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The environment has become a growing concern for many countries, as pollution and other environmental degradation can harm human health, economic growth, and overall well-being. This paper probes into the asymmetrical implications of economic complexity and freedom on ecological quality in four South Asian countries from 1995 to 2019. Using Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag methodology approach, our findings indicate that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are intensified by economic freedom both in the long and short term, while negative and positive shocks to economic complexity increase CO2 emissions in the long term. However, a negative economic complexity shock increases CO2 emissions, whereas a positive shock has the opposite effect in the short run. Moreover, our results confirm the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the long run. Furthermore, we find that renewable energy usage and the interaction of FDI and renewable energy usage can help reduce environmental damage in both the short and long run. The findings suggest that countries should focus on attracting foreign direct investment that promotes the use of renewable energy. Additionally, policies aimed at encouraging renewable energy use should be implemented. It is important to note that as economic freedom and complexity increase, there is a corresponding increase in CO2 emissions. Therefore, South Asian policy makers are advised to prioritize the reduction in fossil fuels, the promotion of energy-saving technologies and efficient production, and trade that encourages the transition of renewable energy sources to reduce CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption has become a requirement in the modern world, and without it, the economies of developing nations cannot prosper. Consistent economic growth is a challenge for countries of all economic levels, not just the less developed ones. We test the EKC hypothesis by analyzing the relationships between GDP growth, energy consumption, agricultural output, and the consequences of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. From 1991 to 2016, we used panel and quantile regression analysis to compare emissions in nine developing countries with those in 13 developed countries. There is the beginning of a reverse U-shaped relationship between agricultural energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the verified EKC hypothesis paves the way for a watershed moment in the progress of industrialized nations’ economies. As an added bonus, agricultural results have a positive impact on CO2 emissions from using liquid fuels. It has a negative impact on CO2 emissions by 19.12% and causes a 4.802 percent increase in environmental degradation. Feed cropping, deforestation, biomass burning, and deep soil and cropping also have negative effects on the environment, especially in developing countries. There is a negative correlation between CO2 emissions and economic growth in developing countries and their energy consumption. Although the EKC hypothesis for CO2 emissions was rejected at lower quantiles, it was validated for Qatar, Canada, China, and other high-emitting economies according to the empirical estimation of quantile regression. The findings of this study have important policy implications for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, suggesting that policymakers account for the stage of economic growth currently being experienced when formulating measures to cut energy use and protect the environment. In particular, policies aimed at reducing energy consumption could.

Energy consumption has become a necessity in today’s world, and economies in developing nations cannot thrive without it. Countries with less developed economies face the same challenges of achieving sustained economic growth as those with more advanced economies. Herein, we examine the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by looking at the interplay between GDP growth, energy use, agricultural output, and the effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. From 1991 to 2016, we used panel and quantile regression analyses to compare emissions in nine developing countries with those in 13 developed countries. There is the beginning of a reverse U-shaped relationship between agricultural energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the verified EKC hypothesis paves the way for a watershed moment in the progress of industrialized nations’ economies. The estimated results of agriculture have a favorable impact on CO2 emissions by 15.16 percent but a negative influence of 2.92 percent on CO2 emissions from using liquid fuels, leading to more severe environmental deterioration. Additionally, in developing countries, feed cropping, deforestation, biomass burning, and deep soil and cropping all have detrimental consequences on the ecosystem. There is a negative correlation between CO2 emissions and economic growth in developing countries and their energy consumption. Although the EKC hypothesis for CO2 emissions was rejected at lower quantiles, it was validated for Qatar, Canada, China, and other high-emitting economies according to the empirical estimation of quantile regression. The findings of this study have important policy implications for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, suggesting that policymakers account for the stage of economic growth currently being experienced when formulating measures to cut energy use and protect the environment. Possible solutions to mitigate environmental degradation include enactment of policies to reduce energy consumption.

Over the period 1980–2016, this study looks into the causal relations between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption (EC), foreign direct investment (FDI), and gross domestic product (GDP) in five South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). To achieve the research objectives, panel unit root tests, panel co-integration, autoregressive distributed lag model, and Granger causality tests are used. In the long run, GDP has a positive impact on CO2 emissions, while squared GDP has a negative impact, confirming the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, in the short run along with these two countries, Bangladesh also confirms the EKC hypothesis. Among these five countries, Bangladesh and Nepal support the pollution haven hypothesis, but India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka support the FDI halo hypothesis. The EC has a large positive impact on CO2 emissions across five countries. In the long run, the Granger causality test confirms one-way causation from EC to CO2 emissions and bidirectional causality of FDI and CO2. These countries might encourage clean energy technology through FDI without jeopardizing GDP and environmental quality. The findings of the study provide a guideline for these countries to reduce CO2 emissions, achieve a long-term green GDP, and combat global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of foreign direct investments, economic growth, and energy consumption on carbon dioxide subcomponents in the case of the USA. Dynamic ARDL (DARDL) econometric method is used covering the period 1972–2020. In addition to the total CO2 emission, the subcomponents of CO2 emission are examined separately within the framework of the EKC hypothesis in the USA by avoiding aggregation bias for the first time. The CO2 emission subcomponents used in the study are as follows; CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption, residential buildings, and commercial and public services; electricity and heat production; and other sectors, excluding residential buildings and commercial and public services, and CO2 emissions from transportation. Each CO2 emission component is used as a dependent variable and 6 different models were created. Foreign direct investments, trade, and energy consumption are used as control variables. No results supporting the EKC hypothesis are determined in any model, except for model 1, where total CO2 emission is the dependent variable. In addition, the trade variable has been determined as an important factor in reducing CO2 emissions in the short and long term. Trade and GDP per capita increasing and energy consumption reducing will show positive results in order to increase the environmental quality in the USA. Moreover, the study in which this EKC hypothesis is tested with CO2 emission and its subcomponents is an important study in terms of providing the opportunity to analyze the environmental quality from different angles at the same time and to take various measures together in the US economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the revenue-pollution relationship by revisiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for West African countries over the period of 1980–2014. The study approximates the income measurement by GDP per capita and uses carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxide (NO2), and methane emissions as various environmental quality measures. The paper uses parametric and non-parametric estimation techniques to test the EKC hypothesis. The results support the existence of the U-inverted relationship between income and methane emission, on one hand, and between income and nitrogen dioxide emission on the other. The estimates also show a mixed result for the U-inverted hypothesis between income and carbon dioxide emissions. Thus, the verification of the curve depends on the estimation techniques and the measurement of the pollutant used. The obtained results led to the conclusion that the EKC hypothesis is validated for West African countries.

Combustible renewable energy can be an effective instrument to confirm sustainable development in reducing CO2 emissions to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in developing countries. However, connecting to some developing regions, the main research question is to what extent, in EU post-communist fast-developing countries (Visegrad Countries/Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland), will meeting the climate change preferences affect the use of biomass for energy and waste incineration, and how will this affect GDP growth? In addition, of course, what the Balkan countries can learn from this is also very important. The study investigates the relationship between GDP per capita, CO2 emissions, and Combustible Energy and Waste Consumption (CEWC). According to the Hausman test, the regression model along with random effect is the appropriate method for panel-balanced data as of 2008 to 2020 concerning Balkan countries. The data was divided into three categories: 10 Balkan countries, 4 countries without access to the sea (Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Macedonia), and Visegrad countries. The study discovered a substantial positive influence of CEWC on GDP per capita and a significant negative influence of CO2 emissions. The cointegration test confirms the cointegration of all three variables. This means that all three variables have a long-term relationship concerning the sense of each three forms of the chosen panel. The Granger causality findings shows the variables have a two-way causative relationship. The biomass energy use can dramatically hamper GDP growth in Visegrad and less developed Balkan countries without sea water, due to low energy productivity and a lack of technical innovation. The study recommended that instead of using energy production from simple biomass, these countries can use other circular, platform-based models to prevent unexpected rises in CO2 emissions and achieve Green House Gas (GHG) reductions. Therefore, this should be given more attention when setting climate and renewable energy policy targets, because they can significantly slow down economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of recent environmental debates related to the impact of economic development on environment quality, this paper's aim is to explain the GHG emissions in few EU New Member States (Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Poland) in the period 1990–2019 using a panel data approach (panel threshold and dynamic panel models) and a time series approach (vector error correction models). The importance of this study is related to the identification of paths to reduce pollution in order to manage climate challenges. The results indicate similarities and differences in terms of the impact of various indicators on the total GHG emissions and in the agricultural sector. There is a negative correlation between human development index/GDP and total GHG emissions when GDP growth is below and above 0.83%. Above this threshold estimate, there is a more strong and negative correlation between human development index and GHG emissions than below the threshold value. Below 1.41%, human development index and growth of value-added in agriculture do not influence pollution in agriculture. Above 1.41%, economic growth and change in value-added in agriculture positively influence the pollution in this sector. The relationship between GDP and GHG is inverted N-shaped for Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania (sample countries), while the relationship between value-added in agriculture and GHG is N-shaped. This research confirms the U-shaped RKC at the national level and for agriculture in the sample countries, while an inversely U pattern was observed for Poland. Renewable energy consumption reduces total GHG emissions in the sample countries. Some policy proposals are indicated to promote a sustainable development in these countries with less pollution. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation has put significant consequences at both the national and global levels. Economic development and ecological sustainability can be achieved by an increase in economic growth but on the cost of environmental quality. The basic aim of this analysis is to find the existence of the aviation Kuznets curve (AKC) and the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for the selected 21 OECD nations from 1980 to 2018. The aviation cargo and aviation passengers' patterns are separately analyzed in relation to CO2 emissions to quantify whether Kuznets phenomenon exists in the aviation industry of OECD nations? The econometric results of panel GMM confirm the validation of the aviation Kuznets curve in case of aviation passengers such that the "inverted U shaped" pattern. While the environmental Kuznets curve and aviation cargo Kuznets curve do not exist in the OECD nation. It means that an increase in aviation cargo and economic growth increases the CO2 emissions showing the "U shaped" association. Moreover, the Pairwise Dumitrescu Hurlin panel causality test exhibits uni–directional association moving from economic growth to carbon emissions, while there is bidirectional granger causality among trade openness, aviation sector, and energy consumption to carbon emissions. The overall results suggest that OECD nations must consider the pollution reduction techniques, investment in renewable sources, continuous research, implementation of efficient energy sources, and the imposition of aviation emissions taxes to limit the pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Central Asia is a major emerging energy player but is also affected by global climate change. To both maintain its economic growth and cope with climate change, Central Asia is in urgent need of environmental and sustainable energy strategies, as well as effective carbon emissions mitigation. To this end, we investigated the characteristics of country-level total carbon emissions in Central Asia (i.e., Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). Then, the logarithmic mean Divisia index method was applied to identify and quantify the driving forces behind the changes in carbon emissions. In addition, country-level long-run relationships between economic growth and carbon emissions were tested by means of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. The results are as follows. (1) There were pronounced differences in per capita gross domestic product, energy intensity, and carbon emissions structures across this region, mainly owing to the oil and gas endowment and economic development stage. (2) Impacts and influences of various drivers of carbon emissions varied across countries over the different stages. (3) During the economic recession period, carbon emissions decreases were largely driven by the decreasing economic growth effect associated with political instability. (4) During the economic transition periods, economic growth effect played a dominant positive role in accelerating carbon emissions in the five countries, followed by the population scale effect. Energy intensity effect was the most important factor in curbing carbon emissions in the five countries. Emissions increases during these periods were partly or largely compensated by the improving energy intensity in the different countries. Carbon intensity effect mostly had a negative but relatively minor effect on carbon emissions. (5) There was only an inverted U-shaped curve existing in the lower-middle-income country (Uzbekistan). Considering these differences and disparities in emissions characteristics and determinants can provide important insights for the energy sustainability and carbon mitigation in Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agriculture and manufacturing sectors are the backbones of the Indonesian economy; for this reason, research on the effects of these sectors on carbon emissions is an important subject. This work adds urbanization to enrich research on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that the EKC hypothesis was confirmed in Indonesia with a turning point of 2057.89 USD/capita. The research results show that all variables affect the escalation of greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia. Furthermore, there is a bidirectional causality relationship between emissions with economic growth, emissions with agricultural sector, emissions with manufacturing sector, economic growth with agricultural sector, and economic growth with manufacturing. The unidirectional causality is found in emissions by urbanization and economic growth by urbanization. To reduce the impact of environmental damage caused by the activities of agriculture, manufacturing, and urbanization sectors, it is recommended that the government conduct water-efficient rice cultivation and increase the use of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With sustained economic growth, environmental pollution in China has become increasingly serious and displays certain regional differences. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of economic growth, energy consumption, and environmental pollution in China and understand the dynamic pollution mechanisms for the implementation of regional collaborative governance. Based on the theory of the environmental Kuznets curve, this paper uses panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2008 to 2018 and applies a spatial analysis model to study the correlation among economic growth, energy consumption, and the spatial distribution of environmental pollution. A spatial measurement method is adopted to study the spatial effects of economic growth and energy consumption on environmental pollution. The results show that economic growth, the energy structure, and industrial pollution in China are spatially correlated and that there are different agglomeration areas in the spatial distribution. In terms of the temporal dimension, the energy consumption effect and technological pollution effect in China led to increased environmental pollution, and changes in the structure effect indirectly improved the environmental situation. In the spatial dimension, the high‐value clusters of the structural, energy consumption, and technological pollution effects are mainly in the central and western regions of China, and the low‐value clusters are mostly in the eastern and northeastern regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and output growth among African OPEC countries (Libya, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon) using the panel autoregressive distributed lag model (PARDL) estimated by means of mean group (MG) and pooled mean group (PMG) for the period 1970–2016. The paper estimated three panel models comprising the components of greenhouse gasses which includes nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane and examined their relationship with economic growth and energy consumption. The findings of the study showed evidence of a positive impact of economic growth on both CO2 and methane emissions in the long run. Its impact on nitrous oxide emissions although positive was found to be statistically insignificant. Energy consumption was also found to produce an insignificant positive impact on CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions in the long run. In the short run, economic growth exerts a significant positive effect on methane emissions; however, its effect on CO2 and nitrous oxide emissions although positive was found to be statistically insignificant. Energy consumption produces an insignificant impact on all components of greenhouse gasses in the short run. In addition, our empirical results showed the presence of a non-linear relationship between methane emissions and economic growth, confirming the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) only in the case of methane emissions model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy plays an important role in reducing global carbon (CO 2) emission. This paper builds a RER (renewable energy consumption rate) index to represent the energy structure of a country and proposes a U-shaped RKC (renewable energy Kuznets Curve) hypothesis between RER and economic growth. We also examine the dynamic relationship between RER and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis using two panel data sets of 17 major developing and developed countries as well as six geo-economic regions of the world during 1990–2014. Panel co-integration tests indicate that a long-run relationship exists among economic growth, RER and carbon emission. We employ the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) techniques to estimate the co-integration coefficients of the panels and individual countries/regions respectively. The results verify both the EKC and RKC hypotheses, indicating that a 10% rise in RER would to a 1.6% carbon emission reduction. It is also found that the RKC turning points of individual countries and the entire samples in general take place before the turning points of the respective EKCs. It suggests that promoting renewable energy consumption to make RKC cross its turning point earlier can accelerate EKC to reach its turning point more quickly. This finding has important policy implications with respect to the development and utilization of renewable energy and environmental protection. The dynamic relationship between EKC and RKC. Image 1 • We examined the relationship between renewable energy and GDP. • A U-shaped curve exists between GDP and renewable energy consumption. • The turning points of RKCs take place earlier than that of the EKCs. • Promoting RKC arrive its turning point in advance can accelerate EKC to reach its turning point more quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the validity of the EKC (environmental Kuznets curve) hypothesis for the 50 US states and a Federal District (Washington, D.C.). To this aim, the common correlated effects (CCE) and the augmented mean group (AMG) estimation procedures are applied between 1980 and 2015. While the CCE estimation does not support EKC hypothesis, the AMG does. The empirical findings of the AMG estimation indicate that only 14 states verify the EKC hypothesis. Additionally, the expected negative impacts of fossil energy consumption on the environment (CO2 emissions) are strongly detected in all states except Texas. However, the expected positive impacts of renewable energy consumption on the CO2 emissions are detected only in 13 states. Furthermore, the expected negative impacts of the population are not detected in some mostly populated states like New York, Texas, and Ohio. The overall findings of this study may help the US state-level policy makers in two ways: first, to understand whether their economic growths are sustainable (eco-friendly); second, to see how their fossil and renewable energy consumptions affect their environments and to review their energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to test the EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) hypothesis for the ten states, having the highest levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the USA, through the independent variables of real GDP, population, and renewable energy and fossil energy consumptions. To this aim, the panel estimation method with cross-sectional dependence is applied to data from 1980 to 2015. The empirical findings of the study indicate that the EKC (inverted U-shaped) hypothesis is valid only for Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Ohio. Interestingly, the negative impacts of fossil energy consumption on CO2 emission levels in Texas are not detected statistically although this state is the leading oil-producing state. Furthermore, the positive impacts of renewable energy consumption in Florida, officially known as "Sunshine State", are considerably low when compared with the other states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Based on a sample of 1974–2016 annual data of Vietnam, we show that the EKC does not exist in the short run but only in the long run. However, the N-shape describes better the long-run income-pollution relationship. This implies that Vietnam can expect a temporary reduction in CO 2 emissions at a given stage of economic growth. However, this will be followed by a further increase of CO 2 emissions after reaching another income turning point. The Vietnamese government should thus focus on long-term economic and environmental strategies. A robustness check shows that these results are not impacted by the variables' selection. Highlights • The long-run relationship between CO 2 emissions and growth follows an N- curve. • The EKC is not able to show the risk of rising CO 2 emissions at later stages. • Energy consumption, industry, agriculture, urbanization, FDI impact CO 2 emissions. • Government size and trade openness also impact CO 2 emissions. • Future research should consider the N-shaped relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption growth and greenhouse effect deterioration have caused an argument about who should lead the global climate change duty between industrialized and emerging countries. This study investigates the resource efficiency differences between nations in the Group of Seven (G7) and in an association of 5 major emerging economic bodies, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). This study applies the data envelopment analysis approach to finding the BRICS group's advantages and pointing out what the G7 group should pay attention to in the future. The conclusion shows that the BRICS group has better technical efficiency improvement than the G7 group, and that the BRICS group is moving toward high energy efficiency. Findings show that the G7 suffers from technical deterioration, with some G7 members also presenting the phenomenon of high emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main contribution of this study is to test the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis at individual country analysis by the significance of renewable energy and non-renewable energy consumption in the context of Pakistan. A series of econometric techniques is used for the period of 1970–2012. The findings provide strong support for the presence of the EKC in the case of Pakistan. The results show that renewable energy plays a dominant role in reducing carbon dioxide emission and non-renewable energy consumption indeed the main culprit for promoting carbon dioxide emission. It is also observed that bi-directional causality exists not only between renewable energy consumption and CO 2 emission but also non-renewable energy consumption and CO 2 emission granger cause each other. Sensitivity analysis is performed to prove that model of this study is stable and findings of the study are valid and reliable for Policy implication. These findings suggest that Government needs to expand investment in renewable energy projects that might contribute to the efforts of climate mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, environmental issues, especially water and air pollution problems have become a major global concern. Air pollution, affects the health of living organisms and natural ecosystems. According to various studies, financial development in a country may attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and higher degrees of research and development (R&D). This, in turn can, increase the environmental performance and thereby reduce environmental pollution. This investigation aims to examine the role of financial development and energy consumption in Iran during 1971-2007, in the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve, using ARDL approach. According to results further financial development in Iran lead to decrease of CO2 emissions. In addition, an increase in energy consumption in Iran is likely to increase CO2 emissions. Also, the results reject the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Iran in the long-term.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the period between 1977 and 2013 by using the sub-elements of carbon (CO) emissions in China. To this end, the fully modified ordinary least squares and pairwise Granger causality methodologies have been employed. As a result, it is found that financial development leads to an improvement in environmental performance in China for many kinds of pollution, including the following: liquid fuel pollution, solid fuel pollution, residential buildings and commercial and public services pollution, and electricity and heat production pollution. The findings indicate that an increase in per capita consumption of energy will lead to an increase in eight different sub-elements of the carbon emissions. The highest impact is for per capita CO emissions and the lowest impact is for liquid fuel CO emissions. The findings also suggest that the EKC hypothesis is valid for CO emissions from gaseous fuel consumption, liquid fuel consumption, solid fuel consumption and transportation. However, the EKC hypothesis is not valid for aggregate CO emissions, CO emissions from residential buildings and commercial and public services, from electricity and heat production and from manufacturing industries and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between CO emissions, real GDP, energy consumption, financial development, trade openness, and urbanization in Tunisia over the period of 1971-2012. The long-run relationship is investigated by the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and error correction method (ECM). The results of the analysis reveal a positive sign for the coefficient of financial development, suggesting that the financial development in Tunisia has taken place at the expense of environmental pollution. The Tunisian case also shows a positive monotonic relationship between real GDP and CO emissions. This means that the results do not support the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. In addition, the paper explores causal relationship between the variables by using Granger causality models and it concludes that financial development plays a vital role in the Tunisian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and its relationship with economic growth, energy consumption and globalization over the period of 1990-2010. We apply a dynamic panel data (GMM-system estimator) using the data of selected 18 countries. This estimator permits to solve the problems of serial correlation, heteroskedasticity and endogeneity for some explanatory variables. The environmental consequences of economic growth are according to environmental Kuznets (EKC) hypothesis. Globalization seems to be a main engine that provides a way to enhance production intensively by utilizing abundant domestic resources efficiently. The energy consumption has positive impact on CO2 emissions. Urbanization improves environmental quality by lowering CO2 emissions, i.e an inverted-U shaped relationship between urbanization and CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is hypothesized to investigate the relationship between CO2 emission, economic growth, energy consumption, trade liberalization and population density in Pakistan with yearly data from 1971 to 2008. The cointegration analysis using Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach is incorporated. The results support the hypothesis both in short-run and long-run and inverted U-shaped relationship is found between CO2 emission and growth. Interestingly we found trade support the environment positively and population contributes to environmental degradation in Pakistan. The energy consumption and growth are the major explanatory variables which contribute to environmental pollution in Pakistan. Moreover, the time series data analysis is used and the stability of variables in estimated model is also assessed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the relationship between absolute energy consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for 113 countries over the period 1971–2004. Energy has been scarcely explored in the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) debate and is taken as the indicator of overall environmental pressure. The following aspects of this work are rather innovative. Firstly, in order to closely adhere to the EKC narratives, the indicator of environmental pressure (energy) is taken in absolute terms rather than per capita. Secondly, we look for consistency both between different econometric techniques (parametric and semi-parametric) and across different analytical levels (world, time series/cross-countries, and single countries). Finally, the dataset is large and not limited to developed countries. In our opinion, the estimates cannot support an energy-EKC hypothesis. For the world as a single unit, the relationship is positive monotone, with a lower (though still positive) elasticity after 1989. A glance at single country level does not reveal evidence of EKC. Cross-country analysis is slightly more open to interpretation; in any case, however, it shows that the potential benefits of GDP growth on natural environment, if any, did not show up in the considered time span. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At least three perspectives—industrial ecology (IE), ecological modernization theory (EMT), and the "environmental Kuznets curve" (EKC)—emphasize the potential for sustainability via refinements in production systems that dramatically reduce the environmental impacts of economic development. Can improvements in efficiency counterbalance environmental impacts stemming from the scale of production? To address this question we analyze cross-national variation in the ecological footprint (EF) per unit of gross domestic product (GDP). The EF is a widely recognized indicator of human pressure on the environment. The EF of a nation is the amount of land area that would be required to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the wastes it generates. The most striking finding of our analyses is that there is limited variation across nations in EF per unit of GDP. This indicates limited plasticity in the levels of EF intensity or eco-efficiency among nations, particularly among affluent nations. EF intensity is lowest (ecoefficiency is highest) in affluent nations, but the level of efficiency in these nations does not appear to be of sufficient magnitude to compensate for their large productive capacities. These results suggest that modernization and economic development will be insufficient, in themselves, to bring about the ecological sustainability of societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is an important tool to analyze the relationship between environment and per capital income. But two significant issues have been overlooked: why some points are above the EKC while others are below it? And what factors caused this phenomenon? Based on the data of 30 provinces in China over 2005–2016, this paper aimed to solve the above two questions. For the first question, we take the point on EKC as the theoretical pollution emission value of the different economic development stages; and use the difference between the theoretical pollution emission and the actual pollution emission under the same per capita income as the pollution emission efficiency. The difference value is used to reflect whether the pollution emission of the corresponding economic development stage of each region exceeds the standard and by how much. The result shows that most of the provinces with low pollution emissions concentrated in the north of the Yangtze River. Great progress has been made in China's pollution reduction work during 2015–2016. Then, for the second question, through the analysis of multiple mediating effects, we find that Environmental regulation, industrial transfer, proportion of output value of heavy pollution industry, energy consumption structure and energy using efficiency are important determinants to the pollution emission efficiency in Chinese province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is aimed to scrutinize the presence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in Saudi Arabia by analyzing a period of 1971–2014. Asymmetrical impacts of Financial Market Development (FMD) and energy consumption per capita have also been tested on CO2 emissions per capita. The estimates buoyed the long and short-run relationships in the hypothesized model, and EKC is found to be true in terms of the relationship between income and pollution. Asymmetrical effects of FMD in the long run and asymmetrical effects of energy consumption per capita in the long and short run are presented on the CO2 emissions per capita. A decreasing FMD is found responsible for environmental degradation, and decreasing energy consumption per capita is found helpful in controlling CO2 emissions. The tested effect of the financial crisis is found insignificant on CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]