Energy consumption, economic growth, and environmental sustainability challenges for Belt and Road countries: a fresh insight from "Chinese Going Global Strategy".

Symmetric and asymmetric impact of economic growth, capital formation, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on environment in OECD countries

To sustain global warming below 2°C, carbon dioxide emission mitigation has become an extensive worldwide priority. This paper proposes a comprehensive assessment by evaluating the effects of technology transfer, human capital, and renewable energy on carbon dioxide emissions among seven different regions along with the Belt and Road Initiatives from 2008 to 2018. Based on econometric estimations, it is found that human capital, renewable energy, and technology transfer show a negative but significant association with carbon dioxide emissions, indicating that an increase in human capital, renewable energy, and technology transfer can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the Belt and Road countries. On the other hand, we found a positive and significant relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, and foreign direct investment (FDI), indicating that economic growth and foreign direct investment increase carbon emissions. The findings of this study reveal that the adaptation of technology transfer, renewable energy consumption, and human capital are key factors in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the Belt and Road counties. Our findings provide evidence of the social advantages of investing in advanced human capital, renewable energy, and technology transfer suggesting a promising route for devoting climate change without impeding economic growth.

This study examines the effect of financial development (FD) and foreign direct investment (FDI) on the environmental quality for the panel of 90 belt and road countries from 1990 to 2017. This study advances the knowledge of financial development by using the new comprehensive index, which is based on access, depth, and efficiency of financial markets and financial institutions and incorporated foreign direct investment as an important determinant of environmental quality. By applying the Driscoll-Kraay standard error pooled ordinary least square method, the empirical findings reveal that FD deteriorates the environmental quality by increasing the CO2 emissions, while FDI improves environmental quality and the relationship between economic growth (EG) and CO2 emissions is inverted U-shaped, i.e., presence of EKC hypothesis. The energy consumption and urbanization pollute the environment, while trade openness enhances the quality of the environment. Furthermore, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin (DH) panel causality test result confirms that the bidirectional causality exists among FD, trade openness, energy consumption, and urbanization with CO2 emissions. The empirical results provide new insights for policymakers and also have several implications for the betterment of environmental quality.

The nexus between renewable energy, economic growth, trade, urbanisation and environmental quality: A comparative study for Australia and Canada

Factors affecting changes of greenhouse gas emissions in Belt and Road countries

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality in Vietnam. Methodology: The research employed is the non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) approach, utilizing time-series data from 1986 to 2022. The strength of NARDL lies in its consideration of both increasing and decreasing trends in independent variables such as Economic Growth, Energy from Renewable Resources and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in a non-linear relationship with the dependent variable, CO2. Findings: The research findings indicate that overall economic growth is positively associated with an increase in CO2 emissions, aligning with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory in the first stage of the inverted U-shape. However, the EKC hypothesis is not supported in later stages, as environmental degradation persists despite economic growth. Renewable resources in primary energy have increased from 6% in 1986 to 16% in 2022, while FDI has risen from 0.03% of GDP in 1986 to 4.3% of GDP in 2021, resulting in a reduction in CO2 emissions. In other words, the Pollution Haven Hypothesis does not hold in Vietnam. With a net-zero CO2 target by 2050, Vietnam necessitates rapid, short-term changes to neutralize carbon emissions effectively in the long term. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: To simultaneously ensure economic growth while adhering to Vietnam's carbon neutrality objectives, followings solutions are recommended: (1) increasing the proportion of renewable energy sources and reducing fossil fuel dependency; (2) incorporating modern, environmentally friendly technologies in the industrial sector to diminish resource-intensive practices and reduce dependence on fossil fuels; (3) establishing a legal framework and conditions to attract FDI in technology-intensive sectors, thereby mitigating carbon emissions.

The relationship between renewable energy consumption (REC), foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, economic growth, and their resulting impact on CO2 emissions is widely discussed area in energy and environmental literature; however, there is an unseen literature on moderation and mediation effect of per capita income and FDI inflows with the renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions in developing countries like Pakistan, which is being evaluated in this study by using a consistent time series data for a period of 1975-2016. The results show that economic growth and FDI inflows both increase CO2 emissions, while REC substantially decreases CO2 emissions during the study time period. The results do not support the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for per capita income (and FDI inflows) and per capita CO2 emissions in a country. The results supported 'pollution haven hypothesis' where FDI inflows damage the natural flora of the country. By inclusion of moderation and mediation effect of per capita income and FDI inflows with the REC on CO2 emissions averted the positive impact of REC, and converted into negative externality, where environmental sustainability agenda is compromised by lower environmental regulations and unsustainable production techniques that increase country's economic growth. The study concludes that by adding REC in existing energy portfolio may help to reduce CO2 emissions while strict environmental compliance may disregard the negative externality of unsustainable production and it will support to achieve green development programmes in a country.

An economy in transition that is growing fast coupled with rising population requires more energy. Economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions in China have been increasing together over the past several years. Exploring the dynamic relationship among these variables has a lot of policy implications related to environment–growth–energy linkage. This paper explores the interrelationship among CO2 emissions, economic growth, disaggregated energy (fossil fuel and renewable) consumption and population. The broad objective of the paper is to examine the potential role of renewable energy consumption to ensure environmental quality in favour of growth. Data spanned from 1971 to 2013 sourced from World Bank data base. The results from auto regression distributed lag suggests that fossil fuel energy consumption increases CO2 emissions, both in the short and the long run, but renewable energy consumption reduces CO2 emissions in the long run. Although economic growth and population increase CO2 emissions in the short run, their impacts on CO2 emissions in the long run diminish, validating the environmental carbon Kuznets curve hypothesis in China. Short run vector error correction mechanism Granger causality results reveal unidirectional causality from both fossil fuel and renewable energy consumption to CO2 emissions revealing growth hypothesis. Bidirectional causality exists between both energies and economic growth confirming the role of energy on economic expansion vis-a-vis the role of income on energy consumption. The findings have important policy implications for harmonizing economic growth vis-a-vis environmental quality and thus climate change mitigation with a higher proportion of energy from renewables.

This study investigates the role of informality in the relationship among renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, economic growth, and CO2 emissions in a panel of 19 Eastern and South African countries. The empirical strategy exploits the panel generalized method of moments, panel fixed effects models using the Driscoll-Kraay standard errors, panel method of moments quantile regressions, and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin bootstrap panel Granger causality analysis. The results are fourfold. First, nonrenewable energy consumption is positively associated with CO2 emissions, while renewable energy consumption is not. Second, there is a nonlinear ∩ -shaped relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions, consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Third, the results show a nonlinear ∪ -shaped relationship between informality and CO2 emissions, suggesting that higher informality is associated with lower CO2 emissions up to a certain critical point beyond which further increases in informality precipitate higher CO2 emissions. Fourth, the results show unidirectional causality from CO2 emissions to renewable energy, from CO2 emissions to nonrenewable energy, from informality to CO2 emissions, and feedback causality between GDP growth and CO2 emissions.

The increase in CO2 emissions has led to a rise in global temperatures. The rising CO2 emissions in ASEAN need further examination concerning the variables influencing this increase. This study aims to test and obtain empirical evidence on the determinants of CO2 emissions in six ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) during the period 2000–2021. The factors considered in this study include Economic Growth (GGDP), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Total Population (POP), Fossil Energy Consumption (EF), and Renewable Energy Consumption (GET). This research employs panel data regression using both time series and cross-sectional data. The Chow and Hausman tests were conducted to determine the appropriate model, and the fixed-effect model was selected as the best fit. This research demonstrates that GET has an insignificant relationship with CO2 emissions, whereas GGDP, FDI, POP, and EF have significant relationships with CO2 emissions. In conclusion, considering all the independent variables in this study that affect CO2 emissions, future efforts should focus on finding ways to control these variables to reduce CO2 emissions.

Challenges for low-carbon economies in Latin America. Testing pollution haven hypothesis in developing countries

Environmental degradation has been recognized as a global issue due to high energy consumption and economic growth. This situation needs researchers to focus on, thereby, the current article examined the impact of renewable energy production (REP), energy import, renewable energy consumption (REC), gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) on the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in China. The study considered secondary data and extracted it from the World Bank database covering the period 1981 to 2018. The current article has examined the stationarity of the constructs using Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests and investigated the association among constructs using the quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) model. The data revealed that REP, energy import, and REC, had a significant and negative linkage with CO2 emission in China. In contrast, GDP, inflation, and FDI are linked with CO2 emission in a positive manner. The article also guided the policymakers regarding the policy development related to reducing carbon emissions using renewable energy production and consumption.

Concerning environmental pollution issues derived from fossil energy consumption, the application of renewable energies plays an important role in countries, especially in their energy sector policymaking. Since determining the relationship between different variables and renewable energy not only has significant policy applications in energy sector but also is necessary in achieving sustainable development goals, this study assesses the impact of effective factors on the development of renewable energy consumption in Iran with emphasis on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and financial sector development (especially stock market development). This study applies Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounding test method over the period of 1978-2016. The research findings show that there is a causal relationship between foreign direct investment and the stock market and renewable energy consumption in Iran such that the increase of foreign direct investment and stock market development will increase the consumption of renewable energies in Iran. On the other hand, a growth in renewable energies consumption will significantly reduce CO2 emission in the long run. Besides, increasing FDI and stock market development will raise the economic growth of a country and, in return, increase CO2 emission.

This research aims to examine foreign direct investment and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in ASEAN-5 countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand during the 2000-2020 period. The analytical method used is simultaneous equation analysis. The results of the foreign direct investment simultaneous equation research show that CO2 emissions, economic growth, international trade, and renewable energy consumption simultaneously have a significant effect on foreign direct investment in ASEAN-5 countries. Partially, CO2 emissions have a significant and negative effect on foreign direct investment. International trade has a significant and positive effect on foreign direct investment. Meanwhile, economic growth and renewable energy consumption have no effect on foreign direct investment. Furthermore, the results of the simultaneous equation analysis of CO2 emissions show that foreign direct investment, renewable energy consumption, population, and energy intensity simultaneously have a significant effect on CO2 emissions in ASEAN-5 countries. Partially, foreign direct investment, population, and energy intensity have a significant and positive effect on CO2 emissions, while renewable energy consumption has a significant and negative effect on CO2 emissions in ASEAN-5 countries.

This study examines the relationship between renewable and nuclear energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth by using the Granger causality and non-linear impulse response function in a business cycle in Spain. We estimate the threshold vector autoregression (TVAR) model on the basis of annual data from the period 1970–2018, which are disaggregated into quarterly data to obtain robust empirical results through avoiding a sample size problem. Our analysis reveals that economic growth and CO2 emissions are positively correlated during expansions but not during recessions. Moreover, we find that rising nuclear energy consumption leads to decreased CO2 emissions during expansions, while the impact of increasing renewable energy consumption on emissions is negative but insignificant. In addition, there is a positive feedback between nuclear energy consumption and economic growth, but unidirectional positive causality running from renewable energy consumption to economic growth in upturns. Our findings do indicate that both nuclear and renewable energy consumption contribute to a reduction in emissions; however, the rise in economic activity, leading to a greater increase in emissions, offsets this positive impact of green energy. Therefore, a decoupling of economic growth from CO2 emissions is not observed. These results demand some crucial changes in legislation targeted at reducing emissions, as green energy alone is insufficient to reach this goal.