A continental and global assessment of the role of energy consumption, total natural resource rent, and economic growth as determinants of carbon emissions.

To limit the effects of carbon emissions and realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries worldwide seek efficient energy usage, economic sustainability, and natural resource blessing. Studies at the continental level mostly neglected the differences between the continents, while this study explores the long-run effect of natural resource rents, economic development, and energy consumption on carbon emissions and their interactions across the global panel of 159 countries divided into six continents from 2000 to 2019. Recently proposed panel estimators, causality tests, variance decomposition, and impulse response techniques were adopted. Findings from the panel estimator revealed that economic development contributed to environmental sustainability. At the same time, energy consumption increases ecological pollution globally and on most continents. The interaction between economic development and energy consumption positively impacted ecological pollution. Natural resources' rent was found to promote environmental pollution in Asia. The causality test results were mixed across continents and globally. However, findings from the impulse response and variance decomposition confirmed that economic development and energy consumption counted higher variations of carbon emissions than natural resource rents within the 10-year forecast. This study provides a valuable baseline for formulating policies related to the economy-energy-resources­carbon nexus.

Exploring the dynamic nexus between urbanization and industrialization with carbon emissions in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from panel PMG-ARDL estimation.

Urbanization and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa have undergone dramatic changes in recent decades with countries in sub-Saharan Africa seeking to industrialize their economies to boost economic growth. This study, with panel data from 37 sub-Saharan countries between the time period of 1995 and 2017, employs panel cointegration tests and pooled mean group ARDL (PMG-ARDL) techniques and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test to empirically examine the impact of urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and industrialization on carbon emissions. Results from the PMG estimator confirm no significant impact of urbanization on carbon emissions in both the long run and short run. One percent surge in energy consumption was found to have significantly caused 1.03% and 0.15% rise in carbon emissions in both long run and short run respectively, thereby reducing the environmental quality. Further findings revealed a significantly negative relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions as well as industrialization and carbon emissions. Additionally, our causality test shows a unidirectional relationship running from energy consumption to carbon emissions. Policymakers are advised to develop rural areas and plan urban centers, pay attention to sustainable energy sources and waste recycling, and educate the populace to improve environmental quality.

Dynamic nexus between energy consumption, economic growth, and urbanization with carbon emission: evidence from panel PMG-ARDL estimation.

Carbon emission has been documented as a significant component of greenhouse gas that has been a significant source of environmental distortion globally. Based on panel data of 15 nations from 1980 to 2017, this study empirically investigates the impact of energy consumption, economic growth, urbanization, and energy consumption on carbon emission using panel co-integration tests and pooled mean group ARDL (PMG-ARDL) techniques. We augment the model with urbanization to establish the role urbanization plays in energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emission nexus. Findings confirm that in the long run and short run, urbanization has no significant effect on the environment quality. On the other hand, energy consumption was found to enhance environmental destruction significantly in the short run and long run. Additional findings confirmed that economic growth causes environmental distortion in the long run for the sampled nations. Government officials and policymakers need to pay special attention to enhance adequate energy, urban planning, and emission reduction without affecting the economic development to achieve urban-economic-energy sustainability, which is key to attaining a green and clean environment.