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Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions among developing countries: evidence from stochastic and club convergence tests

  • Globalization and Environmental Problems in Developing Countries
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Abstract

This exploratory study extends the literature on the convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions in analyzing stochastic and club convergence within a panel framework for developing countries. The results from Pesaran (Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22(2), 265-312, 2007) and Bai and Carrion-i-Silvestre (Review of Economic Studies, 76(2), 471-501, 2009) panel unit root tests with allowance for cross-sectional dependence confirm stochastic convergence for low-income, lower middle-income, and combined country panels. Further analysis using the nonlinear time-varying factor model of Phillips and Sul (Econometrica, 75(6), 1771-1855, 2007; Journal of Applied Econometrics, 24(7), 1153-1185, 2009) to test for convergence reveals the emergence of multiple convergence clubs within each of the three country panels examined. We observe geographic proximity among many of the countries within the respective convergence clubs.

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Notes

  1. See Zhou and Wang (2016) for a review of carbon dioxide emissions allocation approaches.

  2. In addition, the convergence of per capita emissions is also a key assumption inherent in climate change models, and projecting future emissions (Apergis and Payne 2017).

  3. While we focus our attention on per capita carbon dioxide emissions, a number of studies have investigated other types of emissions. In the case of sulfur dioxide and/or nitrogen oxide emissions, see List (1999), Lee and List (2004), Bulte et al. (2007), Ordas Criado et al. (2011), Payne et al. (2014), Hao et al. (2015a, b), Liu et al. (2018), and Solarin and Tiwari (2020); greenhouse gas emissions, see El-Montasser et al. (2015) and de Oliveira and Bourscheidt (2017); ecological footprint, see Biligili and Ulucak (2018), Ulucak and Apergis (2018), Solarin (2019), Ulucak et al. (2020), and Yilanci and Pata (2020); and for protected areas in the measurement of environmental quality, see Bimonte (2009).

  4. In addition to country-wide studies, several studies have examined the convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions at the sub-national level, for the USA, see Aldy 2007; Burnett 2016; and Apergis and Payne 2017; and for China, see Huang and Meng 2013;Wang and Zhang 2014; Wu et al. 2016; and Yu et al. 2019.

  5. Ezcurra (2007b), Li et al. (2014), and Tiwari and Mishra (2017) investigate the convergence of the level of carbon dioxide emissions. Camarero et al. (2008) and Camarero et al. (2013b) explore the convergence of environmental performance indicators and eco-efficiency indicators, respectively. Camarero et al. (2013a), Moutinho et al. (2014), Wang et al. (2014), Brannlund et al. (2015), Hao et al. (2015a, b), Zhao et al. (2015), Apergis et al. (2017), Kounetas (2018), Yu et al. (2018), Apergis and Payne (2020), and Apergis et al. (2020) examine the convergence of carbon dioxide emissions intensity.

  6. As pointed out by Quah (1993) along with Evans (1996) and Evans and Karras (1996), cross-sectional β-convergence does not consider the possibility of multiple steady states.

  7. The time period is selected in order to include as many countries as possible in the analysis.

  8. Set r = 0.3.

  9. α defined as \( \hat{b}/2. \)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA

    James E. Payne

  2. Division of Economics and Finance, School of Business, Law and Social Sciences, University of Derby, Kedleston Road Campus, Derby, DE22 1GB, UK

    Nicholas Apergis

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Appendix A

Appendix A

Low-income countries (27)

Afghanistan

Malawi

Benin

Mali

Burkina Faso

Mozambique

Burundi

Nepal

Central African Republic

Niger

Chad

Rwanda

Democratic Republic of Congo

Sierra Leone

Ethiopia

Somalia

Gambia

Syrian Arab Republic

Guinea

Tanzania

Guinea-Bissau

Togo

Haiti

Uganda

Liberia

Yemen

Madagascar

Lower middle-income countries (38):

Angola

Kiribati

Bangladesh

Laos

Bhutan

Mauritania

Bolivia

Mongolia

Cabo Verde

Morocco

Cambodia

Myanmar

Cameroon

Nicaragua

Comoros

Nigeria

Republic of Congo

Pakistan

Cote d’Ivoire

Papua New Guinea

Djibouti

Philippines

Egypt

Sao Tome and Principe

El Salvador

Senegal

Eswatini

Solomon Islands

Ghana

Tunisia

Honduras

Vanuatu

India

Vietnam

Indonesia

Zambia

Kenya

Zimbabwe

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Payne, J.E., Apergis, N. Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions among developing countries: evidence from stochastic and club convergence tests. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 33751–33763 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09506-5

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