a representative sample from eighteen Latin American countries is used to respond four research questions: Did Latin American Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions prove the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis? Did the quality of institutions play a compensating role for income on environmental stress? Did technological progress help decouple income from environmental stress? Has the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) been proven? In order to answer the research questions, the paper expands the traditional EKC approach by including an exclusive quality analysis of institutions, technological progress, and PHH as part of the model. This innovation is developed considering the most recent literature about EKC as a starting point. Major findings show that the relationship between income and GHG emissions is adjusted to the traditional EKC hypothesis for the analyzed period. They also show that the quality of institutions and technological progress improve environmental sustainability. However, the variables, Foreign Direct Investment and International Trade, provide a negative answer to the fourth question. The main methodological contribution of this paper is to use a threefold extended classic EKC model to conduct the feasible generalized least squares method. The paper also contributes to the growing body of PHH literature.