How Is Mortality Affected by Fossil Fuel Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Economic Factors in CIS Region?

Ehsan Rasoulinezhad,Farzad Taghizadeh-Hesary,Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary

doi:10.3390/en13092255

Abstract

It is widely discussed that GDP growth has a vague impact on environmental pollution due to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels consumed in production, transportation, and power generation. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between economic growth, fossil fuel consumption, mortality (from cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM), cancer, and chronic respiratory disease (CRD), and environmental pollution since environmental pollution can be a reason for societal mortality rate increases. This study uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members for the period from 1993–2018. The major results revealed that the highest variability of mortality could be explained by CO2 variability. Regarding fossil fuel consumption, the estimation proved that this variable positively affects mortality from CVD, DM, cancer, and CRD. Additionally, any improvements in the human development index (HDI) have a negative effect on mortality increases from CVD, DM, cancer, and CRD in the CIS region. It is recommended that the CIS members implement different policies to improve energy transitions, indicating movement from fossil fuel energy sources to renewable sources. Moreover, we recommend the CIS members enhance various policies for easy access to electricity from green sources and increase the renewable supply through improved technologies, sustainable economic growth, and increase the use of green sources in daily social life.

Highlights

It has been discussed by a number of scholars, like ref. [1], that human health has been linked to economic growth and air pollution
The variance inflation factor (VIF) and Hausman tests were utilized to identify the consistency of the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach
The estimation findings do not significantly differ, suggesting the robustness of our results. This empirical study attempted to identify what is the relationship between mortality from CVD, DM, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease (CRD), and economic growth, fossil fuel energy consumption, and CO2 emissions for the 12 CIS members based on annual data from 1993–2018

Summary

Introduction

It has been discussed by a number of scholars, like ref. [1], that human health has been linked to economic growth and air pollution. [1], that human health has been linked to economic growth and air pollution. It is widely discussed that the population of the developing countries can be exposed to the various noxious gases coming from the combustion of consumed fossil fuels from production, transportation, and power generation due to the unavailability of the clean energy. Energy consumption can directly or indirectly affect human health by inducing air pollution, safe water shortages, and poor medical care infrastructures. Countries especially in resource-abundant regions like in the CIS region, need to consume fossil fuel to ensure the production of goods, power generation, and access to a proper transportation system ([2,3]) as fossil fuels are cheaper compared to renewable energy technologies especially in the current low oil price era.

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