Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares Research Articles

Climate change and women employment in agriculture in the Sahel region: An empirical insight.

In recent times, the Sahel region has been particularly identified as the flash point of climate change crisis in Africa, due to the persistent reliance on both biophysical factors and natural resources, especially agriculture for economic livelihood. Agains t this scenario, this study provides an empirical evidence to establish the nexus between climate change and women employment in agriculture within the Sahel region. The study employed panel data from 1990 to 2020 of 9 countries within the Sahel region. Consequently, a panel Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) was used to estimate the relationship between the variables of interest. Thus, the results showed that about 60% of women in the Sahel region are actively employed in agriculture. However, change in rainfall pattern has a significant adverse effect on women employment in agriculture. In view of these findings, we conclude that a rise in women's employment in agriculture would be mitigated if adverse effects of changes in rainfall pattern are controlled. Additionally, policymakers should be proactive in policy formulation that increases the region's resilience and adaptation to the future adverse effects of agriculturally induced climate change.

Managing Environmental Policy Stringency to Ensure Sustainable Development in OECD Countries

In response to climate change that threatens both economic and social sustainable development, governments adopt strict environmental policy measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage the use of energy from renewable sources. The main purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent the strictness of environmental policy can influence the level of greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of renewable energy in selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) method and Granger causality test were employed in order to investigate the long-run relationship between the main components of the environmental policy stringency index and the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy consumption. The results indicate significant influences of the Market-based instruments sub-index and the Technology Support policies sub-index on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, while the Non-Market Based instruments index, which includes policies that impose emission limits and standards, does not exert any significant influence in this regard. Regarding the impact on renewable energy consumption, the results of this study indicate significant positive influences from the perspective of the three sub-indices used in the analysis. These results should send a signal to decision-makers on the effectiveness of policies that impose emission limits and standards, in the sense that their improvement will generate significant influences in mitigating climate change risks.

Nexus between economic growth, natural resources rents, trade globalization, financial development, and carbon emissions toward environmental sustainability in Uruguay

There have been variances in environmental quality as the globe continues to become a globalized society, however, research including trade globalization into the environmental policy framework remains inconclusive. Using the Uruguayan time series dataset between 1990 and 2020, this study investigated the impact of economic growth, natural resource rents, trade globalization, and financial development on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, this inquiry quantifies short- and long-run dynamics. The results of the ARDL bounds test indicate a long-term relationship between carbon emissions and these variables. Additionally, the ARDL short-and long-run analyses demonstrated a positive and statistically significant effect of economic growth, natural resource rents, and trade globalization on Uruguay's CO2 emissions. However, both the short-run and long-run coefficients of financial development are statistically significant and negative, indicating that financial development has no effect on environmental deterioration in Uruguay. Furthermore, by using Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), and Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR), the findings were confirmed. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that international trade regulations be reevaluated and export limitations for goods with high levels of pollution are strengthened.

Do clean energy transition, environment degradation, and energy efficiency influence health expenditure: Empirical evidence from emerging countries

The well-being of our environment and the overall health of population are increasingly at risk due to the pursuit of rapid economic growth by both developed and developing economies. This is exacerbated by the well-established connection between economic expansion and increased energy consumption. Because of this scenario of development, rapidly growing health expenditure is a matter of grave concern for households and governments. Every government is compelled to allocate a sufficient budget to improve people's health. Therefore, determinant factors of health expenditure in emerging nation became issue of discussion to understand the direction of further health expenditure. Therefore, major objective this study is investigating the impact of the clean energy transition, energy efficiency, aging population, natural resource depletion, and environmental degradation on health spending in 22 emerging economies for the period of 2000–2019. To fulfil this objective, Fully Modified Ordinary Least square (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) techniques have been applied. Further to check causality among selected variables, Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger Causality test has been employed. The outcomes of the Kao co-integration test predicted that a long-run association exists among natural resources depletion energy efficiency, renewable energy, aging population, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with total health spending, government health spending, and private health spending in selected countries. Further results of FMOS found that the aging population, natural resources depletion, and CO2 release positively influence health spending in selected countries. The study results also indicated that improvement in energy efficiency and renewable energy use decrease health expenditure of emerging countries. Further, these results were also re-confirmed by the DOLS method. Further, the main conclusion of D-H findings predicted that feedback causality exists between environmental degradation and health spending.

Does government effectiveness moderate public spending on education–shadow economy nexus in ASEAN countries?

AbstractA plethora of empirical work has aimed to investigate the determinants of the shadow economy over the last few years. The impacts of government spending on the shadow economy have been explored. However, the effect of a moderating factor that affects this nexus has been largely ignored in the existing literature. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of government effectiveness on public spending on the education–shadow economy nexus, in eight Southeast Asian countries from 2001 to 2017. This paper uses the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and the panel causality approach to analyze the data. Empirical findings from this paper indicate that public spending on education and government effectiveness negatively impacts the size of the shadow economy. Interestingly, government effectiveness serves as a critical catalyst in shaping the effect of government spending on education. We also observed that economic growth and foreign direct investment have significant negative effects, while unemployment and inflation have significant positive effects on the shadow economy. Additionally, the causality results confirmed the presence of bidirectional causality in public spending education, government effectiveness, economic growth, foreign direct investment, and unemployment in the shadow economy. This study recommends that governments and policymakers pursue policies and programs that invest more in education and enhance government effectiveness.

Formal Agricultural Credit Schemes and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This study examined the impact of formal agricultural credits on economic growth in Nigeria between 1981 and 2021. The specific objectives were to determine the effects of the agricultural credit guarantee scheme fund, bank loans and advances to agriculture, foreign aid to agriculture and the cost of funds on real gross domestic product (GDP) growth. The data required for the analysis were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Statistics. The descriptive statistics, fully modified ordinary least squares (FM-OLS) and parsimonious error correction model (ECM) formed the basis for the data analysis. The unit root and Johansen cointegration tests results showed that the variables are all stationary at the first difference and cointegrated at the 5 per cent significance level. The long-run regression results showed that the agriculture credit guarantee scheme fund positively affected real GDP growth. The results further showed that bank loans and advances to the agriculture sector have a positive and significant effect on real GDP growth. It was found that 1 per cent increase in that bank loans and advances to the agriculture sector leads to 0.0378 per cent in real GDP growth. The effect of foreign aid to agriculture on real GDP growth was positive but insignificant at the 5 per cent significance level. Evidence of a positive and significant effect of the cost of funds on real GDP growth was established from the long-run results. The estimated coefficient showed that the real GDP growth increases by 0.00356 per cent due to a 1 per cent increase in the cost of funds. The short-run results showed that the coefficient (-0.5125) of the error correction term is negative and significant at the 5 per cent significance level, indicating that about 51.25 per cent distortion from the long-r

The impact of primary energy supply, effective capital and renewable energy on economic growth in the EU-27 countries. A dynamic panel GMM analysis

Energy, just like any other factors of production, plays a vital role in boosting the economic growth of nations. Various researches have observed a significant positive effect of energy on economic growth, indicating that boosting energy sources will tend to raise the economic growth of nations. Due to this reason, the European Union (EU) needs to come up with a stable and reliable supply of energy to ensure high economic growth and stability in the prices. The current study seeks to examine the role of primary energy supply on economic growth in the EU. The study employs a panel data of 27 EU countries from 1990 to 2019. Dynamic Generalised Method of Moments which is robust over endogeneity, Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) are employed. The current study differs from past studies in that it considers the interaction between energy and capital, “effective capital”, hence its main novelty. The study results show that carbon emissions, renewable energy, capital, effective capital and population size have a significant positive impact on GDP in the EU-27 countries. Primary energy supply is observed to exhibit a negative significant effect on GDP, whereas the results of DOLS technique gives a significant positive effect.

Does climate policy uncertainty affect carbon emissions in China? A novel dynamic ARDL simulation perspective

This study provides new insights into the impact of climate policy uncertainty, energy consumption, and economic development on China’s carbon emissions. In doing so, we develop a novel index of China’s climate policy uncertainty (CCPU). We then use the newly constructed dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) simulation model, the frequency-domain causality (FDC) test, and the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) estimation to investigate these potential relationships from 2005 to 2021. The empirical results suggest that increasing CCPU reduces carbon emissions in most parts of China, which improves environmental degradation. Furthermore, the effects of energy consumption and economic growth on carbon emissions are confirmed to be positive in each location. Finally, the results of the FDC and FMOLS confirm the robustness of the model. Our findings suggest that information from the CCPU can be used to forecast CO2 emissions in China. Furthermore, the government should strike a balance between economic growth and environmental regulation and promote the use of renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions. Proactively developing climate policy is important to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.

Empowering Bangladesh: Illuminating the path to sustainable economic growth: Using a cutting‐edge non‐linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach

AbstractBangladesh, a developing country, is experiencing a rapid increase in its energy requirements due to its consistent economic growth in recent years. However, little is known about the economic contributions of access to electricity (AE), energy consumption (EC), and population growth (PG). In this study, the asymmetrical connection among PG, EC and electricity accessibility in Bangladesh is examined over a span of 36 years, from 1985 to 2021. The study used non‐linear ARDL cointegration methods as well as Granger Causality. For robustness, this study used Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR). The results reveal that PG has a notable favourable impact on economic growth, and conversely, a declining population also leads to a substantial positive influence on economic growth. Both favourable and adverse fluctuations in electricity accessibility exhibit detrimental effects on long‐term economic growth. Over the course of time, enhancing power accessibility has contributed to the rise in economic growth. Unfavourable EC shocks exhibit a meaningfully positive influence on economic growth in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the positive EC shock does not have a notable impact on long‐term economic growth. The data also demonstrate bidirectional causality between PG and economic growth and EC and economic growth (EG). There is also a unidirectional causal link between PG and AE and EC and PG. The findings have significant policy ramifications for those in charge of making decisions in Bangladesh that would help the country achieve its economic goals by bolstering its energy industry.

Empowering Malaysian tourism with clean energy, sustainable environment, and inward FDI: evidence from symmetric and asymmetric assessment.

This study aims to assess the effects of clean energy, environmental sustainability, and inward FDI on tourism growth in Malaysia data spanning from 1990 to 2019. The study employs the Bayer-Hanck cointegration test, ARDL bound testing, nonlinear ARDL, Toda-Yamamoto causality, and Fourier TY causality test. Additionally, dynamic OLS, fully-modified OLS, and CCR are employed to ensure robust coefficient testing. The study's findings demonstrate a noteworthy and favorable correlation between the utilization of clean energy, the advancement of tourism, and the subsequent rise in inward foreign direct investment (FDI). Moreover, the NARDL model reveals the complex interplay between adopting clean energy, environmental sustainability, and tourism growth. The causality tests, such as Fourier TY, offer valuable insights into the direction and intensity of the identified causal relationships. The study's implications are diverse and complex. Firstly, it highlights the crucial significance of clean energy as a catalyst for Malaysia's sustainable tourism development. Furthermore, this research offers valuable insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders seeking to leverage the economic and environmental advantages of integrating clean energy. Finally, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on the interplay between clean energy, tourism, and inward foreign direct investment (FDI), establishing a solid basis for future research in comparable settings. In conclusion, this research contributes to the enhanced comprehension of the intricate relationship between clean energy, the expansion of tourism, and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia. The utilization of various methodologies provides a comprehensive viewpoint on the dynamic relationships, emphasizing the potential for promoting sustainable development while simultaneously achieving economic benefits.

Institutional quality and green economic growth in West African economic and monetary union

PurposeThis study examined the how institutions influence green economic growth in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries with view to contributing to Sustainable development goal of good health and well-being (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), responsible consumption and production (SDG12). MethodologyThe study made use of data sourced from the Development Indicators (WDI) and Governance Indicators (WGI) from 2002 to 2017 covering the eight (08) WAEMU countries. The study applied the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), which is robust to the heterogeneity and endogeneity presence, to estimate the long-run parameters of the institutional quality effect on green economic growth. FindingsFindings obtained from the study show that the institution's quality influence differs across the countries of study. The findings implication is that institutional quality enhances green economic growth. In specific terms, institutions level enhances green economic growth in counties such as Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. On the contrary, it however, deteriorates green economic growth in other countries such as Benin and Burkina Faso. ConclusionAgainst this finding, the study recommends that there is the need for WAEMU countries to consider the improvement of institutional framework, making sure that a robust institutional mechanism such as elimination of corruption, improve government effectiveness, strong credibility of government commitments and policies, an efficient judiciary, sound policies and regulations to reach the green economic growth desired level. ImplicationThe findings implication is that good institutional framework such as good governance, control of corruption, political stability and absence of violence among others, are essential factors in promoting green economic growth. The findings highlight the importance of investment in renewable energy and sustainable agriculture as key drivers of green economic growth in the region. These findings have important implications for policymakers in the WAEMU region, as they provide evidence-based insights into the role of institutional quality in promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth. OriginalityThe study extends the frontiers of knowledge on green economic growth by using green economic growth a new established indicator that makes use of economic and environmental indices to ensure accurate and assessable economic prosperity.

ROLE OF HUMAN CAPITAL, INCOME INEQUALITY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSUMPTION ON CO2 MITIGATION IN MALAYSIA

The present research endeavours to investigate the interconnection among human capital, income inequality, renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and pollution. The ultimate objective is to identify effective policy approaches by uncovering empirical findings. This study employs the innovative approach of dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) to examine data spanning from 1980 to 2018. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the DOLS estimation, we utilise the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and canonical correlation regression (CCR) techniques. In order to comprehensively investigate the association between the chosen variables, a paired Granger causality analysis was employed. Findings of this study show that using renewable energy enhances Malaysia's environmental quality, while economic growth, income inequality, and human capital all cause environmental deterioration. Therefore, it is possible that Malaysia could achieve its goal of reducing CO2 emissions and meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement if it were to successfully adopt policy initiatives to develop human capital, increase the use of renewable energy sources, achieve a low-carbon economy, and reduce the income disparity. The research presents several new findings. The authors show that economic growth is one of the drivers of renewable energy use because it provides inputs for the development of renewable energy technology and infrastructure. But if there is pollution as a result of rapid economic growth, it will also negatively impact worker productivity. As a result, the poor get poorer, and the income inequality gap widens. This will obstruct both economic advancement and government efforts to promote the creation of renewable energy sources.

The Nexus between Foreign Direct Investment and Electricity Consumption in South Africa

The study investigates the nexus between foreign direct investment inflows and electricity consumption in South Africa. The study utilized borrowed time series data sourced from the World Bank and South African Reserve Bank spanning from 1970 to 2020. The study employs a Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) models to investigate the nexus between foreign direct investment inflows and electricity consumption in South Africa. The results of the Johansen cointegration test revealed the presence of cointegration relationships between the variables in the study. The results of the FMOLS and DOLS revealed negative statistically significant and insignificant relationship between electricity consumption and foreign direct investment inflows in South Africa, respectively. Other results revealed that economic growth has a positive statistically significant relationship with foreign direct investment inflows. The Granger causality results revealed unidirectional causality running from economic growth to foreign direct investment inflows. The study recommends that the government and policymakers must revise policies on electricity consumption and economic growth to attract foreign direct investment inflows in South Africa.

Unveiling the Implications of Energy Poverty for Educational Attainments in Pakistan: A Multidimensional Analysis

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize energy poverty as a significant issue affecting developing and developed countries. Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 7) focuses on energy poverty (EP) and aims to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services by 2030. This study examines the relationship between energy poverty and educational attainments in Pakistan using time series data from 1990 to 2020. A multidimensional energy development index (EDI) is constructed to measure energy poverty. By employing robust econometric techniques such as the Johansen cointegration test, fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), canonical cointegration regression, and the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation, this research uncovers empirical findings that offer valuable insights into the crucial role of energy poverty as a determinant of educational attainments. The findings of this study reveal that improvements in energy development (characterized by a decline in energy poverty) and real GDP per capita, significantly enhance school enrollments in Pakistan. Moreover, it is also observed that general poverty and a high pupil-teacher ratio negatively influence educational attainments. These results emphasize that inadequate access to and affordability of energy act as formidable barriers, impeding the educational journey of children and adolescents. These findings also highlight the urgent need to address energy poverty as a paramount policy concern to enhance development outcomes. Policies aimed at improving energy infrastructure and providing reliable and affordable energy sources are crucial to unlocking educational opportunities for more children and enabling them to embark on their educational journeys.

Conditional Effect of Environmental Degradation and Institutional Environment on Human Development in Developing Countries: Evidence from Method of the Moment-Quantile Regression with Fixed Effect

The study examines the conditional effect of environmental degradation and institutional environment on the conditional distribution of human development, using the Method of the Moment Quantile Regression (MM-QR) technique with fixed effect, Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimators. The study uses strongly balanced data from 20 developing countries with the full data from 1996 to 2021. The findings confirmed heterogenous effects of environmental degradation and institutional environment on human development. The results reveals that lower environmental degradation promote human development across all levels of human development, but the effect higher in countries with low human development. The study shows that institutional environment has positive effect across all levels of human development, with higher effect in countries with low human development. The findings for the control variables show that financial development, population growth and FDI promote human development across all levels of human development. However, the strength of the coefficients also increases with higher quantiles. The results also confirmed unidirectional causality running from environmental degradation and institutional environment to human development, while bidirectional causality between financial development and human development. To promote human development, policymakers at developing countries should focus on climate action policies and building strong institutions.

The mediating role of capital investment and financial sector in the energy-pollution discourse

PurposeThe authors analyse the interactive influence of energy use, capital investment and finance on pollution in energy-dependent African countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyses data from 5 selected energy-dependent African nations (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa) between 1981 and 2020 using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) approach.FindingsThe panel result reveals that capital investment and energy interaction and financial development and capital investment moderation reduce pollution in all the countries. However, for country-specific results, the interaction of investment and energy lowers emissions in Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco but increases pollution in Egypt. Similarly, except for Egypt, financial development and capital investment interaction offset pollution in Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the study stems from the inability to extend the scope to cover the entire African region. However, the fact that the authors selected the most prominent African nations in the sample to enable us to set the template for other smaller nations to follow makes the study tenable in its present form.Practical implicationsEnergy-dependent African countries should invest in eco-friendly machines, technologies and equipment to lower pollution vis-à-vis production expansion.Originality/valueThe present research is more expansive by combining the finance and capital investment channels in the quest for decarbonising emerging African nations. Moreover, this is a comparative study, unlike past studies that mainly deploy a one-size-fits-all approach.

The interconnection between fiscal policy and foreign direct investment with R&D: Insights from East Asian countries

As a technological powerhouse, Asia should not be overlooked. The region has been responsible for 87% of patent filings, 43% of startup investment, 51% of expenditures on research and development, and 52% of the global growth in tech company revenues during the past ten years. Within this framework, the current paper investigates the impact of fiscal policy and FDI on research and development in East Asian countries during the last 20 years. It further analyses the direction and shocks of these impacts. The methodological framework included theories of public policy and R&D management, the concept of absorptive capacity, etc. The database includes fiscal policy, FDI, domestic credit, and R&D data for 2000–2020. As a result, the paper adopted Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Granger causality tests to capture the short-run and long-run dynamic relationship among the variables. Next, we utilized Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) models to capture the cointegration between fiscal policy, FDI, domestic credit, and R&D. In light of this, the research revealed that the region’s fiscal policy and FDI outflows had a negative impact on the spending on R&D. Conversely, the results showed that FDI inflows and domestic loans provided to the private sector had a large favourable influence on research and development. It is also crucial to emphasize that the ARDL model produced results that were equivalent to the FMOLS and DOLS. Lastly, the Granger causality demonstrated a one-way causal relationship between fiscal policy and research and development. The study will help policymakers on how to promote R&D and enhance a country’s competitiveness in the global economy by paying enough attention to their fiscal policy. It will also assist policymakers to develop strategies to attract FDI that can benefit their R&D sector.

Moderating role of green innovation and fiscal expenditure towards achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 at provincial-level in China: policy implication from green total factor productivity.

Amidst resource loss and environmental protection constraints, achieving green development necessitates enhancing green total factor productivity (GTFP) as a means of promoting rational and efficient resource allocation, thereby balancing economic growth and environmental preservation. Meanwhile, literature on the subject matter of GTFP from a sustainability viewpoint is minimal. As a result, this study employs the panel dataset from 30 provinces of China spanning the period 2005 to 2020 and utilizes the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) developed by Machado and Santos Silva (2019) to analyze the heterogeneous role of green innovation, environmental regulations, and fiscal expenditure on GTFP. Moreover, the controlling variable for this study includes renewable energy and economic growth. Furthermore, this study investigates the heterogeneous combined impact of green innovation and fiscal expenditure (GTE*FSE) on GTFP. The findings of the MMQR reveal that green innovation has a positive impact on GTFP, while fiscal expenditure, environmental regulations, and renewable energy consumption have a negative impact. GTE*FSE has a positive and significant effect on GTFP, indicating that FSE can reinforce and increase the positive impact of GTE on GTFP in the long run. The study also reveals that economic growth has a mixed effect on GTFP, depending on the quantiles. Furthermore, environmental regulation has a significant and negative impact on GTFP, contradicting the Porter hypothesis. Likewise, the robustness of the findings is confirmed by the results of the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimations, which indicate a similar impact of the determinants on GTFP as observed in the MMQR analysis. This reinforces the validity of the findings and suggests that the observed relationships are robust to different estimation techniques. Furthermore, the findings of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) panel causality test reveal significant bidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and GTFP and fiscal expenditure and GTFP. Policy-makers need to channel a large chuck of their fiscal spending into green innovation so as to boost sustainability.

From growth to sustainability: investigating N-shaped EKC and the role of energy productivity, technological advancement, and human capital in OECD economies.

Environmental degradation rates have been on a concerning upward trajectory in recent decades, directly threatening the well-being of global populations. Responding to this urgent matter, scholars have been driven to explore its nuances, particularly emphasizing lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions amidst the growing demands of growing economies. Achieving the targets outlined in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement has also become a priority for many countries. Therefore, this study scrutinizes the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, specifically focusing on the role of energy productivity, technological advancement, and human capital in fostering a sustainable environment across 35 OECD economies from 1990 to 2018. Utilizing three robust econometric techniques, Cross-Sectional Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), we have drawn insightful conclusions from our data. The analysis substantiates an N-shaped EKC hypothesis relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions, pointing towards an initially increasing, then decreasing, and finally an increasing again trend of emissions with GDP. Furthermore, the long-term projections underscore that energy productivity, technological progression, and human capital formation harm the environment. These findings culminate in a call for governments to orchestrate extensive plans and initiatives. This involves promoting green technologies, renewable energy-based ideas, and comprehensive education and awareness programs. These efforts should span all educational levels, highlighting climate change, sustainable practices, and the need for CO2 reduction, empowering societies to contribute to a sustainable future.

How economic policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk affect environmental pollution: does renewable energy consumption matter?

Climate change traps heat, affecting various species in previously dry areas. Climate change brought on by emissions of greenhouse gases exacerbates problems such as severe storms, earthquakes, epidemics, and food distribution. The group of developed and developing countries, the world's biggest carbon emitters and most significant economies, is expertly planning to lessen its environmental challenges and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 set by the United Nations. This study uses the novel econometric methodologies of the dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) estimator, the augmented mean group (AMG) estimator, and the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) estimate to examine the influence of economic policy uncertainty, renewable energy consumption, geopolitical risk, non-renewable energy consumption, and economic growth on ecological footprint from 2000 to 2021. The results reveal that the variables are co-integrated; REC reduces carbon emissions, EPU, geopolitical risk, and economic growth contribute to increasing carbon emissions, while urbanization improves carbon emission. Finally, the results suggest that the developed and developing economies can progress toward SDGs 7 and 13 by using renewable energy, lowering the geopolitical risk, effectively handling policy uncertainty, and reducing urbanization.