Environmental impacts of the economy, tourism, and energy consumption in Kuwait

Abstract

In emerging economies like Kuwait, tourism funds national development and sustains local livelihoods. The rapid rise of tourism in several nations may have serious environmental effects due to increased energy usage that increases carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and worsening global warming. Due to climate change's growing effects on the environment, several efforts have been made by numerous countries worldwide to achieve carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability. Moreover, effective energy production prediction is crucial to establish an equilibrium between traditional and clean energy sources. However, there is a research gap investigating the environmental impacts of tourism within the framework of energy-economy-environment nexus in Kuwait’s context that propelled the development of this pioneering investigation. The present study’s objective is to determine how economic growth, energy consumption, and tourism affect carbon emissions in Kuwait. This study analyzes Kuwait’s time series data from 1995 to 2019 by using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method that analyzed the components' relationships, allowing for long-term and short-term dynamics. The results show that increasing economic growth, energy consumption, and tourist arrivals increase CO2 emissions in Kuwait. This article proposes policies to achieve carbon neutrality in Kuwait by expanding renewable energy use and promoting sustainable tourism to boost the economy.