Abstract
Due to various environmental degradation and natural resource depletion around the world, researchers’ and policymakers’ attention has turned to what causes environmental degradation. The pursuit of a healthy environment has become a global challenge, a problem that affects more than one nation. Climate change is causing severe weather conditions in every world, disrupting economies and affecting the lives of many people. Hence, the study analyzes how trade and economic growth impact environmental degradation in Belgium, the USA, and Canada using panel data from 1995 to 2016. The study utilized the autoregressive distributed lag approach to provide new evidence and policy implications. The outcome confirmed the presence of cointegration among the selected variables. However, it was observed that economic growth decreases environmental degradation in the long run while trade openness shows a positively insignificant relationship with carbon emission. Nevertheless, a positive short-run relationship was observed between economic growth and carbon emissions whereas a negatively insignificant relationship was observed for trade and carbon emission. The findings prompted policy implications that more trading could be done between the countries. When countries trade more, their economies will flourish, ensuring global prosperity and minimizing environmental degradation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abid M (2017) Does economic, financial and institutional developments matter for environmental quality? A comparative analysis of EU and MEA countries. J Environ Manag 188:183–194
Adebayo TS (2020) Revisiting the EKC hypothesis in an emerging market: an application of ARDL-based bounds and wavelet coherence approaches. SN Applied Sciences 2(12):1–15
Adebayo TS, Kirikkaleli D (2021) Impact of renewable energy consumption, globalization, and technological innovation on environmental degradation in Japan: application of wavelet tools. Environ Dev Sustain 2(4):23–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01322-2
Adebayo TS, Odugbesan JA (2021) Modeling CO2 emissions in South Africa: empirical evidence from ARDL based bounds and wavelet coherence techniques. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(8):9377–9389
Ahmad NL, Du J, Lu J, Wang, J, Li H.-Z, MZ, Hashmi (2016) “Modelling the CO2 emissions and economic
Aïssa MSB, Jebli MB, Youssef SB (2014) Output, renewable energy consumption and trade in Africa. Energy Policy 66:11–18
Akadırı SS, Alola AA, Usman O (2021) Energy mix outlook and the EKC hypothesis in BRICS countries: a perspective of economic freedom vs. economic growth. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International
Akbostancı E, Türüt-Aşık S, Tunç Gİ (2009) The relationship between income and environment in Turkey: is there an environmental Kuznets curve? Energy Policy 37(3):861–867
Akin CS (2014) The impact of foreign trade, energy consumption and income on CO2 emissions. Int J Energy Econ Policy 4(3):465
Alcalá F, Ciccone A (2004) Trade and productivity. Q J Econ 119(2):613–646
Alola AA, Bekun FV, Sarkodie SA (2019) Dynamic impact of trade policy, economic growth, fertility rate, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on ecological footprint in Europe. Sci Total Environ 685:702–709
Amri F, Zaied YB, Lahouel BB (2019) ICT, total factor productivity, and carbon dioxide emissions in Tunisia. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 146:212–217
Arshad Z, Robaina M, Botelho A (2020) The role of ICT in energy consumption and environment: an empirical investigation of Asian economies with cluster analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(26):32913–32932
Asiedu BA, Hassan AA, Bein MA (2021) Renewable energy, non-renewable energy, and economic growth: evidence from 26 European countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(9):11119–11128
Asongu SA (2018) ICT, openness and CO2 emissions in Africa. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(10):9351–9359
Awosusi AA, Kirikkaleli D, Akinsola GD, Mwamba MN, Adebayo TS (2021) Can CO2 emissions and energy consumption determine the economic performance of South Korea? A time series analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13498-1
Bekun FV, & Gyamfi BA (2020) Rethinking the nexus between pollutant emission, financial development, renewable energy consumption and economic growth in G7 countries. Social, Human An Administrative Sciences-II 73
Bouznit M, Pablo-Romero MDP (2016) CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria. Energy Policy 96:93–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.05.036
Calderón C, Poggioa V (2010) Trade and economic growth: evidence on the role of complementarities for CAFTA-DR countries. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (5426)
Cho JS, Kim TH, Shin Y (2015) Quantile cointegration in the autoregressive distributed-lag modeling framework. J Econ 188(1):281–300
Cialani C (2017) CO2 emissions, GDP and trade: a panel cointegration approach. Int J Sustainable Dev World Ecol 24(3):193–204
Cortés EA, Navarro JLA (2011) Do ICT influence economic growth and human development in European Union countries? Int Adv Econ Res 17(1):28–44
Dean D, Franklin M, Stubblefield A (2002) An algebraic approach to IP traceback. ACM Transactions on Information and SystemSecurity (TISSEC) 5(2):119–137
Energy Information Administration (2017) Energy and the environment explained where greenhouse gases come from. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?pageenvironmentwhere_ghg_coe from
Erumban AA, Das DK (2016) Information and communication technology and economic growth in India. Telecommun Policy 40(5):412–431
Fan H, Hossain MI, Islam MA, Yahia YE (2019) The impact of trade, technology and growth on environmental deterioration of China and India. Asian Economic and Financial Review 9(1):1–29
Frankel JA, Romer DH (1999) Does trade cause growth? Am Econ Rev 89(3):379–399
Godil DI, Sharif A, Agha H, Jermsittiparsert K (2020) The dynamic nonlinear influence of ICT, financial development, and institutional quality on CO2 emission in Pakistan: new insights from QARDL approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(19):24190–24200
Gyamfi BA, Bein MA, Bekun FV (2020b) Investigating the nexus between hydroelectricity energy, renewable energy, nonrenewable energy consumption on output: evidence from E7 countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(20):25327–25339
Gyamfi BA, Bein MA, Ozturk I, Bekun FV (2020d) The moderating role of employment in an environmental Kuznets curve framework revisited in G7 countries. Indonesian Journal of Sustainability Accounting and Management 4(2)
Gyamfi BA, Adedoyin FF, Bein MA, Bekun FV, Agozie DQ (2021a) The anthropogenic consequences of energy consumption in E7 economies: juxtaposing roles of renewable, coal, nuclear, oil and gas energy: evidence from panel quantile method. Journal of Cleaner Production 126373
Gyamfi BA, Sarpong SY, Bein MA (2021c) The contribution of the anthropogenic impact of biomass utilization on ecological degradation: revisiting the G7 economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(9):11016–11029
Gyamfi BA, Adedoyin FF, Bein MA, Bekun FV (2021e) Environmental implications of N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve for E7 countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-11.
Hasanov FJ, Liddle B, Mikayilov JI (2018) The impact of international trade on CO2 emissions in oil exporting countries: territory vs consumption emissions accounting. Energy Econ 74:343–350
He X, Adebayo TS, Kirikkaleli D, Umar M (2021) Consumption-based carbon emissions in Mexico: an analysis using the dual adjustment approach. Sustainable Production and Consumption 27:947–957
Hossain MS (2011) Panelestimation for CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and urbanization of newlyindustrialized countries. Energy Policy 39(11):6991–6999
Jihuan. Z (2021) Environmental kuznets curvehypothesis on CO2 emissions: Evidence for China. Journal of Risk Financial Management 14(3):93
Khan N, Baloch MA, Saud S, Fatima T (2018) The effect of ICT on CO2 emissions in emerging economies: does the level of income matters? Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(23):22850–22860
Kim TH, White H (2003) Estimation, inference, and specification testing for possibly misspecified quantile regression. Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Kirikkaleli D, Adebayo TS (2020) Do renewable energy consumption and financial development matter for environmental sustainability? New global evidence, Sustainable Development
Kirikkaleli D, Adebayo TS (2021) Do public-private partnerships in energy and renewable energy consumption matter for consumption-based carbon dioxide emissions in India? Environmental Science and Pollution Research 1-14
Kirikkaleli D, Adebayo TS, Khan Z, Ali S (2020). Does globalization matter for ecological footprint in Turkey? Evidence from dual adjustment approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 1-9
Kurucz V, Krüger T, Antal K, Dietl AM,Haas H, Pócsi I, ... & Emri T (2018) Additional oxidative stress reroutes the global responseof Aspergillus fumigatus to iron depletion. BMC genomics 19(1):1-19
Jun W, Mahmood H, Zakaria M (2020) Impact of trade openness on environment in China. J Bus Econ Manag J 21(4):1185–1202
Lau LS, Choong CK, Eng YK (2014a) Carbon dioxide emission, institutional quality, and economic growth: empirical evidence in Malaysia. Renew Energy 68:276–281
Lau LS, Choong CK, Eng YK (2014b) Investigation of the environmental Kuznets curve for carbon emissions in Malaysia: do foreigndirect investment and trade matter?. Energy policy 68:490-497
Lin B, Xu B (2020) How does fossil energy abundance affect China’s economic growth and CO2 emissions? Sci Total Environ 719:137503
Lu WC (2018) The impacts of information and communication technology, energy consumption, financial development, and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in 12 Asian countries. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Chang 23(8):1351–1365
Lv Z, Xu T (2018) Is economic globalization good or bad for the environmental quality? New evidence from dynamic heterogeneous panel models. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 137:340–343
Magazzino C, Porrini D, Fusco G, Schneider N (2021) Investigating the link among ICT, electricity consumption, air pollution, and economic growth in EU countries. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy:1–23
Majeed MT (2018) Information and communication technology (ICT) and environmental sustainability: a comparative empirical analysis. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS) 12(3):758–783
Managi S, Hibiki A, Tsurumi T (2009) Does trade openness improve environmental quality?. J Environ Econ Manag 58(3):346–363
Meadows DH, Meadows DL, Randers J, Behrens WW (1972) The limits to growth. N Y 102(1972):27
Munir K, Ameer A (2018) Effect of economic growth, trade openness, urbanization, and technology on environment of Asian emerging economies. Management of Environmental Quality: An nternational Journal
Nguyen TT, Pham TAT, Tram HTX (2020) Role of information and communication technologies and innovation in driving carbon emissions and economic growth in selected G-20 countries. J Environ Manag 261:110162
Odugbesan JA, Adebayo TS (2020) The symmetrical and asymmetrical effects of foreign direct investment and financial development on carbon emission: evidence from Nigeria. SN Applied Sciences 2(12):1–15
Ortiz-Ospina E (2018) Does trade cause growth? Does trade cause growth? - Our world in data
Park Y, Meng F, Baloch MA (2018) The effect of ICT, financial development, growth, and trade openness on CO2 emissions: an empirical analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(30):30708–30719
Raheem ID, Tiwari AK, Balsalobre-Lorente D (2020) The role of ICT and financial development in CO2 emissions and economic growth. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(2):1912–1922
Rjoub H, Odugbesan JA, Adebayo TS, Wong WK (2021) Sustainability of the moderating role of financial development in the determinants of environmental degradation: evidence from Turkey. Sustainability 13(4):1844
Sadorsky P (2012) Information communication technology and electricity consumption in emerging economies. Energy Policy 48:130–136
Salahuddin M, Alam K (2015) Internet usage, electricity consumption and economic growth in Australia: a time series evidence. Telematics Inform 32(4):862–878
Salahuddin M, Alam K (2016) Information and communication technology, electricity consumption and economic growth in OECD countries: a panel data analysis. Int J Electr Power Energy Syst 76:185–193
Sarkodie SA (2018) The invisible hand and EKC hypothesis: what are the drivers of environmental degradation and pollution in Africa? Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(22):21993–22022
Sarpong SY, Bein MA, Gyamfi BA, Sarkodie SA (2020) The impact of tourism arrivals, tourism receipts and renewable energy consumption on quality of life: a panel study of Southern African region. Heliyon 6(11):e05351
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. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 39:14–23
Shabani ZD, Shahnazi R (2019) Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, information and communications technology, and gross domestic product in Iranian economic sectors: a panel causality analysis. Energy 169:1064–1078
Shahbaz M, LeitÃ, N. C. (2013) Portuguese carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth: a time series analysis. Bulletin of Energy Economics (BEE) 1(1):1–7
Shapiro JS (2016) Trade costs, CO2, and the environment. Am Econ J Econ Pol 8(4):220–254
Sharma SS (2011) Determinants of carbon dioxide emissions: empirical evidence from 69 countries. Appl Energy 88(1):376–382
Usman O, Alola AA, Sarkodie SA (2020) Assessment of the role of renewable energy consumption and trade policy on environmental degradation using innovation accounting: evidence from the US. Renew Energy 150:266–277
Wackernagel M, Rees W (1998) Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on the earth (Vol. 9). New society publishers
Wacziarg R, Welch KH (2008) Tradeliberalization and growth: New evidence. The World Bank Economic Review 22(2):187–231
Wang F, Xu J, Lv C, Xie H (2018a) Carbon emission reduction and reliable power supply equilibrium based daily scheduling towardshydro-thermal-wind generation system: A perspective from China. Energy conversion andmanagement 164:1-14
Wang J, Zhao G, Zhang M, Zhang Z (2018b) Efficient study of a coarse structure number on the bluff body during the harvesting of wind energy. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 40(15):1788–1797
Zahonogo P (2016) Trade and economic growth in developing countries: evidence from sub-Saharan. Africa. 3(1):41–56
Zhang J (2021) Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis on CO2 emissions: evidence for China. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 14(3):93
Zhang L, Li Z, Kirikkaleli D, Adebayo TS, Adeshola I, Akinsola GD (2021) Modeling CO2 emissions in Malaysia: an application of Maki cointegration and wavelet coherence tests. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–15
Availability of data and materials
The data used and/ or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
BAG wrote the introduction section. BAA wrote the methodology and analyzed and interpreted the data regarding CO2, trade, and GDP. OE provided the topic and supervised the current study at the same time and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Asiedu, B.A., Gyamfi, B.A. & Oteng, E. How do trade and economic growth impact environmental degradation? New evidence and policy implications from the ARDL approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 49949–49957 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13739-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13739-3