N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve Research Articles

Determinants of environmental degradation: Evidenced-based insights from ASEAN economies

This paper examines the effect of per capita income, trade openness, energy consumption, and financial development on the ASEAN region's environmental degradation. We obtained data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) during the years 2001–2020 to test our research model. For analysis, we applied panel data techniques such as pooled least squares, fixed effects, generalized least squares (GLS), and two stages least squares (2SLS). We also conducted the causality analysis to determine the direction of the relationship among the models' variables. Our models' results show the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the ASEAN region as per capita income and its square term possess positive and negative coefficients. The results also show the presence of an N-shaped EKC in ASEAN region a deviation from the conventional literature. Moreover, the results illustrate that increasing energy consumption, trade openness, and financial development positively contribute to environmental degradation in ASEAN economies. The causality analysis shows a two-way causality between trade openness and financial development, and environmental degradation and trade openness. We observed oneway causality, running a) from energy consumption and per capita income towards financial development, b) from per capita income towards trade openness, and c) from financial development towards environmental degradation. The study's results contribute to the environmental degradation literature and provide a better understanding of environmental degradation for policymakers in ASEAN economies.

Exploring the role of solar energy and foreign direct investment for clean environment: Evidence from top 10 solar energy consuming countries

Solar energy has become well-documented and famous globally despite high upfront costs and a lack of financing mechanisms. Solar power can keep sustainable economic growth by fulfilling the increasing worldwide demand for energy while addressing climate change and reducing emissions. On the other side, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a crucial source of promoting energy-efficient technologies across the world. This study explores the role of solar energy consumption and the impact of FDI for a clean environment in the top ten solar energy-consuming countries from 1990 to 2018. The significance of this study is that it uses a cubic form of income and FDI to account for technique, scale and cumulative effects on CO2 emissions. The results depict N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve between income and CO2 emissions. The foreign direct investment inflows play a positive role in boosting the environment quality. Due to the strong structure of institutions, FDI inflows can be a source of solar technology promotion. However, other aspects like the size of GDP linked to the environment can't be ignored. Thus for a clean environment, countries still need to implement more energy-efficient policies for "sustainable development."

Conserving fertilizer in China's rural-agricultural development: The reversal shifts and the county-specific EKC evidence from Hubei

This paper examines China's fertilizer conservation in 1978–2017. The provincial data displays a positive reversal shift consistent to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in fertilizer application. The occurrences of applying less fertilizer but achieving higher farming output, is a positive signal for fertilizer conservation. Then we select Hubei as a case study for more county-specific examinations. To examine Hubei's 80 county-level areas in 2000–2017, we define an ecological impact index of fertilizer use as the local fertilizer application divided by the agricultural gross product. After passing the unit root tests, the panel regressions indicate the N-shaped EKC shift: Hubei's annual county-specific fertilizer-impact indexes rose first with the rural household income, and then declined before they started increasing again, while time effect also existed significantly in the samples. We advise local agricultural policy implementers keep multi-scalar measures and circular economy to conserve fertilizer-use, with more stakeholders engaging fertilizer conservation in rural areas. • We examine the provincial shifts of China's annual chemical fertilizer applications in 1978–2017. • The provincial figures indicate positive signs of farming conservation across provinces in various stages. • The panel regressions of the county-specific data of Hubei in 2000–2017 indicate the N-Shaped EKC. • Hubei's county-specific fertilizer figures rose first, then declined, and rose again, with rural household income. • Policy makers should realize that the rural income growth alone cannot maintain conserving fertilizer and multi-scalar policy implementation and more local engagement help sustain long-term fertilizer ​conservation.

Evaluating the impact of GDP per capita on environmental degradation for G-20 economies: Does N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve exist?

Evaluating the impact of GDP per capita on environmental degradation for G-20 economies: Does N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve exist?

Primal-dual approach to environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: A demand and supply side analyses of environmental degradation.

The unavoidable negative effects of global warming have been a key if not the most important issue occupying policy makers in the world at large today. The much talked about green economy nowadays seeks to achieve sustainable economic growth and development without compromising environmental quality. The relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth is largely explained by the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. By employing the basic postulation of the baseline EKC framework, this study proposes and tests the existence of a dualistic approach of the EKC hypothesis. Geometry is used to illustrate the proposed dualistic model. Meanwhile, the novel dynamic common correlation effect econometric technique is employed to test the existence of the dualistic EKC within a panel of 109 countries from 1995 to 2016. The outcome from the estimated models shows that, in the global sample, the existence of the dualistic U-shaped and N-shaped EKC hypothesis is validated. When the sample is split into subsamples based on income levels, the U-shaped EKC hypothesis is validated for lower-income and high-income economies meanwhile, the N-shaped dualistic EKC is mostly associated with high-income economies.

Decoupling economic development from municipal solid waste generation in China's cities: Assessment and prediction based on Tapio method and EKC models.

This study uses the Tapio elastic decoupling analysis method and an empirical model of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) to analyze the decoupling between municipal solid waste (MSW) generation and economic development in 285 of China's cities from 2002 to 2017. The decoupling analysis results show that the decoupling states in China's cities generally improved first and then deteriorated in 2002-2017. The proportion of cities experiencing deterioration of decoupling states had increased to 60.00% by 2014-2017, and cities with a higher economic development level generally had more serious deterioration. The empirical test results support the N-shaped EKC hypothesis of MSW, which can explain why the decoupling state changed from improvement to deterioration. The difference of the economic level of sample cities (which determines their position on EKC) can also explain the spatial heterogeneity of the decoupling state and its changes; for example, the proportion of cities that have crossed the inflection point of Tapio decoupling elasticity (the per capita GDP is 13,130.89 yuan) to enter the deterioration stage is highest (100/101) in the economically developed eastern region, and is lowest (66/75) in the economically backward western region of China. In general, the empirical results of EKC can effectively support and explain the results of decoupling analysis.

INVESTIGATING THE N-SHAPED ENERGY-ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE HYPOTHESIS IN SAUDI ARABIA

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is extensively investigated in the literature, but testing of energy-EKC is scarce in the literature. The testing of energy-EKC is very important for extensive nonrenewable energy users. This research investigated the energy and growth cubic relationship in Saudi Arabia to verify the N-shaped energy EKC from 1970-2019. The estimated long-run parameters of linear, quadratic, and cubic terms of economic growth are found positive, negative, and positive, respectively. Hence, energy-EKC is corroborated in Saudi Arabia in the long run with the first turning point of N-curve at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of 19277 constant US dollar and the second point at 30880. Hence, the increasing GDP per capita before 19277 and after 30880 would increase energy use and have environmental consequences. The increasing GDP per capita between 19277 and 30880 would decrease energy consumption and is pleasant for the environment. The same behavior of energy usage is found in the short run. Hence, the energy-EKC is also validated in the short run. Keywords: The energy EKC, energy consumption, economic growth, cointegrationJEL Classifications: Q42, O44, C22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11573

Crop Production and Agricultural Carbon Emissions: Relationship Diagnosis and Decomposition Analysis.

Modern agriculture contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, and agriculture has become the second biggest source of carbon emissions in China. In this context, it is necessary for China to study the nexus of agricultural economic growth and carbon emissions. Taking Jilin province as an example, this paper applied the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and a decoupling analysis to examine the relationship between crop production and agricultural carbon emissions during 2000–2018, and it further provided a decomposition analysis of the changes in agricultural carbon emissions using the log mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. The results were as follows: (1) Based on the results of CO2 EKC estimation, an N-shaped EKC was found; in particular, the upward trend in agricultural carbon emissions has not changed recently. (2) According to the results of the decoupling analysis, expansive coupling occurred for 9 years, which was followed by weak decoupling for 5 years, and strong decoupling and strong coupling occurred for 2 years each. There was no stable evolutionary path from coupling to decoupling, and this has remained true recently. (3) We used the LMDI method to decompose the driving factors of agricultural carbon emissions into four factors: the agricultural carbon emission intensity effect, structure effect, economic effect, and labor force effect. From a policymaking perspective, we integrated the results of both the EKC and the decoupling analysis and conducted a detailed decomposition analysis, focusing on several key time points. Agricultural economic growth was found to have played a significant role on many occasions in the increase in agricultural carbon emissions, while agricultural carbon emission intensity was important to the decline in agricultural carbon emissions. Specifically, the four factors’ driving direction in the context of agricultural carbon emissions was not stable. We also found that the change in agricultural carbon emissions was affected more by economic policy than by environmental policy. Finally, we put forward policy suggestions for low-carbon agricultural development in Jilin province.

Exploring the Existence of the N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve in Bangladesh: An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Bounds Test Approach

The study aims to explore the existence of the N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in Bangladesh. The policy implications for the inverted U-shaped and the N-shaped EKC are different, therefore, it is important to identify the real shape of the EKC for a country for adopting an appropriate policy for mitigating environmental pollution. Although many studies in the context of Bangladesh have explored the inverted U-shaped EKC, none of the study explores the N-shaped EKC. Against this backdrop, the present study has attempted to explore the N-shaped EKC in Bangladesh by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds test approach. The study has found that the actual shape of the EKC in Bangladesh is N-shaped for both the short- and long-run. This implies that although higher economic growth mitigates the environmental pollution, but after a certain level of income, the pollution will rise again with the higher level of income per capita. Therefore, policymakers need to reconsider the existing growth promoting policy and adopt a new policy by considering the possibility of this N-shaped EKC.

Do economic endeavors complement sustainability goals in the emerging economies of South and Southeast Asia?

PurposeIn the present study, the authors intended to investigate whether the economic growth drivers such as per capita income, financial development, nonrenewable energy solutions and trade expansion have invigorated the level of environmental pollution in the eight developing nations of South and Southeast Asia.Design/methodology/approachConsidering the possibility of the cross-sectional dependency, the authors employed relatively new econometric approaches, that is, the Westerlund cointegration test and cross-sectional augmented distributed lag mean estimation (CS-DL) for the period of 1990–2015.FindingsThe simulation results of the study confirmed an N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve, which raised a question on the existing economic policies in these nations. Further, the study reported that the improvements in the financial sector, nonrenewable energy consumption and trade expansion contributed to increasing the level of CO2 emissions in the long run.Originality/valueBased on the results, the authors intended to provide a unique policy framework because the present policies are generating a trade-off between economic and environmental goals. If the suggested framework is employed across sectors, the given countries may likely achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030.

Natural gas consumption-economic output and environmental sustainability target in China: an N-shaped hypothesis inference.

On one divide, energy types have been linked with the varying degree of environmental damage. Another perspective argued on the severity of the damaged base on per capita and/or population consumption pattern. As such, this study investigates the nexus of per capita natural gas consumption-carbon dioxide emissions and per capita income-carbon dioxide emissions in the case of the People of the Republic of China. This study objectively expanded to illustrate whether the N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis holds in the case of China or not. The employed autoregressive distributed lag bound testing approach incorporated additional explanatory variables (urbanization) within the N-shaped EKC hypothesis over the period 1971-2018. Importantly, the results show an evidence of inverted N-shaped EKC relationship. In addition, the study posits a positive relationship between natural gas consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and between urbanization and carbon dioxide emissions. Thus, the study proposes renewable energy development and decongestion of the urban centers as a means of controlling global warming.

Environmental implications of N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve for E7 countries.

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is of great importance to understanding the relationship between economic activity and environmental degradation. Given the current wave of climate change and environmental crisis traced to rising environmental pollution from economic activities, it has become important to investigate the impact of economic expansion on the environment especially in the emerging-7 countries that are responsible for a large amount of global economic activity. This study investigates the N-shaped EKC for the E-7 countries using data spanning the period 1995-2018. The study employs the use of PMG-ARDL estimator and heterogeneous causality tests to establish the long run and short run and direction of causality respectively regarding the variables of interest. According to study empirical results, the long-run results fail to confirm the presence of an N-shaped EKC in the emerging 7 countries but rather confirms the existence of an inverted U-shaped EKC in the study countries. While renewable energy and non-renewable energy have a positive and significant relationship with CO2 emissions, short run results show that there is no significant relationship between economic expansion, renewable energy, non-renewable energy and CO2 emissions. Causality tests showed a bi-directional causality between GDP- and GDP-squared and a uni-directional causality from CO2 emissions to GDP-cubed, non-renewable energy and CO2 emissions, renewable energy, and CO2 emissions. The study suggests increased use of renewable energy to mitigate pollutant emissions in the E-7 countries.

Investigation of the N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve for COVID-19 mitigation in the KSA.

Climate change mitigation has led to a recent question regarding many policymakers and sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for Vision 2030. In 2019 and 2020, COVID-19 mitigation was the only issue the world raised questions about; for example, the KSA and the rest of the world are working diligently to meet COVID-19 mitigation targets. To assess policy supervision in terms of the ability to achieve COVID-19 targets, this survey examines the operators necessary to achieve the SDGs in regard to improving COVID-19 mitigation and increasing economic growth. In particular, we examine COVID-19 mitigation under the setting of an N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (N-shaped EKC) in the KSA. To identify the COVID-19 shock in the KSA, the effects of oil price and oil rent on CO2 emissions are examined. The results of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and non-autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) bound testing approach indicate that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the inverted N-shaped EKC hypothesis is validated in the long term. Empirically, we find that oil price strengthens the relationship of level, quadratic and cubic of economic growth and environmental quality while oil rent weakens this relationship. Additionally, the long-term incidences of positive shocks on oil price in the presence of COVID-19 outbreak are not similar to the negative shock to CO2 emissions, implying the existence of asymmetric impacts on carbon dioxide emissions in long-term forms. Our research implies that an oil price shock could be judicious for macro guidance of the economy in the KSA. Our findings are helpful for policymakers and investors in terms of their settlement planning because they can be used to evaluate prospective courses of economic profitability under the COVID-19 shock.

Carbon flux and N- and M-shaped environmental Kuznets curves: evidence from international land use change

ABSTRACT Economic growth can affect land use change to release or sequester carbon, intensifying or mitigating the impact of other carbon emissions, and the functional form of that relationship is important to crafting policy responses. Data on land use and land cover change (LULCC) for 14 countries reveal an N – or M-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for LULCC carbon flux to/from the atmosphere in some nations, while others display very different relationships. Most nations studied show some variation of the inverted-U EKC. All but one nation display initial turning points ranging from $2,000 to $9,000 per capita GDP (2011 dollars), and half are now net negative carbon emitters with respect to LULCC. For the US, regression analysis of the LULCC EKC indicates a roughly M-shaped quartic EKC function, with local maxima at about $3,700 and $45,700 and a local minimum at about $29,400. Where N-shaped EKCs are observed, the carbon sequestration from increasing forest regrowth is transient, and may be followed by a phase in which rising aggregate emissions dominate slowing sequestration in maturing forests. An M-shaped EKC indicates a third turning point, representing a return to increased net carbon absorption.

Spatio-temporal pattern and driving factors of municipal solid waste generation in China: New evidence from exploratory spatial data analysis and dynamic spatial models

In recent years, the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in China has entered an accelerated rising stage, and its spatial pattern is changing significantly, which must be considered in policy design. Through exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), this study finds that from 2006 to 2017, the characteristics of spatial heterogeneity of China’s MSW generation gradually change from high in the north and low in the south to high in the east and low in the west, and the gravity center of MSW generation level has moved 287.5 km to the southeast. According to the results of local indications spatial association analysis, the High-High clusters are all located in northern China in 2006, but the number has decreased significantly in later years; additionally, new High-High clusters are emerging in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. The Low-Low clusters are mainly located in the south but gradually shrink to middle and western China. Many central and western cities always maintain the Low-Low association, but the High-Low association is emerging in the provincial capitals or municipalities of these regions. Subsequently, through the dynamic spatial econometric analysis, it is found that the previous MSW generation can result in a spatial spillover effect in the current period, and the impact law of economic development can fit an inverted N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve. Population, technology, urbanization and green coverage rate can all inhibit MSW generation, and industrial structure, per capita number of sickbeds, and road density are driving factors of MSW generation. The aforementioned effects are consistent with the simulation results of short-term effects, but in the long-term, there are only significant indirect effects (spatial spillover) from the factors, and their directions are the opposite of the short-term effects.

Does an N-shaped association exist between pollution and ICT in Turkey? ARDL and quantile regression approaches.

It is a debated issue that the influence of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on the environment is positive or negative in the literature. For instance, usage and disposal of ICTs may lead to environmental degradation and it may also increase carbon emission arising from electricity generation. However, ICT applications may contribute to environmental quality creating great opportunities for smarter cities, transport systems, electrical grids, and industrial processes. These two effects reveal the possible relationship of an inverted U-shaped association also known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis relationship between ICT and CO2. The objective of this study is to determine the structure of the relationship between environmental degradation and ICTs in Turkey for 1980-2017. The findings of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis indicate the validity of inverted N-shaped EKC hypothesis. However, the results of the quantile regression test are inconsistent with those of ARDL. When the coefficients from 30th to 95th quantiles are examined, it is observed that there is an inverted N-shaped relationship between ICT and CO2, but these coefficients are not statistically significant. In addition, in the 95th quantile, coefficients of the square of ICT and ICT are statistically significant, contrary to the cube of ICT which is not. This reveals that the relationship between the variables is U-shaped.

Carbon Sequestration and N-Shaped Environmental Kuznets Curves: Evidence from International Land Use Change

Economic growth can affect land use change to release or sequester carbon, intensifying or mitigating the impact of other carbon emissions, and the functional form of that relationship is important to crafting policy responses. Data on land use and land cover change (LULCC) for 14 countries reveal an N- or M-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for LULCC carbon flux to/from the atmosphere in some nations, while others display very different relationships. Most nations studied show some variation of the inverted-U EKC. All but one nation display initial turning points ranging from $2,000 to $9,000 per capita GDP (2011 dollars), and half are now net negative carbon emitters with respect to LULCC. For the US, regression analysis of the LULCC EKC indicates a roughly M-shaped quartic EKC function, with local maxima at about $5,000 and $45,000 and a local minimum at about $30,000. Where N-shaped EKCs are observed, the carbon sequestration from increasing forest regrowth is transient, and may be followed by a phase in which rising aggregate emissions dominate slowing sequestration in maturing forests. An M-shaped EKC indicates a third turning point, representing a return to increased net carbon absorption.

Environmental Degradation and Economic Growth in ASEAN-10: The Perspective of EKC Hypothesis

Environmental issues have been ranked among the most intense debates over the past decades by governments around the world. Sustainable development goals have been top priorities in the working agenda of national cabinets and administrations which questions the chronic trade-off between environment and economic performance. This paper aims at contributing further insights into the above-mentioned linkage to the contemporary literature by testing the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. By conducting a panel data analysis on ASEAN-10 countries’ statistics of carbon dioxide emissions per capita (COEpc), real gross domestic product per capita (rGDPpc), foreign direct investment inflow (FDIif), trade openness index (TOI), and urbanisation (URB), the findings have empirically confirmed the valid causality running from economic growth, international trade and demographic changes to environmental degradation. Additionally, the existence of an earlier inverted U-shaped and a later N-shaped EKC has been investigated and significantly confirmed the cyclical changes of the eco-enviro trade-off. Also, this paper provides implications for policymakers to consider the cost-benefit issue in the establishment and implementation of economic and environmental protection policies.

Impact of corruption in public sector on environmental quality: Implications for sustainability in BRICS and next 11 countries

This study investigates the impact of corruption in public sector on carbon emissions in presence of energy use segregation, following the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. The study has been carried out for Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) and Next 11 countries over the period of 1990–2017. Along with the finding of inverted N-shaped EKC for both the cases, we find that incidents of corruption enhance environmental degradation by reducing the positive impact of renewable energy consumption on environmental quality, and increasing the negative impact of fossil fuel consumption. This study has also divulged that the corruptive practices are more prone in case of the countries, where the development is mature and institutionalization is more stringent. Based on these findings, we suggest that environmental policies should take account of the corruption, and thereby, making the policies more robust and effective.

The Underground Economy and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions in China

China aims to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity by 40–45% compared to its level in 2005 by 2020. The underground economy accounts for a significant proportion of China’s economy, but is not included in official statistics. Therefore, the nexus of CO2 and the underground economy in China is worthy of exploration. To this end, this paper identifies the extent to which the underground economy affects CO2 emissions through the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 1998 to 2016. Many studies have focused on the quantification of the relationship between CO2 emissions and economic development. However, the insights provided by those studies have generally ignored the underground economy. With full consideration of the scale of the underground economy, this research concludes that similar to previous studies, the inversely N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) still holds for the income-CO2 nexus in China. Furthermore, a threshold regression analysis shows that the structural and technological effects are environment-beneficial and drive the EKC downward by their threshold effects. The empirical techniques in this paper can also be applied for similar research on other emerging economies that are confronted with the difficulties of achieving sustainable development.