An Analysis of the Impact of Clean and Non-clean Energy Consumption on Economic Growth and Carbon Emission: Evidence from PIMC Countries

This study empirically estimates the impact of clean and non-clean energy consumption on economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypothesis in the case of PIMC countries from 1980 to 2019. The results of the panel cointegration test proposed by Westerlund (2007) show a long-term equilibrium relationship among the variables of each designated model. The long-term elasticities of economic growth and carbon emission estimated by AMG, CCEMG and MG estimators indicate that both clean and non-clean energy consumption have a significant impact on economic growth, while carbon emission hinders growth. The results also reveal that economic growth, non-clean energy consumption and interaction between trade openness and non-clean energy consumption have a driving effect on carbon dioxide emission, however, clean energy consumption is found to reduce carbon emission. In addition, the analysis confirms the existence of the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypothesis in the panel of PIMC economies. Finally, there is a one-way causality from non-clean energy consumption to economic growth, but no such causation exists between clean energy consumption and economic growth. The objective of sustained economic growth with a safe environment may be achieved by encouraging clean energy consumption in the PIMC economies.

CO2 Emissions and The Transport Sector in Malaysia

Transport is an essential infrastructure for development. With its high share of gross domestic product (GDP), it makes a significant contribution to total CO2 emissions in Malaysia. It is therefore important to pay greater attention to reducing CO2 emissions and sustainable development in this sector. Therefore, this study aims at estimating the relationship between transport CO2 emissions and its key drivers using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique. The time period covered by the study extends from 1978 to 2018. It further investigates the response of CO2 emissions to shocks in the value of other variables by employing the generalized impulse response approach. The results suggest that urbanization is the major contributor to the increase in CO2 emissions followed by the carbon intensity of energy in the long-run. Carbon intensity of energy, GDP per transport worker and urbanization contribute significantly to increases in transport CO2 emissions in the short- and long-run. Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis recommends that Malaysia continue to be on track to reach the highest level of income and welfare to give pay more attention to the environment. Therefore, the country maintains its CO2 emissions level in the future because of economic development. Therefore, these findings show that energy and environmental policymakers need to pay more attention to improving energy efficiency and the use of low-carbon technologies and electrification in the transport sector and the use of high-quality public transport, particularly in urban areas, for sustainable urban development.

Does the digital finance revolution validate the Environmental Kuznets Curve? Empirical findings from China

In recent years, digital finance has become a crucial part of the financial system and reshaped the mode of green finance in China. Digital finance has brought certain impact on economic growth, industrial structure, and resident income, which may affect pollution. The nexus of digital finance and environment in China is thus worth exploring. By revising the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve model with income inequality variable, this paper decomposes the environmental effects of economic activities into income growth effect, industrial structure effect and income inequality effect, and use panel data of China’s provinces to conduct an empirical analysis. The results reveal the following: (1) the Environmental Kuznets Curve is still valid in sample, and digital finance can reduce air and water pollution (as measured through SO2 and COD emission) directly; (2) in the influence mechanism, digital finance can alleviate income inequality and promote green industrial structure, thus reducing pollution indirectly, but the scale effect of income growth outweighs the technological effect, which increases pollution indirectly; and (3) digital finance has a threshold effect on improving the environment, then an acceleration effect appears after a certain threshold value. From the regional perspective, digital finance development in eastern regions is generally ahead of central and western regions, and the effects of environmental improvement in the eastern regions are greater. According to the study, this paper suggest that digital finance can be an effective way to promote social sustainability by alleviating income inequality and environmental sustainability by reducing pollution.

Assessment on the Applicability of Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis on the Macroeconomic Factors Driving Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Philippines

Since there is a lack of empirical literature in the Philippines that focuses on studying the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis, this study aims to build on succeeding studies testing the validity of the EKC hypothesis in the country. In the current study, we empirically investigate the long-run relationship between the annual Philippine Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions as the proxy variable for Environmental Degradation, Gross Domestic Product per capita, net inflows of Foreign Direct Investment, Renewable Energy per capita, specifically for the period of 1981 - 2019. This paper also observed the Johansen Cointegration results in critically assessing whether the variables were conclusive to test in the long-run measure. For that reason, we investigated the validity of the EKC hypothesis by utilizing the ARDL long bound approach. Thus, our results revealed that a long-run relationship exists, but interestingly, the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis does not exist in the Philippines.