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Caring for the environment: how CO2 emissions respond to human capital in BRICS economies?

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Abstract

Environmental sustainability concerns are growing worldwide. Many recent studies have focused on key indicators of CO2 emissions, but less consideration has been given to human capital. This study examines the impact of human capital on CO2 emissions in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies from 1991 to 2019 using a nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag approach. Findings show that positive change in education has reduced CO2 emissions, while a negative change in education has increased CO2 emissions in the long run in a group of BRICS. Regarding economy-wise analysis, a positive change in education reduces CO2 emissions in Russia, China, and South Africa in the long run, but a negative change in education has an increasing impact on CO2 emissions in Brazil and China. The results of robustness are also maintained in group and economy-wise empirical analysis. Policymakers should develop the education sector infrastructure in order to support the decrease of CO2 emissions.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Open University, Nanchang, China

    Xiaoyan Li

  2. School of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Sana Ullah

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  1. Xiaoyan Li
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  2. Sana Ullah
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This idea was given by Xiaoyan Li. Xiaoyan Li and Sana Ullah analyzed the data and wrote the complete paper. While Xiaoyan Li read and approved the final version.

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Li, X., Ullah, S. Caring for the environment: how CO2 emissions respond to human capital in BRICS economies?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 18036–18046 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17025-0

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