Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Economic complexity versus ecological footprint in the era of globalization: evidence from ASEAN countries

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

Abstract

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have witnessed significant growth over the years amidst increase energy consumption, dwindling biocapacity, and increasing ecological footprint (EF). However, while the influence of energy consumption, globalization, and economic growth on EF has been previously examined, the literature is silent as regards the association between the level of skills and knowledge needed in the creation of exported goods and the EF, particularly in the ASEAN region. The current study is a maiden attempt to explore the impact of economic complexity on EF and CO2 emissions in the said region while considering heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence among countries. From the findings, economic complexity, energy consumption, and economic growth increase EF and CO2 emissions. Globalization reduces the EF, but its impact on CO2 emissions remains unclear. Economic complexity has a more devastating impact in Indonesia, but less severe in Singapore. The direction of causality flows from economic growth, economic complexity, and energy consumption to EF. A feedback causality exists between globalization and EF, and between energy consumption, globalization, and CO2 emissions. The limitations of the study and directions for future research have been highlighted along with relevant policy directions.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

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.

References

  • Adedoyin FF, Alola AA, Bekun FV (2020) The nexus of environmental sustainability and agro-economic performance of Sub-Saharan African countries. Heliyon 6(9):e04878

    Google Scholar 

  • Adedoyin FF, Alola AA, Bekun FV (2021a) The alternative energy utilization and common regional trade outlook in EU-27: evidence from common correlated effects. Renew Sust Energ Rev 145:111092

    Google Scholar 

  • Adedoyin FF, Nwulu N, Bekun FV (2021b) Environmental degradation, energy consumption and sustainable development: accounting for the role of economic complexities with evidence from World Bank income clusters. Bus Strateg Environ. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2774

  • Adedoyin FF, Nathaniel S, Adeleye N (2021c) An investigation into the anthropogenic nexus among consumption of energy, tourism, and economic growth: do economic policy uncertainties matter? Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(3):2835–2847

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmad M, Ahmed Z, Majeed A, Huang B (2021) An environmental impact assessment of economic complexity and energy consumption: does institutional quality make a difference? Environ Impact Assess Rev 89:106603

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed Z, Le HP (2021) Linking information communication technology, trade globalization index, and CO 2 emissions: evidence from advanced panel techniques. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(7):8770–8781

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed Z, Zafar MW, Ali S (2020a) Linking urbanization, human capital, and the ecological footprint in G7 countries: an empirical analysis. Sustain Cities Soc 55:102064

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed Z, Asghar MM, Malik MN, Nawaz K (2020b) 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

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed Z, Zhang B, Cary M (2021c) Linking economic globalization, economic growth, financial development, and ecological footprint: evidence from symmetric and asymmetric ARDL. Ecol Indic 121:107060

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed Z, Cary M, Le HP (2021d) Accounting asymmetries in the long-run nexus between globalization and environmental sustainability in the United States: an aggregated and disaggregated investigation. Environ Impact Assess Rev 86:106511

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed Z, Nathaniel SP, Shahbaz M (2021e) The criticality of information and communication technology and human capital in environmental sustainability: evidence from Latin American and Caribbean countries. J Clean Prod 286:125529

    Google Scholar 

  • Ali HS, Nathaniel SP, Uzuner G, Bekun FV, Sarkodie SA (2020) Trivariate modelling of the nexus between electricity consumption, urbanization and economic growth in Nigeria: fresh insights from Maki Cointegration and causality tests. Heliyon 6(2):e03400

    Google Scholar 

  • Apergis N, Payne JE, Rayos-Velazquez M (2020) Carbon dioxide emissions intensity convergence: evidence from Central American countries. Frontiers in Energy Research 7:158

    Google Scholar 

  • ASEAN Centre for Energy (2015) ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 20162025 Phase I: 2016-2020. ASEAN Centre for Energy, Jakarta, Indonesia Available at: https://app.box.com/s/g6b4ynph5wwiuvtxgol3s2rwjwcmrtbj

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilgili F, Nathaniel SP, Kuşkaya S, Kassouri Y (2021) Environmental pollution and energy research and development: an Environmental Kuznets Curve model through quantile simulation approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–16

  • BP (2019). British Petroleum statistical review of world energy. https:// www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/ xlsx/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2019-alldata.xlsx

  • Chu LK (2020) Economic structure and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: new evidence from economic complexity. Appl Econ Lett:1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2020.1767280

  • Chudik A, Mohaddes K, Pesaran MH, Raissi M (2016) Long-run effects in large heterogeneous panel data models with cross-sectionally correlated errors. Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Google Scholar 

  • Dogan E, Taspinar N, Gokmenoglu KK (2019) Determinants of ecological footprint in MINT countries. Energy & Environment 30(6):1065–1086

    Google Scholar 

  • 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. Science of The Total Environment, 138063.

  • Dreher A (2006) Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization. Appl Econ 38(10):1091–1110

    Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll JC, Kraay AC (1998) Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent panel data. Rev Econ Stat 80(4):549–560

    Google Scholar 

  • Eberhardt M, & Teal F (2010). Aggregation versus heterogeneity in cross-country growth empirics

  • GFN (2020). Ecological footprint per person of country’s population (in global hectares). https://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/ Accessed 1st August 2020.

  • Hidalgo CA, Hausmann R (2009) The building blocks of economic complexity. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106(26):10570–10575

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • IEA (2015) Southeast Asia Energy Outlook - World Energy Outlook Special Report 2015.World Energy Outlook 1–135. https:// webstore.iea.org/weo-2015-special-report-southeast-asia-energyoutlook. World Energy Outlook

  • IEA (2019). Carbon emissions per population. https://webstore.iea.org/co2-emissions-from-fuel-combustion-2019-highlights. Accessed date: 10.5.2020

  • Iheonu CO, Anyanwu OC, Odo OK, Nathaniel SP (2021) Does economic growth, international trade, and urbanization uphold environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa? Insights from quantile and causality procedures. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(22):28222–28233

    Google Scholar 

  • Meo MS, Nathaniel SP, Khan MM, Nisar QA, Fatima T (2020) Does temperature contribute to environment degradation? Pakistani experience based on nonlinear bounds testing approach. Glob Bus Rev 1:15

  • Meo M, Nathaniel S, Shaikh G, Kumar A (2021) Energy consumption, institutional quality and tourist arrival in Pakistan: is the nexus (a) symmetric amidst structural breaks?. J Public Aff 21(2):e2213

  • Munir Q, Lean HH, Smyth R (2020) CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN-5 countries: a cross-sectional dependence approach. Energy Econ 85:104571

    Google Scholar 

  • Murshed M, Abbass K, Rashid S (2020a) Modelling renewable energy adoption across south Asian economies: empirical evidence from Bangladesh, India. International Journal of Finance & Economics, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

    Google Scholar 

  • Murshed M, Ali SR, Banerjee S (2020b) Consumption of liquefied petroleum gas and the EKC hypothesis in South Asia: evidence from cross-sectionally dependent heterogeneous panel data with structural breaks. Energy, Ecology and Environment, pp 1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Murshed M, Ali SR, Haseeb M, Nathaniel SP (2021) Modelling the public moral hazard problem of international remittance inflows in Bangladesh. International Journal of Sustainable Economy 13(2):166–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Nasir MA, Huynh TLD, Tram HTX (2019) Role of financial development, economic growth & foreign direct investment in driving climate change: A case of emerging ASEAN. J Environ Manag 242:131–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel SP, Adeleye N (2021) Environmental preservation amidst carbon emissions, energy consumption, and urbanization in selected African countries: implication for sustainability. J Clean Prod 285:125409

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel S, Khan SAR (2020) The nexus between urbanization, renewable energy, trade, and ecological footprint in ASEAN countries. J Clean Prod 122709

  • Nathaniel S, Aguegboh E, Iheonu C, Sharma G, Shah M (2020c) Energy consumption, FDI, and urbanization linkage in coastal Mediterranean countries: re-assessing the pollution haven hypothesis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(28):35474–35487

  • Nathaniel S, Anyanwu O, Shah M (2020a) Renewable energy, urbanization, and ecological footprint in the Middle East and North Africa region. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–13

  • Nathaniel S, Nwodo O, Sharma G, Shah M (2020b) Renewable energy, urbanization, and ecological footprint linkage in CIVETS. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–14

  • Nathaniel SP, Yalçiner K, Bekun FV (2021a) Assessing the environmental sustainability corridor: linking natural resources, renewable energy, human capital, and ecological footprint in BRICS. Res Policy 70:101924

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel SP, Nwulu N, Bekun F (2021b) Natural resource, globalization, urbanization, human capital, and environmental degradation in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(5):6207–6221

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel SP, Murshed M, Bassim M (2021c) The nexus between economic growth, energy use, international trade and ecological footprints: the role of environmental regulations in N11 countries. Energy, Ecology and Environment, pp 1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Neagu O (2019) The link between economic complexity and carbon emissions in the european union countries: a model based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) Approach. Sustainability 11(17):4753

    Google Scholar 

  • Neagu O, Teodoru MC (2019) The relationship between economic complexity, energy consumption structure and greenhouse gas emission: heterogeneous panel evidence from the EU countries. Sustainability 11(2):497

    Google Scholar 

  • OEC (2020). Economic complexity rankings. https://oec.world/en/rankings/country/neci/ Accessed 17 February 2020.

  • 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

    Google Scholar 

  • Pata UK (2020) Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic complexity, CO 2 emissions, and ecological footprint in the USA: testing the EKC hypothesis with a structural break. Environ Sci Pollut Res:1–16

  • Pesaran MH (2004) General diagnostic tests for cross section dependence in panels. Pap. Econ, Cambridge Work. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.5113,0435

  • Pesaran MH (2007) A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence. J Appl Econ 22(2):265–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran M, Yamagata T (2008) Testing slope homogeneity in large panels. J Econ 142(1):50–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig C, Solecki W, Hammer SA, Mehrotra S (2010) Cities lead the way in climate–change action. Nature 467(7318):909–911

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saud S, Chen S, Haseeb A (2020) The role of financial development and globalization in the environment: accounting ecological footprint indicators for selected one-belt-one-road initiative countries. J Clean Prod 250:119518

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahzad U, Fareed Z, Shahzad F, Shahzad K (2020) Investigating the nexus between economic complexity, energy consumption and ecological footprint for the United States: new insights from Quantile Methods. J Clean Prod 279:123806

  • 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. Sustainable Cities and Society, 102138.

  • Solarin SA, Nathaniel SP, Bekun FV, Okunola AM, Alhassan A (2021) Towards achieving environmental sustainability: environmental quality versus economic growth in a developing economy on ecological footprint via dynamic simulations of ARDL. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(14):17942–17959

    Google Scholar 

  • Swart J, Brinkmann L (2020) Economic complexity and the environment: evidence from Brazil. In: In Universities and Sustainable Communities: Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030 (pp. 3-45). Springer, Cham

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuna G, Tuna VE (2019) The asymmetric causal relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN-5 countries. Res Policy 62:114–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Udemba EN (2020) A sustainable study of economic growth and development amidst ecological footprint: new insight from Nigerian Perspective. Sci Total Environ 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

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulucak R, Khan SUD (2020) Determinants of the ecological footprint: role of renewable energy, natural resources, and urbanization. Sustain Cities Soc 54:101996

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulucak R, Khan SUD, Baloch MA, Li N (2020) Mitigation pathways toward sustainable development: is there any trade-off between environmental regulation and carbon emissions reduction? Sustain Dev 28:813–822. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel M, Rees W (1996) Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on the earth. New Society Publishers, The New Catalyst Bioregional Series

    Google Scholar 

  • Westerlund J (2007) Testing for error correction in panel data. Oxf Bull Econ Stat 69(6):709–748

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2020). World Bank Development Indicators database (online) available at https://data.worldbank.org/ Accessed date 24.7.2020.

  • Yilanci V, Pata UK (2020) Investigating the EKC hypothesis for China: the role of economic complexity on ecological footprint. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 27:32683–32694. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09434-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that substantially improved this manuscript.

Code availability

Available on reasonable request.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria

    Solomon Prince Nathaniel

  2. School of Foundation, Lagos State University, Badagry, Nigeria

    Solomon Prince Nathaniel

Authors
  1. Solomon Prince Nathaniel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Solomon Nathaniel conceived the idea and wrote the introduction and other sections of the study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Solomon Prince Nathaniel.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Roula Inglesi-Lotz

Publisher’s note

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

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nathaniel, S.P. Economic complexity versus ecological footprint in the era of globalization: evidence from ASEAN countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 64871–64881 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15360-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15360-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation