The Relationship between Korea Agricultural Productions and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using Environmental Kuznets Curve

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Korea agricultural productions and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions based on Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Design/methodology/approach This study utilized time series data of economic growth, greenhouse gas, agricultural productions, trade dependency, and energy usages. In order to econometric procedure of EKC hypothesis, this study utilized unit root test and cointegration test to check staionarity of each variable and also adopted Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) to analyze the short and long run relationships. Findings In the short run, greenhouse gas emissions resulting from economic growth show an inverse U-shape relationship, and an increase in agricultural production and energy consumption led to increase in greenhouse gas emission. In the long run, total GHG emissions and CO2 emissions show an N-shaped relationship with economic growth, and an increase in agricultural production has resulted in a decrease in total GHG and CO2 emissions. However, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions showed an inverse U-shape relationship with economic growth, which indicated the environment and production process of agricultural production. Research implications or Originality Korea agricultural production has different effects on the GHG emission sources, and in particular, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions show to increase as the agricultural production expansions, so policy or technological development in related sector is required. Especially, in the context of the 2030 GHG reduction road-map, if GHG-related reduction technologies or policies are spread, national GHG emission reduction targets can be achieved and this is possible to predict the decline in production in the sector and damage to the related industries.