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Purpose The persistent rise in the global discharges of carbon (CO2) emissions and the likely undesirable consequences of this practice on the global atmosphere attracts the attention of policy makers and researchers to argue on the causes and perpetrators of CO2 emissions at international level. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between economic growth, energy production, capital formation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and CO2 emissions in the LMI and Middle East and North African (MENA) countries for the period 1980–2011. Design/methodology/approach Two separate autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models were estimated for both the LMI and MENA countries, for the period 1980–2011. Furthermore, a fully modified OLS (FMOLS) was estimated for the two regions over the same period. Findings The results indicated that for the lower-middle income countries, there is a positive significant relationship between energy production and CO2 emissions. In the long run while in the short run, FDI and EGP are positively related to CO2 emissions while gross capital formation (GCF) has a negative impact on the CO2 emissions in the short run over the same period. Similarly, for the MENA countries, there is a positive relationship between EGP, GCF and CO2 emissions in both the short run and the long run. Furthermore, the estimated group mean FMOLS indicated that apart from GDP, all other variables have significant positive impact on CO2 emissions. Research limitations/implications The study covers only the period 1980–2011. This was because of limited available data during the study. Practical implications The study recommended the adoption of green technology by FDI firms and also in the process of energy production such as in crude oil production. Originality/value The study carried out a complex analysis where simultaneously all the countries of LMI and MENA regions where considered. Furthermore, separate analysis where conducted for each of the LMI and MENA regions using ARDL model. Variable representing energy production was included in the analysis which was not considered by previous studies. Lastly, FMOLS was estimated for the pooled of LMI and MENA countries which further distinguished the study from the relevant previous studies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look at the asymmetric effect of oil production on environmental degradation in OPEC member countries from 1970–2019. Design/methodology/approach The authors build a nonlinear panel ARDL–PMG model using the Shin et al. (2014) nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach in panel form to assess both the short- and long-run impact of positive and negative oil production movements on CO2 emissions. Findings The result demonstrates that the variables are cointegrated. According to the linear long run coefficients, oil production, FDI inflows and economic growth both have a positive and significant relationship with CO2 emissions, implying that they deteriorate environmental quality in OPEC countries, while renewable energy has a negative relationship with CO2, implying that increasing renewable energy improves environmental quality. The asymmetric findings prove that positive and negative shocks of oil production exert a positive effect on carbon emissions in short run and long run. Research limitations/implications To begin with, the empirical assessments do not include all OPEC member nations; researchers are advised to resolve this constraint by looking at the economies of other OPEC members. Albeit the lack of data for other energy sources may serve as another constraint of this research, future research is expected to broaden the current framework via other energy sources such as nuclear, electricity, biomass, solar as well as wind. Originality/value The research adds to the body of knowledge as many of the prevailing studies in the literature failed to look at the asymmetric effect of oil production on the quality of environment. This is another gap in the literature that the current study is set out to fill. This study adds oil production as an explanatory variable and helps to extend the existing literature for OPEC countries, which could propose a solution to deal with ensuing environmental issues.

Purpose The continuous increase in the discharges of carbon emissions (CO2) in the global atmosphere and the likely negative consequences of this practice on the atmosphere draw the attention of researchers and policymakers to argue on the causes and perpetrators of CO2 emissions. This paper aims to examine the impacts of hydropower consumption, FDI and manufacturing performance on CO2 emissions in the Association of southeast Asian nations (ASEAN)-4 countries. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the data on variables, such as hydro-power consumption, FDI, manufacturing value added and CO2 emissions spanning the period 1980–2015. Autoregressive Distributive Lag Bound test approach was used to assess the relationships among the variables. Findings The long run estimation of elasticities for all the countries indicates that the coefficient of hydro power consumption was found to be significantly related to CO2 emissions only in Malaysia. Additionally, the coefficients manufacturing performance were found to be significant in influence the amount of CO2 emission in all the ASEAN-4 countries. Furthermore, the coefficients of FDI inflows were found to be significant in explaining CO2 emissions in Malaysia and the Philippines, respectively. In the short run, the estimated results show that all the variables were found to be significant in explaining CO2 emissions in the countries under study. Research limitations/implications Singapore is excluded from the ASEAN-4 due to insufficient data on hydro energy consumption. Practical implications The study recommends that as Hydro power energy is a clean source of renewable electricity. Its consumption indicates a negative relationship with CO2 emissions. The countries should emphasize more on the use of hydro source of energy than the other sources which increase the rate of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Originality/value As most of the relevant previous studies did not consider the simultaneous impact of hydro energy consumption, FDI and manufacturing value added on CO2 emissions in the ASEAN-4, this study is an important contribution to the existing relevant literature.

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