The paradigms of transport energy consumption and technological innovation as a panacea for sustainable environment: is there any asymmetric association?

Abstract

Technological innovations have a great potential to develop the transportation system as more efficient, intelligent, connected, and sustainable. Therefore, transport energy consumption fundamentally transmutes how goods and people are moved with significant effects on transport demand with related energy consumption on a sustainable environment. To this end, our research aimed at investigating the environmental performance (carbon dioxide and ecological footprint) by stochastic impact by regression through a population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model, and econometric approach for estimation of transport energy consumption from 1975 to 2018 for Pakistan. Moreover, our study supports the literature by exploring the association of technological innovations, financial development, carbon damage costs, and economic growth with the environment. The linear relationships of the variables are governed by the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) model that interestingly explored that economic growth and energy consumption, and financial development degrade the environment and resource depletion; however, technological innovations are inclined towards cleaner technologies. For asymmetric findings, we employ the non-linear autoregressive distributive lag technique recently introduced by Shin et al. (2014). The findings validate the existence of an asymmetric relationship between transport energy consumption and environmental indicators. The policymakers' prerequisites the alternative energies apart from conventional energies in the transport sector with technological innovations in transport sector energy consumption like the electronic and hybrid vehicles for a cleaner environment.