Abstract
This study investigates the effects of human capital, bio-capacity, energy use, and economic growth on the ecological footprint of G20 countries for the period 1970–2016, using the panel dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) model. In the study, the G20 was considered in two groups, as developed and emerging economies. According to the DCCE estimation results, the long-term impact of human capital on the ecological footprint is negative and statistically strong in the developed economies while it is insignificant in the emerging economies. The impact of bio-capacity on the ecological footprint is positive in the short and long term in the emerging economies, and only in the short term in the developed economies. In addition, economic growth and energy use undermine the environmental quality in both groups of countries. The error correction coefficients are negative and statistically significant, which means that the deviations from the short-term equilibrium converge the long-term equilibrium level for both groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, USA UK.
Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey.
References
Acar S, Aşıcı AA (2017) Nature and economic growth in Turkey: what does ecological footprint imply? Middle East Dev J 9(1):101–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/17938120.2017.1288475
Acaravci A, Ozturk I (2010) On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe. Energy 35(12):5412–5420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.07.009
Ahmed Z, Asghar MM, Malik MN, Nawaz K (2020a) Moving towards a sustainable environment: the dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China. Resour Policy 67:101677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101677
Ahmed Z, Wang Z (2019) Investigating the impact of human capital on the ecological footprint in India: an empirical analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(26):26782–26796. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05911-7
Ahmed Z, Zafar MW, Ali S (2020b) Linking urbanization, human capital, and the ecological footprint in G7 countries: an empirical analysis. Sustain Cities Soc 55:102064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102064
Al-Mulali U, Ozturk I (2015) The effect of energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, industrial output, and the political stability on the environmental degradation in the MENA (Middle East and North African) region. Energy 84:382–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.03.004
Apergis N, Ozturk I (2015) Testing environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Asian countries. Ecol Ind 52:16–22
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. Ecol Ind 98:543–555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.11.034
Basoglu A (2018) STIRPAT modeli kapsamında Türkiye’de ekolojik ayak izinin belirleyicileri. In: Erdem HF, Basoglu A (ed) İktisat Seçme Yazılar. Celepler Matbaacılık Yayın Dağıtım, Trabzon, pp 133–155
Baz K, Xu D, Ali H, Ali I, Khan I, Khan MM, Cheng J (2020) Asymmetric impact of energy consumption and economic growth on ecological footprint: using asymmetric and nonlinear approach. Sci Total Environ 718:137364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137364
Breitung J (2005) A parametric approach to the estimation of cointegration vectors in panel data. Economet Rev 24(2):151–173. https://doi.org/10.1081/ETC-200067895
Breusch TS, Pagan AR (1980) The Lagrange multiplier test and its applications to model specification in econometrics. Rev Econ Stud 47(1):239–253. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297111
CEF (2021) Conserve energy future. What is environmental degradation?. https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-and-effects-of-environmental-degradation.php. Accessed 10 October 2021
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. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 76:138–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.031
Chen Y, Lee CC, Chen M (2021) Ecological footprint, human capital, and urbanization. Energy Environ 0(0):1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958305X211008610
Chudik A, Pesaran MH (2015) Common correlated effects estimation of heterogeneous dynamic panel data models with weakly exogenous regressors. J Econom 188(2):393–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2015.03.007
Destek MA, Sarkodie SA (2019) Investigation of environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint: the role of energy and financial development. Sci Total Environ 650:2483–2489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.017
Destek MA, 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. J Clean Prod 242:118537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118537
Destek MA, Ulucak R, Dogan E (2018) Analyzing the environmental Kuznets curve for the EU countries: the role of ecological footprint. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(29):29387–29396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2911-4
Dogan E, Inglesi-Lotz R (2020) The impact of economic structure to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis: evidence from European countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(11):12717–12724. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07878-2
Dogan E, Ozturk I (2017) The influence of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and real income on CO2 emissions in the USA: evidence from structural break tests. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24(11):10846–10854. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8786-y
Dogan E, Taspinar N, Gokmenoglu KK (2019) Determinants of ecological footprint in MINT countries. Energy Environ 30(6):1065–1086. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958305X19834279
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. Sci Total Environ 723:138063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138063
Erdogan S, Gedikli A, Yılmaz AD, Haider A, Zafar MW (2019a) Investigation of energy consumption: economic growth nexus: a note on MENA sample. Energy Rep 5:1281–1292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07020-x
Erdogan S, Yıldırım DÇ, Gedikli A (2019) Investigation of causality analysis between economic growth and CO2 emissions: the case of BRICS–T countries. Int J Energy Econ Policy 9(6):430–438. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.8546
Figge L, Oebels K, Offermans A (2017) The effects of globalization on Ecological Footprints: an empirical analysis. Environ Dev Sustain 19(3):863–876. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9769-8
Flückiger J, Dällenbach A, Blunier T, Stauffer B, Stocker TF, Raynaud D, Barnola JM (1999) Variations in atmospheric N2O concentration during abrupt climatic changes. Science 285(5425):227–230. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.285.5425.227
G20 (2021) About the G20, https://www.g20.org/about-the-g20.html. Accessed 10 October 2021
GFN (2020) Global Footprint Network. https://www.footprintnetwork.org/. Accessed 15 October 2021
Hassan ST, Baloch MA, Mahmood N, Zhang J (2019) Linking economic growth and ecological footprint through human capital and biocapacity. Sustain Cities Soc 47:101516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101516
Hervieux MS, Darné O (2013) Environmental Kuznets curve and ecological footprint: a time series analysis. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00781958/. Accessed 15 October 2021
Houghton J (2005) Global warming. Reports on progress in physics 68(6):1343. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/68/6/R02/pdf. Accessed 15 October 2021
Iram R, Zhang J, Erdogan S, Abbas Q, Mohsin M (2020) Economics of energy and environmental efficiency: evidence from OECD countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(4):3858–3870. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07020-x
Kapetanios G, Pesaran MH, Yamagata T (2011) Panels with nonstationary multifactor error structures. J Econom 160(2):326–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2010.10.001
Kassouri Y, Altıntaş H (2020) Human well-being versus ecological footprint in MENA countries: a trade-off? J Environ Manage 263:110405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110405
Khan I, Hou F (2021) The dynamic links among energy consumption, tourism growth, and the ecological footprint: the role of environmental quality in 38 IEA countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(5):5049–5062. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10861-6
Khan M, Ozturk I (2021) Examining the direct and indirect effects of financial development on CO2 emissions for 88 developing countries. J Environ Manage 293(112812):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112812
Koondhar MA, Shahbaz M, Ozturk I, Randhawa AA, Kong R (2021). Revisiting the relationship between carbon emission, renewable energy consumption, forestry, and agricultural financial development for China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13606-1
Kuc T, Rozanski K, Zimnoch M, Necki JM, Korus A (2003) Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and CH4 in an urban environment. Appl Energy 75(3–4):193–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-2619(03)00032-1
Mincer J (1981) Human capital and economic growth. NBER Working Paper Series No. 803. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w0803/w0803.pdf. Accessed 15 October 2021
Murshed M, Elheddad M, Ahmed R, Bassim M, Than ET (2021a) Foreign direct investments, renewable electricity output, and ecological footprints: do financial globalization facilitate renewable energy transition and environmental welfare in Bangladesh? Asia-Pacific Finan Markets 1-46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10690-021-09335-7
Murshed M, Haseeb M, Alam MS (2021b) The environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for carbon and ecological footprints in South Asia: the role of renewable energy. GeoJournal 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10370-6
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. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(26):27168–27179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05924-2
Nathaniel SP (2020) Ecological footprint, energy use, trade, and urbanization linkage in Indonesia. GeoJournal 86:2057–2070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10175-7
Nathaniel SP (2021) Biocapacity, human capital, and ecological footprint in G7 countries: the moderating role of urbanization and necessary lessons for emerging economies. Energy Ecol Environ 6(5):435–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-020-00197-9
Ozcan B (2013) The nexus between carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Middle East countries: a panel data analysis. Energy Policy 62:1138–1147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.016
Ozturk I, Al-Mulali U, Saboori B (2016) Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: the role of tourism and ecological footprint. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23(2):1916–1928. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5447-x
Ozturk I, Aslan A, Altinoz B (2021) Investigating the nexus between CO2 emissions, economic growth, energy consumption and pilgrimage tourism in Saudi Arabia. Econ Res-Ekon Istraž 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2021.1985577
Pérez-Ramírez J, Kapteijn F, Schoffel K, Moulijn JA (2003) Formation and control of N2O in nitric acid production-where do we stand today? Appl Catal B 44(2):117–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0926-3373(03)00026-2
Pesaran MH (2004) General diagnostic tests for cross-sectional dependence in panels. University of Cambridge, Cambridge Working Papers in Economics, Discussion Paper No. 1240.
Pesaran MH (2007) A simple panel unit root test in presence of crosssection dependence. J Appl Economet 22:265–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.951
Pesaran MH, Yamagata T (2008) Testing slope homogeneity in large panels. J Econ 142(1):50–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2007.05.010
Phillips PC, Sul D (2003) Dynamic panel estimation and homogeneity testing under cross section dependence. Econ J 6(1):217–259. https://doi.org/10.1111/1368-423X.00108
Shahbaz M, Khraief N, Czudaj RL (2020) Renewable energy consumption-economic growth nexus in G7 countries: new evidence from a nonlinear ARDL approach. Economics Bulletin 40(4):2828–2843. Available https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/103525/ Access 2 January 2022
Shahbaz M, Lean HH, Shabbir MS (2012) Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Pakistan: cointegration and Granger causality. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 16(5):2947–2953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.02.015
Shahbaz M, Song M, Ahmad S, Vo XV (2022) Does economic growth stimulate energy consumption? The role of human capital and R&D expenditures in China. Energy Econ 105(105662):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105662
Shahbaz M, Tiwari AK, Nasir M (2013) The effects of financial development, economic growth, coal consumption and trade openness on CO2 emissions in South Africa. Energy Policy 61:1452–1459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.006
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. Sustain Cities Soc 57(102138):1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102138
Sim NC (2006) Environmental Keynesian macroeconomics: some further discussion. Ecol Econ 59(4):401–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.11.006
Solarin SA, Bello MO (2018) Persistence of policy shocks to an environmental degradation index: the case of ecological footprint in 128 developed and developing countries. Ecol Ind 89:35–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.01.064
Stern DI (2004) The rise and fall of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Dev 32(8):1419–1439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.03.004
Swamy PA (1970) Efficient inference in a random coefficient regression model. Econometrica J Econ Soc 38(2):311–323. https://doi.org/10.2307/1913012
Telatar OM, Basoglu A (2017) The effects of different energy types’ consumption on economic growth: an empirical analysis on Turkey’s economy. In: Yilmaz R, Löschnigg G (ed) Studies on Balkan and Near Eastern Social Sciences, pp 251–263
Tsai WT (2007) The decomposition products of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Reviews of environmental and health risk analysis. J Fluor Chem 128(11):1345–1352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluchem.2007.06.008
Udemba EN (2020) A sustainable study of economic growth and development amidst ecological footprint: new insight from Nigerian perspective. Sci Total Environ 732:139270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139270
Ulucak R, Bilgili F (2018) A reinvestigation of EKC model by ecological footprint measurement for high, middle and low income countries. J Clean Prod 188:144–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.191
Unal H, Aktug M (2022) Evaluating environmental quality in Turkey using the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. J Humanit Soc. https://doi.org/10.12658/M0647
Usman M, Kousar R, Yaseen MR, Makhdum MSA (2020) An empirical nexus between economic growth, energy utilization, trade policy, and ecological footprint: a continent-wise comparison in upper-middle-income countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(31):38995–39018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09772-3
Wackernagel M, Rees W (1996) Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on the Earth. New Society Publishers, Philadelphia
Wang Y, Kang L, Wu X, Xiao Y (2013) Estimating the environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint at the global level: a spatial econometric approach. Ecol Ind 34:15–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.03.021
World Bank Group (WBG) (2020) The human capital index 2020 update (online). Available https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/ Accessed 15 October 2021
World Development Indicator (WDI) (2020) World Bank Development Indicators database (online). Available at https://data.worldbank.org/ Accessed 10 July 2020
Zafar MW, Zaidi SAH, Khan NR, Mirza FM, Hou F, Kirmani SAA (2019) The impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint: the case of the United States. Resour Policy 63:101428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101428
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All the authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Huseyin Ünal and Muhammet Aktuğ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Muhammet Aktuğ and all the authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Ilhan Ozturk
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ünal, H., Aktuğ, M. The impact of human capital and bio-capacity on the environmental quality: evidence from G20 countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 45635–45645 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19122-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19122-0