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Achieving environmental sustainability has become a global concern amidst increasing climate change threat. Using quarterly frequency data for the case of Russia from 1992 to 2018, the present study explores the interaction between disaggregated energy consumption (renewable energy and non-renewable energy), trade flow and economic growth on a broader measure for environmental degradation (ecological footprint). The choice of the variables draws strength from initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG, 7, 8 11 and 13) for responsible energy consumption and clean energy consumption while mitigating climate change issues. The study applied the quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) and nonparametric causality-in-quantiles to capture these associations. The outcomes from the QQR disclosed that in the majority of the quantiles, trade openness and renewable energy use contribute to environmental sustainability, while nonrenewable energy amplifies ecological footprint. Furthermore, growth in Russia escalates its ecological footprint. Moreover, in the majority of the quantiles, all the exogenous variables can predict ecological footprint. Given the outcomes of this study, it outlines the need for a paradigm shift for alternative and clean energy consumption in Russian energy mix amidst its economic growth trajectory while accounting for green-development approaches. Pathways to fully achieve the sustainability targets are carefully outlined in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the increasing aging population (AP) and global interconnectedness in the Mediterranean bloc comes climate change issues faced by the Mediterranean region in its trajectory to energy security and sustainable development. To meet the continuous energy consumption demand while cutting down natural resources extraction and exploitation with a view to minimizing environmental impacts, the policy structure in these countries may require readjustment, which is the motivation for the present study. This study advances a strategic framework for investigating the impact of natural resources rent as well as aging reliance on carbon emissions in the Mediterranean region for the annual frequency data from 1990–2016. Using quantile regression to analyze the highlighted variables, empirical results shows that both income and natural resources rent have an inverted U-Shaped connection with CO2 emission, which affirms the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Subsequently, globalization and energy use show a positive relationship with emissions while AP is negatively correlated with emissions. Depending on the outcomes of this analysis, a multi-stage Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework has been developed and SDG- 7, SDG -13 as well as SDG-8 were examined in this context. While these three SDGs are the main targets of the study, the SDG System has also provided a way to test other SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In accordance with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Kyoto protocol and the United Nations Sustainable development goals (UNSDGs) on climate action (SDG-13), there has been a need across economies for transition from fossil-fuel-based energy sources such as coal energy consumption to cleaner energy options i.e., a transition to a low-carbon economy. To this end, the present study explores the asymmetric relationship between coal energy consumption, economic growth, rising urban population and emission level in South Africa. The present study span is conducted on an annual frequency basis from 1965-2018. This study applies the novel Non-linear Autoregressive distributed lag methodology (NARDL) for the highlighted variables. Empirical results validate the asymmetric relationship between the variables under review over the study period. The NARDL regression further shows positive shock by GDP increases CO2 emission level while negative impact affects otherwise in the long run. On the other hand, coal consumption positive shock exhibits a detrimental impact on environmental quality in South Africa. This is insightful for policymakers. The urban population shows non-significant effect on emission levels over the sampled period. The knowledge of both positive and negative shock effects of GDP, coal energy consumption and urban growth is vital for policy construction in terms of both economic and environmental sustainability. Thus, policy prescription ranges from energy transition to alternative and cleaner energy sources like renewables and responsible energy consumption (SDG-12) should be pursued in South Africa. More far-reaching environmental policies are highlighted in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has two striking impacts on the economy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. First, the economic contraction of business and economic activities. Second, the effect of oil prices dropping as energy demand decreases in the international market. This study seeks to underpin the linkage between GDP growth, oil price, foreign direct investment (FDI), air transport, social globalization and carbon dioxide emission by applying time-series econometrics techniques of the following: fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares and canonical tests. The results of the Johansen cointegration test and empirical analysis trace a long-run equilibrium relationship between the highlighted variables. Our study shows that a 1% increase in FDI attraction increases economic growth by 0.004%; similarly, air transport and oil rent from KSA increased economic growth by 0.547% and 0.005%, respectively. These outcomes are indicative of the GDP growth ambition of the KSA economy in order to intensify FDI attraction and the air transportation sector. However, we also observe that increases in CO2 emission increase GDP growth. Thus, this suggests that the economic growth in KSA is not green, indicating the need for green economic growth pursuit targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]