Economic growth and global particulate pollution concentrations

Abstract

Though the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) was originally developed to model the ambient concentrations of pollutants, most subsequent applications focused on pollution emissions. Yet, previous research suggests that it is more likely that economic growth could eventually reduce the concentrations of local pollutants than emissions. We examine the role of income, convergence, and time related factors in explaining changes in PM2.5 pollution in a global panel of 158 countries between 1990 and 2010. We find that economic growth has positive but relatively small effects, time effects are also small but larger in wealthier and formerly centrally planned economies, and, for our main dataset, convergence effects are small and not statistically significant. There is no insample income turning point for regressions that include both the convergence variables and a set of control variables. AbstractThough the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) was originally developed to model the ambient concentrations of pollutants, most subsequent applications focused on pollution emissions. Yet, previous research suggests that it is more likely that economic growth could eventually reduce the concentrations of local pollutants than emissions. We examine the role of income, convergence, and time related factors in explaining changes in PM2.5 pollution in a global panel of 158 countries between 1990 and 2010. We find that economic growth has positive but relatively small effects, time effects are also small but larger in wealthier and formerly centrally planned economies, and, for our main dataset, convergence effects are small and not statistically significant. There is no in-sample income turning point for regressions that include both the convergence variables and a set of control variables.

Particulate Pollution in Korhogo and Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) during the Dry Season

“…Similarly, in the POLCA program (POLlution of African Capitals), Doumbia et al (2012) measured PM2.5 concentrations at an urban site in Dakar from June 2008 to May 2009, which were above the WHO standard. These various studies highlight overexposure of populations to atmospheric particles whose economic impacts were assessed by Stern and van Dijk (2017), and mortality by Cohen et al (2005) and in Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 by Murray et al (2012). Also, within the framework of DACCIWA, Keita et al (2020) have calculated emission factors (EF) for particulate pollutants based on sources and considering the specificities of African regions in order to improve emission inventories for these pollutants.…”

Trace Ammonia Removal from Air by Selective Adsorbents Reusable with Water

“…Ammonia is one of the most mass-produced chemicals, employed mainly as a fertilizer for crops; its production was reported as 170 million metric tons around the world in 2018, , which has been increasing because of global population growth. Ammonia gas released from agriculture and livestock farms is one of the main precursors of PM2.5, posing an increasing risk for the health of people on a global scale. ,,- The EU government aims to decrease ammonia emissions in the atmosphere by 19% by 2030 or later . To achieve this target, methods for the removal of trace ammonia in air must be developed.…”

The long-term relationship between emissions and economic growth for SO 2 , CO 2 , and BC

“…Second, it features significant temporal overlap with many other studies exploring the relationship between economic growth and emissions (e.g. Stern andvan Dijk 2017, Stern et al 2017). We aggregate all 56 applicable sources into four sectors: power, industry, residential, and transportation (see table S2).…”

“…Given the different sources, processes, and economic drivers at work, each pollutant develops distinct emission trajectories. Understanding the long-term income-emission relationship is one useful way to study the trend of emissions associated with social and economic development (Heil and Selden 2001, Aldy 2006, Chakravartya et al 2009, Nordhaus 2010, Stern and van Dijk 2017.…”