Towards sustainability: Dynamic nexus between carbon emission and its determining factors in Mexico

Abstract

• Improving environmental quality through reducing emissions is the central pillar of climate change mitigation and achieving sustainable development goals. • The empirical findings reveal that economic growth, fossil fuel energy use, urbanization, and tourism cause environmental degradation by increasing CO 2 emissions in Mexico while increased renewable energy use and agricultural productivity help to improve the environmental quality in Mexico by reducing CO 2 emissions. • This study provides recommendations for designing effective policies related to a low-carbon economy, promoting renewable energy use, sustainable urbanization, eco-friendly tourism, and climate-smart agriculture which would ensure environmental sustainability by reducing emissions in Mexico. Global climate change, aggravated by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly emissions from carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), poses significant threats to the environment, development, and sustainability. Mexico is a prominent tourist country experiencing continuous economic growth, rapid urbanization, and agricultural productivity which is causing higher energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. The current research explores the dynamic effects of economic growth, fossil fuel energy use, renewable energy use, urbanization, tourism, and agricultural productivity on CO 2 emissions in Mexico. Time series data from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) method. According to the estimations, a 1% rise in economic growth, fossil fuel energy use, urbanization, and tourism will raise CO 2 emissions by 0.45%, 1.77%, 0.10% and 0.04%. Furthermore, a 1% increase in renewable energy consumption and agricultural productivity may result in reductions in CO 2 emissions of 0.66% and 0.20%. This article put forward policy recommendations in the areas of low-carbon economy, promoting renewable energy use, sustainable urbanization, eco-friendly tourism, and climate-smart agriculture which would ensure environmental sustainability by reducing emissions in Mexico. Graphical Abstract. .