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Revealing the environmental pollution in nexus of aviation transportation in SAARC region

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Abstract

The environmental degradation has put serious concern among the nations at global level, yet contented measures are still lagged behind the prospective outcomes. This study is aimed at analyzing the existence of “aviation transportation Kuznets curve” together with “environmental Kuznets curve” in perspective of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the SAARC region during 1980 to 2018. The panel unit root test summary applied to panel data indicates the first difference order while panel fisher cointegration shows long-run association among the considered variables. The econometric results by fully modified least square (FMOLS) validate the existence of “inverted U-shaped” Kuznets curve for environment as (EKC) and aviation transported carriage (ATC) while “U shaped” aviation transported passenger (ATP) is observed in context to greenhouse gas (GHG). In addition, the dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) exhibits “inverted U shaped” for aviation transportation while GDP has an increasing trend of “U-shaped” curve. The pairwise Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality shows unidirectional association from economic growth, trade openness, and aviation sector to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, it is an urgent need of the hour for the SAARC region to consider the sustainability of the environment by key sector. This analysis suggests that SAARC nations must focus on exploiting renewable energy means along with implementing fuel-saving traveler and merchandise expertise that thoroughly cuts the diesel fuel.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hazara University, Mansehra, KPK, Pakistan

    Syeda Anam Hassan & Misbah Nosheen

  2. COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad, KPK, Pakistan

    Nazish Rafaz

Authors
  1. Syeda Anam Hassan
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  2. Misbah Nosheen
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  3. Nazish Rafaz
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Contributions

Syeda Anam Hassan: Data source and methodology, estimations and results discussion, conclusion and manuscript writing (sections 3, 4, and 5)

Nazish Rafaz: Introduction, literature review, recommendations, references correction, and manuscript editing (sections 1, 2, and 6).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Syeda Anam Hassan.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Appendix

Appendix

Pairwise Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality tests

Sample: 1980 2018

Lags: 2

Null hypothesis:

W-Stat.

Zbar-Stat.

Prob.

  GDP does not homogeneously cause GHG

4.00442

1.83453

0.0666

  GHG does not homogeneously cause GDP

1.77319

−0.35310

0.7240

  ATC does not homogeneously cause GHG

4.76854

2.58371

0.0098

  GHG does not homogeneously cause ATC

4.29886

2.12321

0.0337

  ATP does not homogeneously cause GHG

2.26996

0.13396

0.8934

  GHG does not homogeneously cause ATP

4.68746

2.50422

0.0023

  EU does not homogeneously cause GHG

4.62940

2.44730

0.0144

  GHG does not homogeneously cause EU

6.44502

4.22744

2.E-05

  TOP does not homogeneously cause GHG

2.59628

0.45390

0.0499

  GHG does not homogeneously cause TOP

3.49109

1.33123

0.1831

  ATC does not homogeneously cause GDP

1.44867

−0.67129

0.0020

  GDP does not homogeneously cause ATC

6.27799

4.06367

5.E-05

  ATP does not homogeneously cause GDP

1.92809

− 0.20124

0.0405

  GDP does not homogeneously cause ATP

8.72427

6.46216

1.E-10

  EU does not homogeneously cause GDP

2.38703

0.24874

0.0036

  GDP does not homogeneously cause EU

2.19673

0.06216

0.9504

  TOP does not homogeneously cause GDP

2.79140

0.64521

0.5188

  GDP does not homogeneously cause TOP

5.40790

3.21059

0.0013

  ATP does not homogeneously cause ATC

5.45177

3.25359

0.0011

  ATC does not homogeneously cause ATP

6.02646

3.81705

0.0001

  EU does not homogeneously cause ATC

3.77653

1.61109

0.1072

  ATC does not homogeneously cause EU

4.08193

1.91052

0.0561

  TOP does not homogeneously cause ATC

3.46486

1.30551

0.0917

  ATC does not homogeneously cause TOP

3.46422

1.30489

0.1919

  EU does not homogeneously cause ATP

3.11180

0.95935

0.0374

  ATP does not homogeneously cause EU

3.13370

0.98082

0.3267

  TOP does not homogeneously cause ATP

3.36815

1.21069

0.2260

  ATP does not homogeneously cause TOP

4.71968

2.53581

0.0012

  TOP does not homogeneously cause EU

3.30766

1.15138

0.0496

  EU does not homogeneously cause TOP

1.53332

− 0.58829

0.5563

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Hassan, S.A., Nosheen, M. & Rafaz, N. Revealing the environmental pollution in nexus of aviation transportation in SAARC region. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 25092–25106 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05648-3

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