Abstract
There are papers on association about natural resources, economic expansion, and their effect on the quality of the environment in Central Asia. However, no study has investigated the effect of human capital in this nexus concerning the Central Asian states. Thus this study investigates the link between natural resources, economic expansion, human capital, and CO2 in Central Asian states by employing Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality tests from 1995 to 2018. The outcomes from the PMG model showed that human capital has an opposite and significant association with CO2 in the short and long run. Therefore, it is stated that local human capital with higher environmental awareness through education and training makes a positive impact on environmental quality. With the growth of the natural resources index and expansion of the economy, Central Asian emissions will rise. With a positive and substantial coefficient of the natural resources, the finding suggests that, even though Central Asian states have plenty of natural resources, they are unable to exploit them efficiently to reap good rent advantages to reduce the emissions. The outcomes of the causality test stated that the index of natural resources, economic expansion, and human capital have one-way causality with emissions. The important policies and recommendations for maintaining the economic and environmental sustainability of this country are provided at the end of this paper.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study is available on request.
References
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. Res Policy 67:101677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101677
Ahmed Z, Zafar MW, Ali S, Danish (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
Assi AF, Isiksal A, Tursoy T (2020a) The Asymmetric Association among the Consumption of Gasoline, Financial Advancement, and Economic Freedom in Singapore. 2020 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Application, DASA 2020 1269–1273. https://doi.org/10.1109/DASA51403.2020.9316864
Assi AF, Isiksal AZ, Tursoy T (2020b) Highlighting the connection between financial development and consumption of energy in countries with the highest economic freedom. Energy Policy 147:111897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111897
Assi AF, Zhakanova Isiksal A, Tursoy T (2021) Renewable energy consumption, financial development, environmental pollution, and innovations in the ASEAN + 3 group: Evidence from (P-ARDL) model. Renew Energy 165:689–700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.11.052
Bartlett MS (1950) Tests of significance in factor analysis. Br J Stat Psychol 3:77–85
Chankrajang T, Muttarak R (2017) Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand. Ecol Econ 131:434–448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.09.015
Danish MA, Baloch MN, Zhang JW (2019) Effect of natural resources, renewable energy and economic development on CO 2 emissions in BRICS countries. Sci Total Environ 678:632–638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.028
Desha C, Robinson D, Sproul A (2015) Working in partnership to develop engineering capability in energy efficiency. J Clean Prod 106:283–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.03.099
Du Q, Wu N, Zhang F et al (2022) Impact of financial inclusion and human capital on environmental quality: evidence from emerging economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17945-x
Dumitrescu EI, Hurlin C (2012) Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Econ Model 29:1450–1460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2012.02.014
Fatai F, Iga M, Victor F et al (2020) Modelling coal rent, economic growth and CO2 emissions: Does regulatory quality matter in BRICS economies? Sci Total Environ 710:136284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136284
Fathi A, Zhakanova Isiksal A, Zhakanov A (2022) Do Natural Resources and Human Capital Contribute to Environmental Degradation? Evidence from the Central Asian States. 249–256. https://doi.org/10.1109/dasa53625.2021.9682376
Hanif N, Arshed N, Aziz O (2020) On interaction of the energy: Human capital Kuznets curve? A case for technology innovation. Environ Dev Sustain 22:7559–7586. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00536-9
Hien NP, Hong Vinh CT, Phuong Mai VT, Kim Xuyen LT (2020) Remittances, real exchange rate and the Dutch disease in Asian developing countries. Quart Rev Econ Finance 77:131–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qref.2019.10.006
Huang Y, Ahmad M, Ali S, Kirikkaleli D (2022) Does eco-innovation promote cleaner energy? Analyzing the role of energy price and human capital. Energy 239:122268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2021.122268
Joof F, Isiksal AZ (2021) Impact of bank performance on energy consumption: evidence from selected commonwealth member states. Intl J Global Energy Issues 43(4):402–418
Louise van Schaik RV and AR (2021) Seizing the momentum EU Green Energy Diplomacy towards Kazakhstan. Clingendael Institute
Ma H, Sun Z, Fang C (2020) Risk assessment of transnational oil investment in Central Asia using a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Region Sustain 1:11–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsus.2020.06.002
Nathaniel SP (2021a) Biocapacity, human capital, and ecological footprint in G7 countries: the moderating role of urbanization and necessary lessons for emerging economies. Energy Ecol Environ 6:435–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-020-00197-9
Nathaniel SP (2021b) Environmental degradation in ASEAN: assessing the criticality of natural resources abundance, economic growth and human capital. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12034-x
Nathaniel SP (2021c) Economic complexity versus ecological footprint in the era of globalization: evidence from ASEAN countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28:64871–64881. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15360-w
Nathaniel SP (2021d) Ecological footprint and human well-being nexus: accounting for broad-based financial development, globalization, and natural resources in the Next-11 countries. Future Business J 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-021-00071-y
Nathaniel SP, Nwulu N, Bekun F (2021a) Natural resource, globalization, urbanization, human capital, and environmental degradation in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28:6207–6221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10850-9
Nathaniel SP, Yalçiner K, Bekun FV (2021b) Assessing the environmental sustainability corridor: Linking natural resources, renewable energy, human capital, and ecological footprint in BRICS. Res Policy 70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101924
Panayotou T (1994) Empirical tests and policy analysis of environmental degradation at different stages of economic development
Pesaran MH (2004) General diagnostic tests for cross section dependence in panels.
Pesaran MH (2007) A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence. J Appl Econ 22:265–312
Pesaran MH, Pesaran MH, Shin Y, Smith RP (1999) Pooled Mean Group Estimation of Dynamic Heterogeneous Panels. J Am Stat Assoc 94:621–634. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1999.10474156
Sari R, Ewing BT, Soytas U (2008) The relationship between disaggregate energy consumption and industrial production in the United States: An ARDL approach. Energy Econ 30:2302–2313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2007.10.002
Sharif A, Baris-Tuzemen O, Uzuner G et al (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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102138
Shittu W, Adedoyin FF, Shah MI, Musibau HO (2021) An investigation of the nexus between natural resources, environmental performance, energy security and environmental degradation: Evidence from Asia. Res Policy 73:102227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102227
Sun X, Zhu BK, Zhang S et al (2022) New indices system for quantifying the nexus between economic-social development, natural resources consumption, and environmental pollution in China during 1978–2018. Sci Total Environ 804:150180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150180
Usman M, Balsalobre-Lorente D (2022) Environmental concern in the era of industrialization: Can financial development, renewable energy and natural resources alleviate some load? Energy Policy 162:112780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112780
Vakulchuk R (2016) Public Administration Reform and Its Implications for Foreign Petroleum Companies in Kazakhstan. Int J Public Adm 39:1180–1194. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2015.1072214
Wen J, Okolo CV, Ugwuoke IC, Kolani K (2022) Research on influencing factors of renewable energy, energy efficiency, on technological innovation. Does trade, investment and human capital development matter? Energy Policy 160:112718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112718
Westerlund J (2007) Testing for error correction in panel data. Oxf Bull Econ Stat 69:709–748. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2007.00477.x
world bank (2019) World development indicators. In: world bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator. Accessed 12 Oct 2019
Zafar MW, Zaidi SAH, Khan NR et al (2019) The impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint: The case of the United States. Res Policy 63:101428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101428
Zen IS, Noor ZZ, Yusuf RO (2014) The profiles of household solid waste recyclers and non-recyclers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Habitat Intl 42:83–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.10.010
Zhang L, Godil DI, Bibi M et al (2021) Caring for the environment: How human capital, natural resources, and economic growth interact with environmental degradation in Pakistan? A dynamic ARDL approach. Sci Total Environ 774:145553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145553
Zhou A, Li J (2022) How do trade liberalization and human capital affect renewable energy consumption? Evidence from the panel threshold model. Renew Energy 184:332–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.11.096
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Editor and the anonymous Reviewers for their valuable comments that helped to improve the article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
AZ conducted conceptualization, data collection, methodology, and writing of the article; AA for data collection, methodology, and writing of the article; AZ for data collection and writing of the paper; RSZ for data collection and proofreading; and FJ for writing of the literature review.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Not applicable
Consent to participate
Not applicable
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Conflict of interest
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
Isiksal, A.Z., Assi, A.F., Zhakanov, A. et al. Natural resources, human capital, and CO2 emissions: Missing evidence from the Central Asian States. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 77333–77343 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21227-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21227-5