Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for carbon and ecological footprints in South Asia: the role of renewable energy

  • Published:
GeoJournal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mitigation of environmental deterioration along the economic growth stream has become a critically important policy agenda among governments across the globe. Thus, the contemporary growth policies are ought to be aligned with the environmental sustainability targets as well. Against this backdrop, this paper aimed to evaluate the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis using carbon and total ecological footprints to quantify environmental quality in the context of five South Asian economies: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Moreover, the EKC hypothesis analysis is precisely focused on the role of promoting renewable energy use for mitigating the environmental adversities in South Asia. Using annual data from 1995 to 2015 and controlling for cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity issues, the results confirmed the validity of the EKC hypothesis for the panel of the selected South Asian nations. Besides, enhancing the levels of renewable energy consumption and renewable electricity outputs were found to be pertinent in diminishing the carbon and ecological footprints. Moreover, the country-specific analysis led to statistical validation of the EKC hypothesis for Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka but not for Pakistan. However, enhancing the overall use of renewable energy was unanimously associated with environmental betterment in all five South Asian nations. Hence, the results implicate that economic growth is both the short-run cause and the long-run solution to the environmental adversities within South Asia. Besides, augmenting renewable energy into the national energy-mixes is ideal for safeguarding environmental well-being in South Asia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The selection of the countries was based on data availability which resulted in the exclusion of Afghanistan, Maldives and Bhutan from the analysis.

  2. For more information on the features of EFP see Ulucak and Bilgili (2018).

References

  • Acaravci, A., & Ozturk, I. (2010). On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe. Energy, 35(12), 5412–5420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adedoyin, F. F., Alola, A. A., & Bekun, F. V. (2020). An assessment of environmental sustainability corridor: The role of economic expansion and research and development in EU countries. Science of the Total Environment, 713, 136726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, Z., & Wang, Z. (2019). Investigating the impact of human capital on the ecological footprint in India: An empirical analysis. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(26), 26782–26796.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akram, R., Chen, F., Khalid, F., Ye, Z., & Majeed, M. T. (2020). Heterogeneous effects of energy efficiency and renewable energy on carbon emissions: Evidence from developing countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247, 119122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali, M. U., Gong, Z., Ali, M. U., Wu, X., & Yao, C. (2020). Fossil energy consumption, economic development, inward FDI impact on CO2 emissions in Pakistan: Testing EKC hypothesis through ARDL model. International Journal of Finance & Economics. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.1958.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali, S., Anwar, S., & Nasreen, S. (2017). Renewable and non-renewable energy and its impact on environmental quality in South Asian countries. Forman Journal of Economic Studies, 13, 177–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allard, A., Takman, J., Uddin, G. S., & Ahmed, A. (2018). The N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve: An empirical evaluation using a panel quantile regression approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(6), 5848–5861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Mulali, U., Ozturk, I., & Solarin, S. A. (2016). Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in seven regions: The role of renewable energy. Ecological Indicators, 67, 267–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.02.059.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Mulali, U., Weng-Wai, C., Sheau-Ting, L., & Mohammed, A. H. (2015). Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by utilizing the ecological footprint as an indicator of environmental degradation. Ecological Indicators, 48, 315–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.08.029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alola, A. A., Bekun, F. V., & Sarkodie, S. A. (2019). Dynamic impact of trade policy, economic growth, fertility rate, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on ecological footprint in Europe. Science of the Total Environment, 685, 702–709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altıntaş, H., & Kassouri, Y. (2020). Is the environmental Kuznets Curve in Europe related to the per-capita ecological footprint or CO2 emissions? Ecological Indicators, 113, 106187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ansari, M. A., Haider, S., & Khan, N. A. (2020). Environmental Kuznets curve revisited: An analysis using ecological and material footprint. Ecological Indicators, 115, 106416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apergis, N., & Ozturk, I. (2015). Testing environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Asian countries. Ecological Indicators, 52, 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.11.026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aqeel, A., & Butt, M. S. (2001). The relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Pakistan. Asia-Pacific Development Journal, 8(2), 101–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arouri, M. E. H., Youssef, A. B., M’henni, H., & Rault, C. (2012). Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries. Energy Policy, 45, 342–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asadullah, M. N., Savoia, A., & Sen, K. (2020). Will South Asia achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030? Learning from the MDGs experience. Social Indicators Research, 152(1), 165–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aydin, C., Esen, Ö., & Aydin, R. (2019). Is the ecological footprint related to the Kuznets curve a real process or rationalizing the ecological consequences of the affluence? Evidence from PSTR approach. Ecological Indicators, 98, 543–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aydin, M., & Turan, Y. E. (2020). The influence of financial openness, trade openness, and energy intensity on ecological footprint: Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for BRICS countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(34), 43233–43245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aziz, N., Sharif, A., Raza, A., & Jermsittiparsert, K. (2020). The role of natural resources, globalization, and renewable energy in testing the EKC hypothesis in MINT countries: New evidence from method of moments quantile regression approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11540-2

  • Bagliani, M., Bravo, G., & Dalmazzone, S. (2008). A consumption-based approach to environmental Kuznets curves using the ecological footprint indicator. Ecological Economics, 65(3), 650–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bai, J., Kao, C., & Ng, S. (2009). Panel cointegration with global stochastic trends. Journal of Econometrics, 149(1), 82–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baloch, M. A., Zhang, J., Iqbal, K., & Iqbal, Z. (2019). The effect of financial development on ecological footprint in BRI countries: Evidence from panel data estimation. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(6), 6199–6208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balsalobre-Lorente, D., Shahbaz, M., Roubaud, D., & Farhani, S. (2018). How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions? Energy Policy, 113, 356–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee, S., & Murshed, M. (2020). Do emissions implied in net export validate the pollution haven conjecture? Analysis of G7 and BRICS countries. International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 12(3), 297–319. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSE.2020.10033008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belaid, F., & Youssef, M. (2017). Environmental degradation, renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption, and economic growth: Assessing the evidence from Algeria. Energy Policy, 102, 277–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bello, M. O., Solarin, S. A., & Yen, Y. Y. (2018). The impact of electricity consumption on CO2 emission, carbon footprint, water footprint and ecological footprint: the role of hydropower in an emerging economy. Journal of Environmental Management, 219, 218–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benavides, M., Ovalle, K., Torres, C., & Vinces, T. (2017). Economic growth, renewable energy and methane emissions: Is there an Enviromental Kuznets curve in Austria? International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 7(1), 259–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bento, J. P. C., & Moutinho, V. (2016). CO2 emissions, non-renewable and renewable electricity production, economic growth, and international trade in Italy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 55, 142–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bibi, F., & Jamil, M. (2020). Testing environment Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in different regions. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1–14.

  • Bölük, G., & Mert, M. (2014). Fossil & renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries. Energy, 74, 439–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, S., & Eberhardt, M. (2013). Accounting for unobserved heterogeneity in panel time series models. Oxford: University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boutaud, A., Gondran, N., & Brodhag, C. (2006). (Local) environmental quality versus (global) ecological carrying capacity: What might alternative aggregated indicators bring to the debates about environmental Kuznets curves and sustainable development? International Journal of Sustainable Development, 9(3), 297–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breusch, T. S., & Pagan, A. R. (1980). The Lagrange multiplier test and its applications to model specification in econometrics. The Review of Economic Studies, 47(1), 239–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • British Petroleum. (2019). Statistical review of world energy 2019.

  • Brock, W. A., & Taylor, M. S. (2005). Economic growth and the environment: A review of theory and empirics. In Handbook of economic growth (Vol. 1, pp. 1749–1821). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0684(05)01028-2.

  • Caviglia-Harris, J. L., Chambers, D., & Kahn, J. R. (2009). Taking the “U” out of Kuznets: A comprehensive analysis of the EKC and environmental degradation. Ecological Economics, 68(4), 1149–1159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charfeddine, L., & Mrabet, Z. (2017). The impact of economic development and social-political factors on ecological footprint: A panel data analysis for 15 MENA countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 76, 138–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y., Wang, Z., & Zhong, Z. (2019). CO2 emissions, economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy production and foreign trade in China. Renewable Energy, 131, 208–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho, C. H., Chu, Y. P., & Yang, H. Y. (2014). An environment Kuznets curve for GHG emissions: A panel cointegration analysis. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning and Policy, 9(2), 120–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chudik, A., & Pesaran, M. H. (2013). Large panel data models with cross-sectional dependence: A survey. CAFE research paper (13.15).

  • Costanza, R. (2000). The dynamics of the ecological footprint concept. Ecological Economics, 32(3), 341–345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damette, O., & Marques, A. C. (2019). Renewable energy drivers: A panel cointegration approach. Applied Economics, 51(26), 2793–2806.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danish, Ulucak, R., & Khan, S. U. D. (2020). Determinants of the ecological footprint: Role of renewable energy, natural resources, and urbanization. Sustainable Cities and Society, 54, 101996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Destek, M. A., & Sarkodie, S. A. (2019). Investigation of environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint: the role of energy and financial development. Science of the Total Environment, 650, 2483–2489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Destek, M. A., & Sinha, A. (2020). Renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: Evidence from organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242, 118537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Destek, M. A., Ulucak, R., & Dogan, E. (2018). Analyzing the environmental Kuznets curve for the EU countries: The role of ecological footprint. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(29), 29387–29396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dinda, S. (2004). Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: A survey. Ecological Economics, 49(4), 431–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dogan, E., & Turkekul, B. (2016). CO2 emissions, real output, energy consumption, trade, urbanization and financial development: Testing the EKC hypothesis for the USA. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(2), 1203–1213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dogan, E., Ulucak, R., Kocak, E., & Isik, C. (2020). The use of ecological footprint in estimating the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for BRICST by considering cross-section dependence and heterogeneity. Science of the Total Environment, 723, 138063.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EEA. (2014). Progress towards 2008–2012 Kyoto targets in Europe. European Environment Agency. Retrieved from https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/progress-towards-2008-2012-kyoto. Accessed on 30th June 2020.

  • Ertugrul, H. M., Cetin, M., Seker, F., & Dogan, E. (2016). The impact of trade openness on global carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from the top ten emitters among developing countries. Ecological Indicators, 67, 543–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fakher, H. A. (2019). Investigating the determinant factors of environmental quality (based on ecological carbon footprint index). Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(10), 10276–10291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farhani, S., & Shahbaz, M. (2014). What role of renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption and output is needed to initially mitigate CO2 emissions in MENA region? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40, 80–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fatima, T., Shahzad, U., & Cui, L. (2020). Renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, trade and CO2 emissions in high emitter countries: Does the income level matter? Journal of Environmental Planning and Management,. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2020.1816532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gielen, D., Boshell, F., Saygin, D., Bazilian, M. D., Wagner, N., & Gorini, R. (2019). The role of renewable energy in the global energy transformation. Energy Strategy Reviews, 24, 38–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, A. R., Viswanathan, K. K., & Hassan, S. (2018a). A test of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for carbon emission and potential of renewable energy to reduce green house gases (GHG) in Malaysia. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 20(3), 1103–1114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, A. R., Viswanathan, K. K., & Hassan, S. (2018b). The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the environmental problem of the day. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 1636–1642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Global Footprint Network. (2019). Global footprint network, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019, from https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/.

  • Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1991). Environmental impacts of a North American free trade agreement (No. w3914). National Bureau of Economic Research.

  • Haseeb, A., Xia, E., Baloch, M. A., & Abbas, K. (2018). Financial development, globalization, and CO2 emission in the presence of EKC: Evidence from BRICS countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(31), 31283–31296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan, S. T., Xia, E., Khan, N. H., & Shah, S. M. A. (2019). Economic growth, natural resources, and ecological footprints: Evidence from Pakistan. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(3), 2929–2938.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heidari, H., Katircioğlu, S. T., & Saeidpour, L. (2015). Economic growth, CO2 emissions, and energy consumption in the five ASEAN countries. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, 64, 785–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hervieux, M. S., & Darné, O. (2016). Production and consumption-based approaches for the environmental Kuznets curve using ecological footprint. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 5(3), 318–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ike, G. N., Usman, O., Alola, A. A., & Sarkodie, S. A. (2020). Environmental quality effects of income, energy prices and trade: The role of renewable energy consumption in G-7 countries. Science of the Total Environment, 721, 137813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. (2014). Climate change 2014—Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: Part A: Global and sectoral aspects: Working group II contribution to the IPCC fifth assessment report. Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415379.

  • IQ Air. (2019). 2019 world air quality report: Region & city PM2.5 ranking. Retrieved from https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-cities.

  • Islam, F., Shahbaz, M., & Butt, M. S. (2013). Is there an environmental Kuznets curve for Bangladesh? Evidence from ardl bounds testing approach. The Bangladesh Development Studies, 36(4), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaika, D., & Zervas, E. (2013). The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory—Part A: Concept, causes and the CO2 emissions case. Energy Policy, 62, 1392–1402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, A., Chenggang, Y., Xue Yi, W., Hussain, J., Sicen, L., & Bano, S. (2020). Examining the pollution haven, and environmental Kuznets hypothesis for ecological footprints: An econometric analysis of China, India, and Pakistan. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy. https://doi.org/10.1080/13547860.2020.1761739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, I., Iqbal, J., & Ullah, Z. (2019). Growth-environment nexus: Testing the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for the South Asian Economies. FWU Journal of Social Sciences, 13(1), 155–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kugelman, M. (2015). What the Paris climate conference means for South Asia. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/11/30/what-the-paris-climate-conference-means-for-south-asia/.

  • Kuznets, S. (1955). Economic growth and income inequality. The American Economic Review, 45(1), 1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, H., Kim, H., Liang, S., & Kwon, O. S. (2018). Export diversification and ecological footprint: A comparative study on EKC theory among Korea, Japan, and China. Sustainability, 10(10), 3657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Z.-Z., Li, R. Y. M., Malik, M. Y., Murshed, M., Khan, Z., & Umar, M. (2020). Determinants of carbon emission in China: How good is green investment? Sustainable Production and Consumption. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.11.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallick, L., & Tandi, S. M. (2015). Energy consumption, economic growth, and CO2 emissions in SAARC countries: Does environmental Kuznets curve exist. The Empirical Econometrics and Quantitative Economics Letters, 4(3), 57–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Managi, S., Hibiki, A., & Tsurumi, T. (2009). Does trade openness improve environmental quality? Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 58(3), 346–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, G. W., & Patterson, M. G. (2004). Ecological footprints and interdependencies of New Zealand regions. Ecological Economics, 50(1–2), 49–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mehmood, U., & Tariq, S. (2020). Globalization and CO2 emissions nexus: Evidence from the EKC hypothesis in South Asian countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(29), 37044–37056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mrabet, Z., & Alsamara, M. (2017). Testing the Kuznets Curve hypothesis for Qatar: A comparison between carbon dioxide and ecological footprint. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 1366–1375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mrabet, Z., Alsamara, M., Saleh, A. S., & Anwar, S. (2019). Urbanization and non-renewable energy demand: A comparison of developed and emerging countries. Energy, 170, 832–839.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M. (2018). Does Improvement in Trade Openness Facilitate Renewable Energy Transition? Evidence from Selected South Asian Economies. South Asia Economic Journal, 19(2), 151–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M. (2020a). An empirical analysis of the non-linear impacts of ICT-trade openness on renewable energy transition, energy efficiency, clean cooking fuel access and environmental sustainability in South Asia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(29), 36254–36281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M. (2020b). LPG consumption and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in South Asia: A time-series ARDL analysis with multiple structural breaks. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10701-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., Abbass, K., & Rashid, S. (2020a). Modelling renewable energy adoption across south Asian economies: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. International Journal of Finance & Economics. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2073.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., Alam, R., & Ansarin, A. (2020e). The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Bangladesh: The importance of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and hydropower consumption. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11976-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., Ali, S. R., & Banerjee, S. (2020b). Consumption of liquefied petroleum gas and the EKC hypothesis in South Asia: Evidence from cross-sectionally dependent heterogeneous panel data with structural breaks. Energy, Ecology and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-020-00185-z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., Chadni, M. H., & Ferdaus, J. (2020c). Does ICT trade facilitate renewable energy transition and environmental sustainability? Evidence from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives. Energy, Ecology and Environment, 5(6), 470–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., & Dao, N. T. T. (2020). Revisiting the CO2 emission-induced EKC hypothesis in South Asia: The role of export quality improvement. GeoJournal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10270-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., Mahmood, H., Alkhateeb, T. T. Y., & Banerjee, S. (2020d). Calibrating the impacts of regional trade integration and renewable energy transition on the sustainability of international inbound tourism demand in South Asia. Sustainability, 12(20), 8341. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murshed, M., Mahmood, H., Alkhateeb, T. T. Y., & Bassim, M. (2020f). The Impacts of Energy Consumption, Energy Prices and Energy Import-Dependency on Gross and Sectoral Value-Added in Sri Lanka. Energies, 13(24), 6565. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13246565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narayan, P. K., & Narayan, S. (2010). Carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth: Panel data evidence from developing countries. Energy Policy, 38(1), 661–666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel, S., & Khan, S. A. R. (2020). The nexus between urbanization, renewable energy, trade, and ecological footprint in ASEAN countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 272, 122709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel, S. P. (2020). Ecological footprint, energy use, trade, and urbanization linkage in Indonesia. GeoJournal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10175-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel, S. P., Murshed, M., & Bassim, M. (2021). The nexus between economic growth, energy use, international trade and ecological footprints: the role of environmental regulations in N11 countries. Energy. Ecology & Environment.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-020-00205-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel, S., Nwodo, O., Adediran, A., Sharma, G., Shah, M., & Adeleye, N. (2019). Ecological footprint, urbanization, and energy consumption in South Africa: including the excluded. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(26), 27168–27179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel, S. P., Yalçiner, K., & Bekun, F. V. (2020). Assessing the environmental sustainability corridor: Linking natural resources, renewable energy, human capital, and ecological footprint in BRICS. Resources Policy, 101924.

  • Olale, E., Ochuodho, T. O., Lantz, V., & El Armali, J. (2018). The environmental Kuznets curve model for greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184, 859–868.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozatac, N., Gokmenoglu, K. K., & Taspinar, N. (2017). Testing the EKC hypothesis by considering trade openness, urbanization, and financial development: The case of Turkey. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 24(20), 16690–16701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozcan, B., Apergis, N., & Shahbaz, M. (2018). A revisit of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Turkey: New evidence from bootstrap rolling window causality. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(32), 32381–32394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozturk, I., Al-Mulali, U., & Saboori, B. (2016). Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: The role of tourism and ecological footprint. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(2), 1916–1928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pao, H. T., & Tsai, C. M. (2010). CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in BRIC countries. Energy Policy, 38(12), 7850–7860.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pata, U. K. (2018). Renewable energy consumption, urbanization, financial development, income and CO2 emissions in Turkey: Testing EKC hypothesis with structural breaks. Journal of Cleaner Production, 187, 770–779.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pata, U. K., & Aydin, M. (2020). Testing the EKC hypothesis for the top six hydropower energy-consuming countries: Evidence from Fourier Bootstrap ARDL procedure. Journal of Cleaner Production, 264, 121699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedroni, P. (1999). Critical values for cointegration tests in heterogeneous panels with multiple regressors. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 61(S1), 653–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran, M. H. (2004). General diagnostic tests for cross section dependence in panels. Cambridge working paper in economics no. 0435.

  • Pesaran, M. H. (2006). Estimation and inference in large heterogeneous panels with a multifactor error structure. Econometrica, 74(4), 967–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran, M. H. (2007). A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22(2), 265–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran, M. H., & Smith, R. (1995). Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels. Journal of Econometrics, 68(1), 79–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran, M. H., & Yamagata, T. (2008). Testing slope homogeneity in large panels. Journal of Econometrics, 142(1), 50–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, P. C., & Hansen, B. E. (1990). Statistical inference in instrumental variables regression with I (1) processes. The Review of Economic Studies, 57(1), 99–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poumanyvong, P., & Kaneko, S. (2010). Does urbanization lead to less energy use and lower CO2 emissions? A cross-country analysis. Ecological Economics, 70(2), 434–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rabbi, F., Akbar, D., & Kabir, S. Z. (2015). Environment Kuznets curve for carbon emissions: A cointegration analysis for Bangladesh. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 5(1), 45–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, M. M., & Velayutham, E. (2020). Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption-economic growth nexus: New evidence from South Asia. Renewable Energy, 147, 399–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramachandra, T. V., & Aithal, B. H. (2016). Bengaluru’s reality: Towards unlivable status with unplanned urban trajectory. Current Science, 110(12), 2207–2208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees, W. E. (1992). Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: What urban economics leaves out. Environment and Urbanization, 4(2), 121–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman, F. U., Nasir, M., & Kanwal, F. (2012). Nexus between corruption and regional Environmental Kuznets Curve: The case of South Asian countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 14(5), 827–841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabir, S., & Gorus, M. S. (2019). The impact of globalization on ecological footprint: Empirical evidence from the South Asian countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(32), 33387–33398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabir, S., Qayyum, U., & Majeed, T. (2020). FDI and environmental degradation: The role of political institutions in South Asian countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadorsky, P. (2009). Renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and oil prices in the G7 countries. Energy Economics, 31(3), 456–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saidi, K., & Omri, A. (2020). Reducing CO2 emissions in OECD countries: Do renewable and nuclear energy matter? Progress in Nuclear Energy, 126, 103425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarkodie, S. A., & Strezov, V. (2019). A review on environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis using bibliometric and meta-analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 649, 128–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sebri, M., & Ben-Salha, O. (2014). On the causal dynamics between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and trade openness: Fresh evidence from BRICS countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 39, 14–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seker, F., Ertugrul, H. M., & Cetin, M. (2015). The impact of foreign direct investment on environmental quality: A bounds testing and causality analysis for Turkey. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 52, 347–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shafiei, S., & Salim, R. A. (2014). Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis. Energy Policy, 66, 547–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbaz, M., Mallick, H., Mahalik, M. K., & Loganathan, N. (2015). Does globalization impede environmental quality in India? Ecological Indicators, 52, 379–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbaz, M., Sharma, R., Sinha, A., & Jiao, Z. (2020). Analyzing nonlinear impact of economic growth drivers on CO2 emissions: Designing an SDG framework for India. Energy Policy, 148, 111965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharif, A., Baris-Tuzemen, O., Uzuner, G., Ozturk, I., & Sinha, A. (2020). Revisiting the role of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on Turkey’s ecological footprint: Evidence from Quantile ARDL approach. Sustainable Cities and Society, 57, 102138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, S., Kishan, R., & Doig, A. (2014). Low-carbon development in South Asia: Leapfrogging to a green future. Climate Action Network-South Asia. Retrieved from https://in.boell.org/sites/default/files/low-carbon_south_asia_report.pdf. Accessed on 30th June 2020.

  • Sharma, R., Sinha, A., & Kautish, P. (2020). Examining the impacts of economic and demographic aspects on the ecological footprint in South and Southeast Asian countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(29), 36970–36982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva, S., Soares, I., & Pinho, C. (2012). The impact of renewable energy sources on economic growth and CO2 emissions-a SVAR approach. European Research Studies, 15, 133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, A., & Sengupta, T. (2019). Impact of energy mix on nitrous oxide emissions: An environmental Kuznets curve approach for APEC countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(3), 2613–2622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, A., & Shahbaz, M. (2018). Estimation of environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 emission: Role of renewable energy generation in India. Renewable Energy, 119, 703–711.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugiawan, Y., & Managi, S. (2016). The environmental Kuznets curve in Indonesia: Exploring the potential of renewable energy. Energy Policy, 98, 187–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiwari, A. K., Shahbaz, M., & Hye, Q. M. A. (2013). The environmental Kuznets curve and the role of coal consumption in India: Cointegration and causality analysis in an open economy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 18, 519–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsurumi, T., & Managi, S. (2010). Decomposition of the environmental Kuznets curve: Scale, technique, and composition effects. Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 11(1–4), 19–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uddin, M. G. S., Bidisha, S. H., & Ozturk, I. (2016). Carbon emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth relationship in Sri Lanka. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning and Policy, 11(3), 282–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulucak, R., & Bilgili, F. (2018). A reinvestigation of EKC model by ecological footprint measurement for high, middle and low income countries. Journal of cleaner production, 188, 144–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNDP. (2015). Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy. The United Nations Development Program. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-7-affordable-and-clean-energy.html. Accessoed on 30th June 2020

  • Wackernagel, M., Monfreda, C., Schulz, N. B., Erb, K. H., Haberl, H., & Krausmann, F. (2004). Calculating national and global ecological footprint time series: Resolving conceptual challenges. Land Use Policy, 21(3), 271–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel, M., & Rees, W. (1998). Our ecological footprint: Reducing human impact on the earth (Vol. 9). Gabriola: New Society Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S., Li, Q., Fang, C., & Zhou, C. (2016b). The relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from China. Science of the Total Environment, 542, 360–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y., Han, R., & Kubota, J. (2016a). Is there an environmental Kuznets curve for SO2 emissions? A semi-parametric panel data analysis for China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 54, 1182–1188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westerlund, J. (2007). Testing for error correction in panel data. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 69(6), 709–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2016). High and dry: Climate change, water, and the economy. Washington, DC: World Bank. License: Creative commons attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO.

  • World Bank. (2019). World development indicators. Washington: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao, S., Zhang, S., & Zhang, X. (2019). Renewable energy, carbon emission and economic growth: A revised environmental Kuznets Curve perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production, 235, 1338–1352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yilanci, V., & Pata, U. K. (2020). Investigating the EKC hypothesis for China: The role of economic complexity on ecological footprint. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09434-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zafar, M. W., Mirza, F. M., Zaidi, S. A. H., & Hou, F. (2019). The nexus of renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, trade openness, and CO2 emissions in the framework of EKC: Evidence from emerging economies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(15), 15162–15173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zakaria, M., & Bibi, S. (2019). Financial development and environment in South Asia: The role of institutional quality. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(8), 7926–7937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, B., Wang, B., & Wang, Z. (2017). Role of renewable energy and non-renewable energy consumption on EKC: Evidence from Pakistan. Journal of Cleaner Production, 156, 855–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, S. (2019). Environmental Kuznets curve revisit in Central Asia: The roles of urbanization and renewable energy. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(23), 23386–23398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zoundi, Z. (2017). CO2 emissions, renewable energy and the Environmental Kuznets Curve, a panel cointegration approach. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 72, 1067–1075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Economics, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Muntasir Murshed

  2. Institute for Region and Urban-Rural Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei Province, China

    Mohammad Haseeb

  3. Department of Finance and Economics, College of Commerce and Business Administration, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman

    Md. Shabbir Alam

Authors
  1. Muntasir Murshed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohammad Haseeb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Md. Shabbir Alam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muntasir Murshed.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declared that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Murshed, M., Haseeb, M. & Alam, M.S. The Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for carbon and ecological footprints in South Asia: the role of renewable energy. GeoJournal 87, 2345–2372 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10370-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10370-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation