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Over the last few decades, economic policy uncertainty (EPU) has surged across the globe. Furthermore, EPU affects economic activities, which may also generate strong CO 2 emissions. The goal of this study is to explore the impact of EPU (measured by the world uncertainty index) on CO 2 emissions in the case of the top ten carbon emitter countries, spanning the period 1990 to 2015. The findings from the PMG-ARDL modelling approach document that the world uncertainty index (WUI) affects CO 2 emissions in both the short and the long run. In the short run, a 1% increase in WUI mitigates CO 2 emissions by 0.11%, while a 1% rise in WUI escalates CO 2 emissions by 0.12% in the long run. The findings could have some substantial practical effects on economic policies through which policy makers try to shrink any uncertainty by organizing and participating in international summits and treaties. In addition, international organizations could also launch certain programs to shrink uncertainties associated with economic policy. Finally, these countries should introduce innovation, renewable energy, and enforce alternative technologies that are environment friendly. Overall, governments must provide strong tax exemptions on the use of clean energy, while R&D budgets should also expand.

High levels of CO 2 emissions are extensively cited as one of the main global concerns nowadays. Therefore, researchers have been investigating the factors that affect CO 2 emissions. In the prior literature, several social, economic, and political drivers of CO 2 emissions have been investigated; however, there is a dearth of the literature on the impact of geopolitical risks (GPR) on CO 2 emissions. Hence, the objective of this study is to explore the impact of GPR on CO 2 emissions in the case of the BRICS countries while controlling the effects of population, GDP, non-renewable energy, and renewable energy consumption. The study uses the recently developed GPR index, proposed by Caldara and Iacoviello ( 2018 ), and the AMG (augmented mean group) estimator method. The findings document that GPR escalates CO 2 emissions. That is, a 1% increase in GPR escalates CO 2 emissions by 13%. Moreover, it also reports that renewable energy consumption impedes CO 2 emissions. In contrast, GDP, population, and non-renewable energy consumption surge CO 2 emissions. The study also proposes a few policy implications based on the findings: (1) policymakers and government officials should try to limit GPR through peace treaties, agreements, and negotiations; (2) share of renewable energy in total energy consumption should be increased in order to plunge CO 2 emissions.

This paper investigates the long-run dynamics between health care expenditure and environmental pollution across four global income groups. The analysis uses data from 178 countries, spanning the period 1995–2017. Panel estimations are employed with unobserved heterogeneity, temporal persistence, and cross-sectional dependence using a model with common correlated effects. The findings document that the health care expenditure is a necessity for all sub-groups. We established that a 1% increase in national income increased health expenditure by 7.2% in the full sample, and 9.3%, 8.6%, 6.8% and 2.9% for low, low-middle, upper-middle and high-income groups, respectively, while a 1% increase in CO 2 emissions increased health expenditure by 2.5% in the full sample, and 2.9%, 1.2%, 2.3% and 2.6% across these four income groups. We recommend that coordinated approach is needed in setting policy goals both in energy and health sectors in mitigating the negative effects of pollution. Our findings indicate that low-carbon emissions and energy efficient health care services will significantly reduce future health care expenses.

This exploratory study extends the literature on the convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions in analyzing stochastic and club convergence within a panel framework for developing countries. The results from Pesaran (Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22(2), 265-312, 2007) and Bai and Carrion-i-Silvestre (Review of Economic Studies, 76(2), 471-501, 2009) panel unit root tests with allowance for cross-sectional dependence confirm stochastic convergence for low-income, lower middle-income, and combined country panels. Further analysis using the nonlinear time-varying factor model of Phillips and Sul (Econometrica, 75(6), 1771-1855, 2007; Journal of Applied Econometrics, 24(7), 1153-1185, 2009) to test for convergence reveals the emergence of multiple convergence clubs within each of the three country panels examined. We observe geographic proximity among many of the countries within the respective convergence clubs.

Environmental policies are a significant cornerstone of a developed economy, but the question that arises is whether such policies lead to a sustainable growth path. It is clear that the energy sector plays a pivotal role in environmental policies, and although the current literature has focused on examining the link between energy consumption and economic growth through an abundance of studies, it does not explicitly consider the role of institutional or governance quality variables in the process. Both globalization and democracy are important drivers of sustainability, while environmentalism is essential for the objective of gaining a “better world.” Governance quality is expected to be the key, not only for economic purposes but also for the efficiency of environmental policies. To that end, the analysis in this paper explores the link between governance quality and energy efficiency for the EU-28 countries, spanning the period 1995 to 2014. The findings document that there is a nexus between energy efficiency and income they move together: the most efficient countries are in the group with higher GDP per capita. Furthermore, the results show that governance quality is an important driver of energy efficiency and, hence, of environmental policies.

Considering that the rigor of economic activities has widely been linked with the turbulent nature of the increasing global atmospheric and environmental hazards thus hampering environmental sustainability, it then presented a suggestive dilemma realizing that increasing unemployment, i.e., de-economizing human activities posit a desirable environmental quality effect. Given this backdrop, and employing the more recent estimation techniques, the current study probes the validity of the novel environmental Phillips curve (i.e., negative relationship between unemployment and environmental degradation) opined by Kashem and Rahman (Environ Sci Pollut Res 1–18, 2020). In this case, the panel of BRICST (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Turkey) economies for the selected data set over the experimental period 1992-2016 is analyzed. After using related approaches that are designed to account for probable country-specific factors, i.e., the cross-sectional dependence concern, the findings from the PMG-ARDL model affirmed the validity of the environmental Phillips curve for the BRICST countries. Thus, there is a significant trade-off between unemployment and environmental degradation. Moreover, this study concludes that renewable energy consumption improves the environmental quality, while conventional energy sources remained detrimental factors to environmental quality in the panel of the examined countries. Therefore, the study identified that the share of renewable energy in the energy mix should be escalated to improve environmental quality and maintain or improve the employment level, thus advancing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the BRICST countries.

This study inspects the empirical association between inflation instability, GDP growth volatility, and the environmental quality in Pakistan, covering the period 1975–2018 by using an asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodological approach. The asymmetric ARDL results document that positive and negative shocks of inflation instability have different effects on environmental quality. Negative shocks of inflation instability have a positive influence on carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2 ) and nitrous oxide emissions (N 2 O), while positive shocks of inflation instability have insignificant effects in the long run. Asymmetric findings also suggest that positive and negative fluctuations in GDP growth volatility affect CO 2 and N 2 O emissions differently, while they have insignificant results on methane emissions (CH 4 ) in the long run. Additionally, in the short run, positive and negative shocks of inflation instability and GDP growth volatility behave differently in terms of their impact on pollution emissions. Based on these findings, the study opens up innovative intuitions for policymakers to support a robust role of economic stability in attaining targets relevant to pollution reduction.

This study aims to examine the impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on the agriculture, industry, services, and overall economic activities (GDP) across a panel of G20 nations. The study makes use of annual data from 1980 to 2012 on 17 countries of the G20. To achieve the study objectives, we apply several robust panel econometric models which account for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity in the analysis. The empirical findings confirm the significant long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run elasticities indicate that both renewable and non-renewable energy consumptions have significant positive effect on the economic activities across the sectors and also on the overall economic output. These results also imply that the impact is more from renewable energy on economic activities than that of non-renewable energy. Given that, our results offer significant policy implications. We suggest that the policy makers should aim to initiate effective policies to turn domestic and foreign investments into renewable energy projects. This eventually ensures low carbon emissions and sustainable economic development across the G20 nations.

This study examines how different forms of greenhouse gases affect happiness, along with other socioeconomic and demographic variables. The study uses a panel data analysis to investigate the relationship between happiness and greenhouse gases for 95 countries, spanning the period 1990–2015. The empirical analysis is based on different measures of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and total greenhouse gases (GHG). The empirical results document that greenhouse gases have a strong negative impact on happiness. All forms of greenhouse gases adversely impact cross-national happiness. This study concludes that greenhouse gases are a significant source of lowering cross-national happiness levels, while economic affluence is improving life satisfaction. The findings remain robust to different specifications, alternative estimation methods, and additional control variables. The findings offer certain important policy implications, such as policymakers in these countries need to invest more in green technologies and green spaces to enhance their supply and accessibility.

Because of the lack of econometric studies in relevance to the link between tourism and renewable energy, the goal of this study is to remedy this lack and to explore the causal relationships between renewable energy consumption, the number of tourist arrivals, the trade openness ratio, economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for a panel of 22 Central and South American countries, spanning the period 1995-2010. The empirical findings document that the variables under investigation are cointegrated. Short-run Granger causality tests illustrate unidirectional causalities running from: (i) renewable energy to CO2 emissions and trade; (ii) tourism to trade and FDI; and (iii) economic growth to renewable energy and tourism. In the long run, there is evidence of bidirectional causality between renewable energy, tourism, FDI, trade, and emissions. Thus, renewable energy and tourism are in a strong long-run causal relationship. Moreover, long-run estimates for the whole panel and for the three income panel groups considered (Lower Middle, Upper Middle, High) highlight that tourism, renewable energy, and FDI contribute to the reduction of emissions, while trade and economic growth lead to higher carbon emissions. Therefore, attracting foreign direct investment, encouraging the use of renewable energy, and tourism development, particularly green tourism, are good policies for this region to combat climate change.