When do climate change legislation and clean energy policies matter for net-zero emissions?

Achieving the global decarbonization goal under global conflicts is becoming more uncertain. Within this context, this article seeks to examine the effects of global environmental management and efforts to achieve this goal. Specifically, it investigates the role of democracy, control of corruption, and civil society participation as mechanisms that moderate the impact of environmental policy and legislation, particularly clean energy policy and climate change legislation (laws and regulations), on carbon emissions in highly polluted countries. The empirical results show that (i) the effects of democracy-clean energy policies and climate change legislation are relatively small in reducing carbon emissions; (ii) the effect of controlling corruption-climate change regulations is strong in reducing emissions, meaning that governments with higher control of corruption are more effective at enacting and executing laws and regulations dealing with environmental challenges which help achieve desirable environmental outcomes; (iii) strong civil society participation helps the execution of clean energy policies and climate change legislation to curb emissions, and (iv) the robustness check also provides strong evidence that higher control of corruption can contribute to the effectiveness of these policies and legislation in reducing carbon emissions. Overall, these findings suggest that the efficiency of well-designed environmental policy and legislation should be supported by a combination of higher civil society participation and greater control of corruption that can efficiently enforce such policies and legislation.

Environmental policy stringency, ICT, and technological innovation for achieving sustainable development: Assessing the importance of governance and infrastructure.

Achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) has garnered significant attention from academia and policymakers worldwide. In this study, we examine the impact of ICT, technological innovation (TI), and environmental policy stringency (EPS) on SDI, considering the moderating role of governance quality (GQI) and transport infrastructure (TIS). A comprehensive dataset of 17 advanced nations is utilized from 1996 to 2021. To capture the dynamic and extreme marginal impacts of these policy instruments on SDG attainment, we employ the advanced technique of Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS). The results demonstrate that ICT has a positive and significant effect on SDGs, particularly when combined with high levels of governance quality (GOV) and transport infrastructure (TIS). Likewise, TI has a positive impact on SDGs, especially in the presence of strong governance. Furthermore, EPS exhibits a positive association with SDGs. The findings also reveal that while governance hurts SDGs, this effect diminishes when combined with higher levels of ICT, TI, and EPS, and when TIS positively moderates the relationships. The robustness estimations using DOLS and PCSE methods validate the FGLS findings. These results underscore the importance of ICT, TI, and EPS in advancing sustainable development. Moreover, they highlight the significance of good governance and robust transport infrastructure in maximizing the positive effects of these factors. These findings hold implications for policymakers and stakeholders involved in promoting sustainable development.

Does renewable energy modulate the negative effect of environmental issues on the socio-economic welfare?

The new sustainable development goals (SDGs) call for actions to close the gap between the protection of the environment and the socio-economic development. To shed light on the link among economy, society, and ecology, this study assesses the ability of renewable energy to moderate the effects of CO2 emissions on human development and economic growth for 31 transitional economies. Our findings substantiate that: (i) CO2 emissions have unconditional negative effects on human development and economic growth; (ii) the net impacts on human development and economic growth are positive from the interplay between renewable energy and CO2 emissions, i.e. renewable energy reduces the influences of per capita CO2 emissions on human development and economic growth; (iii) renewable energy interacts with CO2 intensity and CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption to negatively influence economic growth and human development. To dampen these net negative effects, corresponding renewable energy thresholds were computed and discussed. Theoretical and empirical contributions, implications to policymakers, and practitioners are also discussed.

The impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions and economic growth in 15 major renewable energy-consuming countries.

Closing the gap between carbon emissions and economic development is one of the solutions for reaching the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The role of renewable energy in rebalancing environmental and economic conditions is becoming a significant subject of some debates in the current discussion circles. Hence, the main purpose of this article is to use both growth and environmental functions to demonstrate the effectiveness of renewable energy in promoting economic growth and mitigating carbon emissions in the case of 15 major renewable energy-consuming countries using both fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and vector error correction model (VECM) estimation techniques. The results of the FMOLS method show the efficiency of renewable energy in increasing economic growth and reducing carbon emissions. We also find, from the VECM Granger causality test, that there is (i) a bidirectional causality between economic growth and renewable energy inshort- and long-run for both estimated functions, validating the feedback hypothesis; (ii) no causal relationship between CO2 emissions and renewable energy in the long-run, but a bidirectional causality between the two variables is found in the short-run; (iii) a bidirectional relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions is found in both short and long-run. Policy and practical implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Foreign investment and air pollution: Do good governance and technological innovation matter?

This article examines how good governance and technological innovation complement foreign direct investment (FDI) to mitigate carbon emissions in twenty-three emerging economies for the period 1996-2014. Based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach, we established the following results: First, from the non-interactive regressions, FDI inflows have positive effects on the four indicators of carbon emissions while increasing governance quality and technological innovation have negative effects on these indicators. Second, from the interactive regressions, the interactions between FDI and both political and institutional governance decrease the level of CO2 emissions. Moreover, the interactions between technological innovation and FDI reduce CO2 emissions in all the estimated models, except in the model pertaining to CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production; as a result, environmental quality is improved. Policy implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Investigating the EKC hypothesis with disaggregated energy use and multi-sector production.

The Middle East and North African (MENA) economies experienced substantial economic fluctuations due to variations in carbon emissions and energy use. For this purpose, the present study examines the factors influencing carbon emissions in MENA economies, particularly economic growth and energy use. To this end, this study disaggregates economic growth into three sectors (agriculture, industry, and services) and energy use into renewable and non-renewable, and examines their environmental impacts by including the roles of urbanization and trade openness in the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. This study uses panel data from 16 MENA countries over the period 1990-2018 to estimate the short-run and long-run coefficients and the Granger causality between the variables. The empirical results using the Mean Augmented Group (AMG) and the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCE-MG) revealed that (i) the signs of GDP per capita and its squared scores validate the EKC hypothesis only at the aggregate level; (ii) the coefficients of sectoral GDP show that the industry and services sectors have the highest contributions to carbon emissions in the MENA region; (iii) non-renewable energy increases emissions, whereas renewable energy lessens them. The outcomes of the Granger causality confirm (i) a bidirectional relationship between emissions and per capita GDP as well as sectoral GDP, between CO2 emissions and renewable energy, and between per capita GDP and renewable and non-renewable energy however; (ii) a unidirectional causal impact running from non-renewable energy to CO2 emissions is found in the short term. The study calls for effective policies to focus on curbing emissions in secondary and tertiary economic sectors by growing the part of renewable energy in the total energy mix.

Impacts of health expenditures and environmental degradation on health status-Disability-adjusted life years and infant mortality.

Introduction: Human health and well-being are intimately related to environmental quality. In this respect, the present study contributes to the existing health economic literature by examining whether public and private health expenditures (PPHE) moderate the incidences of environmental degradation on the health status in Saudi Arabia, particularly disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and infant mortality. Methods: Using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method. Results and Discussion: The empirical results revealed that (i) unconditional positive impacts of CO2 emissions on increasing DALYs and infant mortality; (ii) conditional negative impacts of public health expenditures on DALYs and infant mortality in all the estimated models, whereas global and private expenditure contribute only on reducing infant mortality; (iii) public health expenditure is more effective than private health expenditure in reducing infant mortality; (iv) the effects of the interactions between the indicators of both health expenditures and CO2 emissions on DALYs and infant mortality are negative and significant only for the specifications relating to public health expenditures, indicating that this later could be employed as a policy or conditional variable that moderates the adverse impacts of carbon emissions on the population's health status. Generally, the study presents an overview of environmental health change's effects and examine how these effects may be reduced through increasing health spending. The study provides recommendations for addressing health status, health expenditures, and carbon emissions, all of which are directly or indirectly linked to the study.

Factors influencing CO2 emissions in the MENA countries: the roles of renewable and non-renewable energy.

This article seeks to examine the impacts of renewable and non-renewable energy on carbon dioxide emissions for 14 Middle East and North Africa economies using fully modified least-squares and vector error correction model techniques. Different sectoral outputs (agricultural, industry, and services) are considered in the analysis to find the influence of each sector on carbon emissions and to validate the environmental Kuznets curve model at both aggregate and disaggregate levels. The fully modified least-squares estimates show that renewable energy enhances environmental quality, whereas non-renewable energy deteriorates it. We also find that the industry sector has the highest contribution to environmental degradation. The results of the vector error correction model technique show a two-way linkage between CO2 emissions and renewable energy and between CO2 emissions and non-renewable energy in both short and long runs. At the sectoral level, we also find a two-way linkage between agricultural value added and CO2 emissions, a unidirectional relationship running from emissions to industry value added, and a unidirectional linkage running from services value added to CO2 emissions in both short and long runs. Therefore, governments must focus their actions on environmental policies of a green and inclusive economy that combine tools of environmental economics with those of the ecological economy. This can be considered a call for policymakers to take relevant and quick policies and actions towards low-carbon energy to reach these dual objectives.

Environmental quality, healthcare and research and development in Saudi Arabia.

While global warming and climate change associated with increasing carbon dioxide are widely seen to be one of the most serious worldwide dangers to population health, little is known regarding "how" country alters the linkage between increasing CO2 emissions and population health outcomes. Current literature on the health effects of CO2 emissions recommends various factors that may establish a more robust link, including health expenditure and research and development. Therefore, the purpose of this inquiry is to examine the effectiveness of health expenditure and R&D in improving health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions. Using data for Saudi Arabia over the period 2000-2018, the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) technique shows that (i) health and R&D expenditures decrease infant mortality and increase life expectancy; (ii) health and R&D expenditures reduce CO2 emissions in all the estimated models; (iii) health and R&D expenditures can improve health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions; and (iv) health and R&D expenditures have both direct and indirect effect on health outcomes. Policy implications and limitations are also discussed.

Does good governance moderate the financial development-CO2 emissions relationship?

This inquiry contributes to the previous literature by analyzing the empirical linkage between the development of the financial sector and carbon emissions in the presence of good governance. Specifically, we examine the ability of good governance in moderating the negative effect of financial development on environmental quality in Saudi Arabia over the period 1996-2016. Different indicators of financial development and governance quality are included in the analysis. Using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimator, we find (i) the exostence of unconditional effects of the three indicators of financial sector development on increasing carbon emissions in most models; (ii) the indicators of governance quality increase carbon emissions in most models; (iii) the net effects on CO2 emissions are negative from the complementarity between the indicators of financial sector development and political and institutional governance, meaning that the development of financial sector reduces carbon emissions if it is accompanied by good institutional and political governance.

Determinants of environmental sustainability: Evidence from Saudi Arabia.

Policymakers in many developing countries are facing pressures between the needs of environmental sustainability. In this context, the present article aims to examine the determinants of environmental sustainability in Saudi Arabia by addressing the following two questions: Is there an EKC in Saudi Arabia? Does financial development, human development, FDI, and trade openness lead to environmental improvement in Saudi Arabia? The empirical findings show that (i) per capita income, financial development, FDI and foreign trade positively contributes to environmental degradation; (ii) EKC hypothesis is validated in the case of Saudi Arabia; (iii) environmental degradation is very sensitive to the levels of financial development, FDI, and foreign trade; and corresponding thresholds were calculated. Policy makers in Saudi Arabia are invited to augment these variables at the level of the calculated thresholds (turning point) to attain the desired impact on environmental improvement.