Nexus between environmental vulnerability and agricultural productivity in BRICS: what are the roles of renewable energy, environmental policy stringency, and technology?

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine the effect of carbon dioxide emission and air pollution on agricultural productivity while accounting for the effect of renewable energy use, ICT, technological innovation, environmental policy stringency, and democracy for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) during the period 1990-2019. Several econometric procedures including mean group estimates are employed. The result suggests that both carbon dioxide emission and air pollution negatively affect the productivity of the agricultural sector. The effects of renewable energy, ICT, technological innovation, and democracy are found to be increasing agricultural productivity. Environmental policy stringency coefficient confirms the porter hypothesis. The result from the causality test suggests that bidirectional causality exists between CO2, PM2.5, renewable energy, technological innovation, ICT, and agricultural productivity. Finally, the study provides several policy suggestions for the governments of the BRICS economies in order to increase agricultural productivity while tackling the environmental vulnerability.