Skip to main content
Log in

Stochastic convergence in carbon emissions based on a new Fourier-based wavelet unit root test

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Most of the existing studies on stochastic convergence of emission have not adequately considered smooth structural changes. The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of stochastic convergence at different income levels by recently proposed Fourier-based wavelet augmented Dickey-Fuller test with smooth shifts. Empirical results can be summed up as follows: (i) carbon emission per capita follows the stationarity process in 35 high-income countries, while carbon emission per capita follows the stationarity process in 27 upper-middle-income countries; (ii) besides, carbon emission per capita follows stationarity process in 30 lower-middle-income countries, while carbon emission per capita follows stationarity process in 13 low-income countries; (iii) in light of these findings, it can be said that stochastic convergence among different income groups is valid. The implications of the empirical findings for environmental planning and management are discussed in the body of the paper.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets can be obtained from https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators#

Notes

  1. The group-specific features have been reported in logarithmic values.

References

  • Acar S, Lindmark M (2017) Convergence of CO2 emissions and economic growth in the OECD countries: did the type of fuel matter? Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy 12(7):618–627

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Acaravci A, Akalin G (2017) Environment–economic growth nexus: a comparative analysis of developed and developing countries. Int J Energy Econ Policy 7(5):34–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Acaravci A, Erdogan S (2016) The convergence behavior of CO2 emissions in seven regions under multiple structural breaks. Int J Energy Econ Policy 6(3):575–580

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldy JE (2006) Per capita carbon dioxide emissions: convergence or divergence? Environ Resour Econ 33(4):533–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apergis N, Payne JE (2017) Per capita carbon dioxide emissions across US states by sector and fossil fuel source: evidence from club convergence tests. Energy Econ 63:365–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aydin M, Pata UK (2020) Are shocks to disaggregated renewable energy consumption permanent or temporary for the USA? Wavelet based unit root test with smooth structural shifts. Energy 207:118245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barassi MR, Cole MA, Elliott RJ (2008) Stochastic divergence or convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions: re-examining the evidence. Environ Resour Econ 40(1):121–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilgili F, Ulucak R (2018) Is there deterministic, stochastic, and/or club convergence in ecological footprint indicator among G20 countries? Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(35):35404–35419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilgili F, Ulucak R, Koçak E (2019) Implications of environmental convergence: continental evidence based on ecological footprint. In: Energy and environmental strategies in the era of globalization. Springer, Cham, pp 133–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06001-5_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brock WA, Taylor MS (2003) The kindergarten rule of sustainable growth. National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper 9597:1–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock WA, Taylor MS (2010) The green Solow model. J Econ Growth 15(2):127–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett JW (2016) Club convergence and clustering of US energy-related CO2 emissions. Resour Energy Econ 46:62–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cai Y, Menegaki AN (2019) Convergence of clean energy consumption—panel unit root test with sharp and smooth breaks. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–14

  • Cai Y, Wu Y (2019) On the convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emission: a panel unit root test with sharp and smooth breaks. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–22

  • Carlino GA, Mills LO (1993) Are US regional incomes converging?: A time series analysis. J Monet Econ 32(2):335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charfeddine L, Al-Malk AY, Al Korbi K (2018) Is it possible to improve environmental quality without reducing economic growth: evidence from the Qatar economy. Renew Sust Energ Rev 82:25–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durlauf SN, Johnson PA (1995) Multiple regimes and cross-country growth behaviour. J Appl Econ 10(4):365–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durusu-Ciftci D, Nazlioğlu Ş (2019) Does income converge in Turkey? An empirical assessment. Ege Akademik Bakış Dergisi 19(1):15–32

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Montasser G, Inglesi-Lotz R, Gupta R (2015) Convergence of greenhouse gas emissions among G7 countries. Appl Econ 47(60):6543–6552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EMBER (2020) Global electricity review. https://ember-climate.org/project/global-power-2020/. Accessed 01.09 2020.

  • Emir F, Balcilar M, Shahbaz M (2019) Inequality in carbon intensity in EU-28: analysis based on club convergence. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(4):3308–3319

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Enders, W. (2008). Applied econometric time series: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enders W, Lee J (2012) A unit root test using a Fourier series to approximate smooth breaks. Oxf Bull Econ Stat 74(4):574–599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erdogan S, Acaravci A (2019) Revisiting the convergence of carbon emission phenomenon in OECD countries: new evidence from Fourier panel KPSS test. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–14

  • Erdogan S, Okumus I (2020) Stochastic and club convergence of ecological footprint: an empirical analysis for different income group of countries. Ecol Indic 107123

  • Erdogan S, Akalin G, Oypan O (2020) Are shocks to disaggregated energy consumption transitory or permanent in Turkey? New evidence from Fourier panel KPSS test. Energy:117174

  • Eroğlu BA, Soybilgen B (2018) On the performance of wavelet based unit root tests. J Risk Finan Manag 11(3):47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Comission (2019) Causes of climate change. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/change/causes_en. Accessed 28.10.2019.

  • Fan Y, Gençay R (2010) Unit root tests with wavelets. Econometric Theory 26:1305–1331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galor O (1996) Convergence? Inferences from theoretical models. Econ J 106(437):1056–1069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gençay, R., Selçuk, F., & Whitcher, B. J. (2001). An introduction to wavelets and other filtering methods in finance and economics: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman GM, Krueger AB (1991) Environmental impacts of a North American free trade agreement. National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Haider S, Akram V (2019a) Club convergence analysis of ecological and carbon footprint: evidence from a cross-country analysis. Carbon Manag 10(5):451–463

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haider S, Akram V (2019b) Club convergence of per capita carbon emission: global insight from disaggregated level data. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(11):11074–11086

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herrerias MJ (2012) CO2 weighted convergence across the EU-25 countries (1920–2007). Appl Energy 92:9–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrerias MJ (2013) The environmental convergence hypothesis: Carbon dioxide emissions according to the source of energy. Energy Policy 61:1140–1150

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Islam N (2003) What have we learnt from the convergence debate? J Econ Surv 17(3):309–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jobert T, Karanfil F, Tykhonenko A (2010) Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the EU: legend or reality? Energy Econ 32(6):1364–1373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee C-C, Chang C-P (2008) New evidence on the convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions from panel seemingly unrelated regressions augmented Dickey–Fuller tests. Energy 33(9):1468–1475

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee C-C, Chang C-P (2009) Stochastic convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions and multiple structural breaks in OECD countries. Econ Model 26(6):1375–1381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Lin B (2013) Global convergence in per capita CO2 emissions. Renew Sust Energ Rev 24:357–363

  • Li X-L, Tang D, Chang T (2014) CO2 emissions converge in the 50 US states—sequential panel selection method. Econ Model 40:320–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin J, Inglesi-Lotz R, Chang T (2018) Revisiting CO2 emissions convergence in G18 countries. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy 13(5):269–280

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2019) The causes of climate change. https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/. Accessed 20.10.2019.

  • Nazlioglu S, Karul C (2017) A panel stationarity test with gradual structural shifts: re-investigate the international commodity price shocks. Econ Model 61:181–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozcan B, Ulucak R, Dogan E (2019) Analyzing long lasting effects of environmental policies: evidence from low, middle and high income economies. Sustain Cities Soc 44:130–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panopoulou E, Pantelidis T (2009) Club convergence in carbon dioxide emissions. Environ Resour Econ 44(1):47–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne JE, Apergis N (2020) Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions among developing countries: evidence from stochastic and club convergence tests. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–13

  • Perron P (1989) The great crash, the oil price shock, and the unit root hypothesis. Journal of the Econometric Society, Econometrica, pp 1361–1401

    Google Scholar 

  • Quah DT (1996) Convergence empirics across economies with (some) capital mobility. J Econ Growth 1(1):95–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robalino-López A, García-Ramos JE, Golpe AA, Mena-Nieto A (2016) CO2 emissions convergence among 10 South American countries. A study of Kaya components (1980–2010). Carbon Manag 7(1-2):1–12

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romero-Ávila D (2008) Convergence in carbon dioxide emissions among industrialised countries revisited. Energy Econ 30(5):2265–2282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solarin SA (2014) Convergence of CO2 emission levels: evidence from African countries. J Econ Res 19(1):65–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Solarin SA (2019) Convergence in CO 2 emissions, carbon footprint and ecological footprint: evidence from OECD countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(6):6167–6181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Solarin SA, Tiwari A (2020) Convergence in sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions since 1850 in OECD countries: evidence from a new panel unit root test. Environ Model Assess 25(5):665–675

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solarin SA, Gil-Alana LA, Lafuente C (2019) Persistence in carbon footprint emissions: an overview of 92 countries. Carbon Manag:1–11

  • Solow RM (1956) A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Q J Econ 70(1):65–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern DI (2017) The environmental Kuznets curve after 25 years. J Bioecon 19(1):7–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strazicich, M. C., & List, J. A. (2003). Are CO2 emission levels converging among industrial countries? Environ Resour Econ, 24(3), 263-271.

  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014) https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg3/. Accessed 24.10.2019.

  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018) Global warming of 1.5°C. https://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf Accessed 30.10.2019.

  • Ulucak R, Apergis N (2018) Does convergence really matter for the environment? An application based on club convergence and on the ecological footprint concept for the EU countries. Environ Sci Pol 80:21–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulucak R, Yücel AG, Koçak E (2019) The process of sustainability: from past to present. In: Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Academic Press, Cambridge, pp 37–53

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ulucak R, Kassouri Y, İlkay SÇ, Altıntaş H, Garang APM (2020) Does convergence contribute to reshaping sustainable development policies? Insights from Sub-Saharan Africa. Ecol Indic 112:106140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2019a) Climate-get the big picture https://unfccc.int/resource/bigpicture/#content-the-paris-agreemen. Accessed 31.10.2019.

  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2019b) What is the Kyoto Protocol? . https://unfccc.int/process-andmeetings/the-kyoto-protocol/what-is-the-kyoto-protocol/what-isthe-kyoto-protocol. Accessed 25.19.2019.

  • Van PN (2005) Distribution dynamics of CO 2 emissions. Environ Resour Econ 32(4):495–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westerlund J, Basher SA (2008) Testing for convergence in carbon dioxide emissions using a century of panel data. Environ Resour Econ 40(1):109–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2019) World development indicators. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators# Accessed 26.10.2019.

  • World Economic Forum (2019) If we fight climate change properly, it could inject $7 trillion into the economy. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/climate-change-7-trillion-global-economy/. Accessed 30.10.2019.

  • Yavuz NC, Yilanci V (2013) Convergence in per capita carbon dioxide emissions among G7 countries: a TAR panel unit root approach. Environ Res Econ 54(2):283–291

  • Yazgan ME, Özkan H (2015) Detecting structural changes using wavelets. Financ Res Lett 12:23–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yilanci V, Tunali ÇB (2014) Are fluctuations in energy consumption transitory or permanent? Evidence from a Fourier LM unit root test. Renew Sust Energ Rev 36:20–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zang Z, Zou X, Song Q, Wang T, Fu G (2018) Analysis of the global carbon dioxide emissions from 2003 to 2015: convergence trends and regional contributions. Carbon Manag 9(1):45–55

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Sinan Erdogan conceived the idea of the paper and wrote the introduction, analysis, and conclusion parts of the project. Sakiru Adebola Solarin contributed to the literature review and discussion in the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sakiru Adebola Solarin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Nicholas Apergis

Publisher’s note

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

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6 Descriptive statistics of high-income countries
Table 7 Descriptive statistics of upper-middle-income countries
Table 8 Descriptive statistics of lower-middle-income countries
Table 9 Descriptive statistics of low-income countries
Table 10 Critical values of FWADF test for the model with constant and trend

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Erdogan, S., Solarin, S.A. Stochastic convergence in carbon emissions based on a new Fourier-based wavelet unit root test. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 21887–21899 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12033-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12033-y

Keywords

Navigation