Pollution Haven Research Articles

Energy Consumption, Financial Development and Environmental Degradation: An Empirical Evidence from SAARC Countries

This study examines the correlation between environmental degradation, financial development, and energy consumption in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region. Data covering the period of 1980 to 2022 have been utilized. For empirical estimation, the study applies the Hausman test and the Fixed Effect Model (FEM). The country-specific effects of energy consumption (EC) and financial development (FD) on total greenhouse gases (TGHG) have been checked. The dependent variable is environmental deterioration. TGHGs are used to illustrate ecological degradation. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth have been control variables. FEM results show that EC, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and FDI all have a significant effect on environmental deterioration. In contrast, the link between FD and TGHG emissions is inverse, implying that FD reduces ecological damage. However, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) idea has been confirmed since, as GDP grows, pollution begins to drop in an inverted "U-shape." The Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) has also been verified in certain SAARC countries. The findings have significance for governments in encouraging industries to participate in renewable energy projects and for financial institutions in determining how much to subsidize loans for such investment projects to reduce TGHG emissions, resulting in a slightly cleaner environment.

STILL DIRTY: THE EFFECT OF GLOBAL RISKS AND DEVELOPMENT ON FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT INFLOW

There needs to be more research on the global risks and developmental determinants of foreign direct investment inflow with green investment campaigns. This article presents new evidence covering 116 countries (2018–2020) using least squares regression. We show that ceteris paribus, higher perceived environmental and geopolitical risks are more likely to increase foreign direct investment. We also find that lower business environment, safety and security, and environmental sustainability increase foreign direct investment inflow. Meanwhile, foreign investment inflow increased positively according to price competitiveness, infrastructure quality, and natural resources. One development variable, information, and communication technology readiness, becomes significant when the analysis is performed only on developing countries. Economic risks, societal risks, technological risks, health and hygiene, human resources, and international openness are not significantly affecting investment inflow. An insightful theoretical implication regarding the finding is that some supports exist for the pollution haven hypothesis. Implications for practice include creating supportive policies that appreciate sustainable practices, such that investors are attracted to the country not as opportunistic polluters but as sustainability pioneers.

An interregional environmental assessment framework: revisiting environmental Kuznets curve in China.

Achieving the national emission reduction targets requires joint efforts of all jurisdictions, whose sustainable development is affected by complex economic and environmental interactions among regions. An interregional environmental assessment (IREA) framework is constructed for China using multiregional input-output techniques to unravel the carbon emission connections behind interregional economic activities. Then, consumption-based emission accounting is applied in sustainability assessment, in comparison with production-based environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) tests to examine the role of regional connections in shaping EKC. Empirical results expose significant asymmetric CO2 transfer among regions in China, where the Central and Western regions have become CO2 haven for the Eastern region. EKC is valid at the national level and manifests marked regional differences between production- and consumption-based curves. The pollution haven effect alters the EKC curve by expediting the emission peak in the developed Eastern region while delaying it in the developing Western region. Thus, revisiting EKCs in the IREA framework reveals that ignoring interregional connections would lead to misleading results. Only when both production- and consumption-based EKCs transcend their turning points can we claim that environmental governance has ushered in a new era of sustainable development.

The Link between Human Development, Foreign Direct Investment, Renewable Energy, and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in G7 Economies

This research evaluates the determinants of pollution emissions, considering the human development index, international trade, renewable energy, and foreign direct investment (FDI) as explanatory variables. This study tests the relationship between trade intensity and FDI on carbon dioxide emissions, considering the arguments of the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) versus halo pollution (HP). The econometric strategy applies panel data (fixed effects, random effects), a generalised linear model (Gamma), panel cointegration models such as FMOLS and DOLS, the ARDL panel model, and the panel quantile regressions to data from the G7 countries from 1990 to 2019. Before using econometric models, this investigation considers preliminary tests such as the panel unit root test (first and second generation) and the cointegration test. The econometric results show that human development decreased pollution emissions. In addition, renewable energy improves air quality and aims to reduce climate change. The inverted environmental Kuznets curve also supports the results when evaluating the relationship between the human development index and carbon dioxide emissions.

Testing the validity of pollution haven and pollution halo hypotheses in BRICMT countries by Fourier Bootstrap AARDL method and Fourier Bootstrap Toda-Yamamoto causality approach

Testing the validity of pollution haven and pollution halo hypotheses in BRICMT countries by Fourier Bootstrap AARDL method and Fourier Bootstrap Toda-Yamamoto causality approach

Industrial and textile waste trade: Multilayer network and environmental policy effects

Waste management is an international enterprise, and it is important to understand global flows of recyclable materials. The Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) suggests that waste moves from high income nations with stringent environmental policy to low income nations with less environmentally stringent policy, by exploiting low labor and regulatory costs. This paper assesses the PHH thesis for slag/dross and textiles (SDT) wastes in PHH through novel integration of the multilayer network and gravity models. The multilayer network model generates network effect that quantifies interlayer connections of multiple waste trade networks. Instead of North-South movement of waste, North-North, South-South, and even South-North are shown. Results from the gravity model indicate that stringent waste management policies reduce both waste exports and imports. PHH is not found for slags/dross where high income countries are importing the waste, contradicting PHH. On the other hand, PHH is more evident between highly connected hubs and havens in SDT waste trade networks.

Assessing the impact of international trade on ecological footprint in Belt and Road Initiative countries

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one such comprehensive plan that aims to boost economic growth and connectivity across Africa, Asia, and Europe. While the effort may be good for boosting exports and foreign direct investment (FDI), some are worried about the toll it may take on the environment. Therefore, we aim to examine the effect of international trade and FDI on the ecological footprint in BRI countries, considering the mediating role of the environmental performance index. The CCEMG estimator was used to examine the impacts of imports, exports, FDI, population growth, urbanization, and the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) on the global ecological footprint. Our findings show that export has a positive relationship with ecological footprint. Similarly, imports and FDI revealed a positive association with the ecological footprint. Finally, environmental performance revealed a negative association with ecological footprint in BRI countries. Our findings support the pollution haven theory by demonstrating the critical importance of environmental regulations in enticing responsible investors. By using the ecological footprint as an all-encompassing measure of environmental effect, this study sheds light on the need to incorporate sustainability within the goals of the BRI. This research emphasizes the importance of adopting well-informed methods to promote sustainable development and mitigate the BRI's adverse environmental impacts.

Environmental implications of technology-driven energy deficit and urbanization: Insights from the environmental Kuznets and pollution hypothesis

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) intends to promote economic development in many developing countries and improve regional connectivity. Concerns about the BRI economies' environmental effects, particularly concerning carbon emissions (CO2E), have arisen due to their rapid economic progress. The current study examines the relationship between technology-driven energy deficits, urbanization, and CO2E in the 48 BRI economies. Using the Sys-GMM dynamic technique with balanced panel data from 2001 to 2020 reveals that technology-driven energy deficits positively impact CO2E, while urbanization negatively impacts CO2E. Renewable energy sources have a mitigating effect on CO2E. This current research supports the EKC of growth and the Pollution Halo Hypothesis of FDI but not the Pollution Haven Hypothesis. The findings suggest that strategies to reduce carbon emissions should prioritize urban development and adopt technology-driven energy sources.

Reinvestigating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) of carbon emissions and ecological footprint in 147 countries: a matter of trade protectionism

Environmental degradation has profoundly impacted both human society and ecosystems. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) illuminates the intricate relationship between economic growth and environmental decline. However, the recent surge in trade protectionism has heightened global economic uncertainties, posing a severe threat to global environmental sustainability. This research aims to investigate the intricate pathways through which trade protection, assessed by available trade openness data, influences the nexus between economic growth and environmental degradation. Leveraging comprehensive global panel data spanning 147 countries from 1995 to 2018, this study meticulously examines the non-linear dynamics among trade, economy, and the environment, with a particular emphasis on validating the EKC hypothesis. This study encompasses exhaustive global and panel data regressions categorized across four income groups. The research substantiates the validity of the EKC hypothesis within the confines of this investigation. As income levels rise, the impact of economic growth on environmental degradation initially intensifies before displaying a diminishing trend. Additionally, trade protection manifests as a detriment to improving global environmental quality. The ramifications of trade protectionism display nuanced variations across income strata. In high-income nations, trade protection appears to contribute to mitigating environmental degradation. Conversely, within other income brackets, the stimulating effect of trade protection on environmental pressure is more conspicuous. In other words, trade protectionism exacerbates environmental degradation, particularly affecting lower-income countries, aligning with the concept of pollution havens. The study’s results illuminate nuanced thresholds in the relationship between trade, economic growth, and environmental degradation across income groups, emphasizing the heterogeneous impact and underlying mechanisms. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, urging collaborative efforts among nations to achieve a harmonious balance between economic advancement and environmental preservation on a global scale.

Impact of China’s National Sword Policy on Waste Import Margins: A Difference-in-Differences Approach

As a major destination of waste products, China implemented the National Sword Policy (NSP) to regulate the high pollution of waste imports. The existing literature primarily focuses on the motivations behind China’s waste imports and the policy implications of the NSP on China’s waste imports and the global recycling market. This study innovatively focuses on the extensive, intensive, price, and quantity marginal effects of the NSP on China’s waste imports using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach with 26 categories of waste products for 150 countries and regions from 2007 to 2021. The findings indicate that: (1) The NSP has led to declines in the intensive and quantity margins of regulated waste imports, while the price margin has increased. (2) In the years following the implementation of the NSP, the impacts continued to intensify. (3) The NSP has reduced the motivation for exporters to export highly polluting waste to China in search of a “Pollution Haven”. (4) Orientations implementing policies that place the responsibility for products’ environmental impact and encourage waste sorting can effectively alleviate the inhibitory effects of the NSP. These results suggest that the Chinese government needs to strengthen the control of high-polluting and low-value product imports. Waste-exporting countries should encourage enterprises to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of products and promote waste sorting and treatment facilities. Enterprises should strengthen the environmental impact assessment of the entire product lifecycle and consider materials that are easy to sort and recycle.

Spatial Competition and Unevenness in Global Capitalism: Labor, Nature, and the Seesaw of Capital

Critical studies of globalization seek to unmask how this stage of capitalist history reshapes patterns of uneven development around the world. While globalization can reproduce long-standing patterns of North–South unequal exchange, in this paper, I focus on how capital mobility and competition contribute to uneven development. Drawing primarily on Neil Smith’s theory of uneven development, I offer a theoretical discussion of how capital’s capacity to seesaw from place to place in its search for higher profits—and the spatial competition between places that this capacity triggers—constitutes a source of unevenness. Regions, nations, and localities adapt to capital’s seesaw by offering, among others, cheaper labor and lower environmental regulation costs. While this can work for a time, advantages are either eroded by the unfolding contradictions of capitalism or competed away by the emergence of new areas. In the last section, I offer a tentative illustration of this argument with a brief examination of pollution havens and Special Economic Zones.

Is There a Trade-off Between Economic Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, International Trade and Environmental Degradation? A Comparison Between Asian Developed and Developing Countries

Against the backdrop of impressive economic growth, the attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade of Asian countries, this study attempts to examine whether trade-offs between three aspects of economic growth, FDI, international trade and environmental degradation. Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (P-ARDL) model with pooled mean group estimates has been applied on panel data from 1996 to 2019. Panel Vector Error Correction model (VECM) Granger causality test is also used to identify multidimensional causal relationships between variables. The research results confirm the existence of a long-term equilibrium relationship between environmental degradation (CO2 emission) and the combination of economic growth, FDI and trade openness. In the short run, income positively affects CO2 emission while negative impacts and lower income elasticity have been found in the long run, implying that CO2 emission decreases and reverses its direction when income rises. Contrasting results collected from two groups of developed versus developing countries, the author reveals a linear relationship with a positive direction between economic growth and environmental degradation in developing countries while opposite results have been shown in developed nations, which supports the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Asian countries. This study also provides sound proof for the ‘pollution haven hypothesis’ and the scale effects on FDI attraction and international trade. By applying relatively new estimators in the field of econometrics to compare the differences between Asian developed and developing countries, the research highlights the appropriate policies contributing to sustainable economic growth, attractive FDI and growing green trade with minimum adverse effects on the environment. JEL Codes: C33, F18, F21, F43, O44, Q40, Q51, Q53

Asymmetric effects of high-tech industry and presence of pollution-haven hypothesis in APEC countries: fresh evidence with panel quantile regression

Asymmetric effects of high-tech industry and presence of pollution-haven hypothesis in APEC countries: fresh evidence with panel quantile regression

Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and pollution haven hypothesis in India: an ARDL approach

Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and pollution haven hypothesis in India: an ARDL approach

Pollution Haven or Pollution Halo: Evidence in Forestry in Developing Countries

Pollution Haven or Pollution Halo: Evidence in Forestry in Developing Countries

Exploring the impact of climate technology, financial inclusion and renewable energy on ecological footprint: Evidence from top polluted economies.

Most South Asian countries' economies have grown dramatically during the past few decades. However, in light of their environmental sustainability goals, the quality of such growth performances by South Asian nations is called into doubt by the concurrent degradation in environmental quality. Consequently, reducing the environmental challenges these nations encounter is prioritized on the agendas of the relevant authorities. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the top 11 most polluted countries' levels of financial inclusion, technological innovation, consumption of renewable energy, and adoption of climate technology on environmental deterioration from 2000 to 2022. Therefore, this research aims to use cutting-edge panel data econometric techniques to investigate the factors contributing to high carbon footprints in the world's most polluted nations. The results support an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and carbon footprints, crediting the environmental Kuznets curve concept. In addition, it has been shown that TECH, REC, and CT can reduce carbon footprints in both the short and long term, while GDP and financial inclusion only affect carbon footprints in the long term. The results further endorsed the pollution haven hypothesis by showing that GDP positively affects carbon footprint. As a result, leading polluting economies need to strengthen their financial sectors, create green technology, migrate to renewable energy, and limit financial inclusion to improve environmental quality.

Economic Globalization, Renewable Energy, and CO2 Emissions in Selected Emerging Countries

The phenomenon of economic globalization (EG) has a significant impact on CO2 emissions in emerging countries. This research seeks to examine the influence of EG and renewable energy consumption (REC) on CO2 emissions by utilizing secondary data from the World Bank spanning the years 2000 to 2022. The study hypothesizes that EG contributes to higher CO2 emissions, whereas the REC leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions. This study uses the Data Regression Results Panel with a Random Effect Model to analyze the data. The results show that EG contributes to economic growth accompanied by increased CO2 emissions. Rapid increases in economic activity and industrialization, often driven by FDI and international trade, lead to increased use of fossil energy and CO2 emissions. These findings support the pollution haven hypothesis that suggests that high-polluting production tends to move to countries with looser environmental regulations. However, the study also found that increased REC is associated with a decrease in CO2 emissions. The theoretical significance of the results of this study shows that while EG can drive economic growth, it also has a negative impact on the environment. In practical terms, this research underscores the necessity for policies that promote the use of renewable energy, enhance energy efficiency, and enforce stringent environmental regulations to mitigate the adverse environmental effects of economic globalization. Measures such as the promotion of renewable energy, the transfer of green technologies, increasing public awareness of environmental sustainability, diversifying the economy into greener sectors, and developing green infrastructure are essential.

Using bootstrap fourier granger causality test in quantiles to re-examine Pollution Haven/Halo hypotheses in China and G3 countries

We re-examine the Pollution Haven and Pollution Halo hypotheses (PHEH and PHALH) using a quantile-based Bootstrap Fourier Granger causality test, a method adept at identifying non-linear structural breaks. Our study encompasses data from China and the G3 countries (Japan, the UK, and the USA) spanning the period from 1980 to 2020. Our empirical findings reveal that data from the USA corroborates the PHEH, suggesting a trend where increased foreign direct investment (FDI) aligns with higher environmental degradation. In contrast, data from China affirms the PHALH, indicating that FDI contributes to improved environmental standards. However, data from Japan and the UK do not conclusively support either hypothesis. These results have significant implications for governmental policy formulation in China and the G3 countries, particularly in shaping FDI policies that align with environmental sustainability goals.

High-income developing countries as pollution havens: Can financial development and environmental regulations make a difference?

The argument that foreign direct investments inflows in developing countries harm the environmental quality of these countries is evaluated within the scope of Pollution Haven Hypothesis. However, the Pollution Halo Hypothesis, the counterargument, contends that foreign investment has several positive effects on the environmental circumstances in the host nation. Therefore, firstly the unit root properties of variables and cointegration existence among variables are checked with newly developed panel data techniques that both allows cross-sectional dependence and structural breaks. In addition, using recently established CS-ARDL technique for high-income developing nations (BRICS-T), this research examines the effects of foreign direct investment on the environment as well as whether environmental regulations and financial development have changed the potential haven hypothesis into the halo hypothesis for the period from 1995 to 2020. The pollution haven theory holds true for these nations, according to the results of empirical research. On the other side, it is determined that tighter environmental restrictions support the environmental quality, and the usage of renewable energy also improves environmental quality, even if economic growth harms environmental quality. In addition, it is found that both regulations and financial development has a moderating role on reversing the haven to halo.

Examining the agriculture-induced environment curve hypothesis and pollution haven hypothesis in Rwanda: the role of renewable energy

Agriculture has a main impact on increasing the economy of most developing countries, and energy policies in fighting climate change have a vital role in strengthening economic growth. This paper studies the impact of agriculture, trade openness and green energy on CO2 emissions in Rwanda during 1990–2022. Phillips- Peron and Augmented Dickey fuller unit root test affirmed the stationary of data, and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bound testing confirmed a long-run relationship among variables. The study employed an ARDL approach.Findings from long-run elasticities showed that 1% increase in agriculture productivity increased carbon dioxide emissions by 1.94%; 1% increase in trade openness increased carbon dioxide emissions by 0.16%; whereas 1% increase in renewable energy consumption and GDP per capita decreased carbon dioxide emissions by 2.71% and 2%, respectively. The result confirmed the induced environment curve and the pollution haven hypothesis in Rwanda. Moreover, green energy consumption and GDP per capita decreases CO2 emissions eventually, which supports the validity of environment Kuznets curve in Rwanda.The findings recommend that an increase in renewable energy usage and trade reforms accompanied by strong environmental policies to reduce CO2 emissions will develop the agriculture sector and regional economy.Graphical