Environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical Relationship between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in Upper-Middle-Income Regions of China

Abstract

This paper examines the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in upper-middle-income regions of China with the panel data of 21 provinces from 2000 to 2017. The influence mechanism of socio-economic factors on the EKC of these regions is also detected. The results show that the energy consumption EKC fitting map in these regions conforms to the classical environmental Kuznets curve, which is an inverted "N" type, and the inflection point is ahead and more accurate after adding spatial effects. The direct effect of energy consumption has delayed the inflection point, indicating that the level of industrialization, urbanization, and population density have a significant impact on EKC. At the same time, it is found that the level of industrialization and population density have a positive relationship with energy consumption, while the level of urbanization has a negative correlation with energy consumption. The spatial spillover effect of the indirect effects of total energy consumption, coal consumption, and crude oil consumption shows that the level of industrialization has a significant and negative link with EKC. The increase in the level of industrialization will affect the total energy consumption of neighboring areas and the consumption of coal and crude oil.

Carbon Emissions Trading and Sustainable Development in China: Empirical Analysis Based on the Coupling Coordination Degree Model

“…Secondly, by calculating the growth rates for coupling coordination from 2011–2018 [ 12 ], we found that the growth rates in Tianjin, Chaozhou, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Jieyang, Meizhou, Shaoguan, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Ezhou, Wuhan, and Xianning were negative (shown in Table 3 ). Of the 14 cities with negative growth, 10 were from Guangdong Province.…”

“…However, the relationship between economic development and environmental quality is the result of the complex interactive impacts of the two systems. For instance, Krueger’s study confirmed an “inverted U-shaped” relationship between economic growth and pollution emissions [ 10 , 11 ], known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), which has been widely accepted [ 12 ]. However, subsequent scholars have verified various relationships between the two, for example Friedl and Getzner [ 13 ] found an “N-shaped” relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emissions in Austria over the period 1960–1999.…”

Testing the Energy-Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in the Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Consumption Models in Egypt

“…Considering spatial autocorrelation, Li et al [ 21 ] investigated the 21 regions of China from 2000–2017 to test the cubic relationship between growth and different energy sources, controlling urbanization, industrialization, and population density. They corroborated the inverted N-shaped relationship in oil, gas, coal, and total energy consumption models.…”

“…This literature review has found many studies on EKC testing, but limited studies have investigated the EEKC, which has been tested hypothesizing an inverted U-shaped relationship between energy variables and economic growth [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Some studies have also considered the possible N-shaped relationship between energy variables and economic growth [ 14 , 15 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. In the context of Egypt, literature has investigated the EKC in a relationship between pollutant emissions and economic growth [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 72 , 73 ].…”

“…Particularly, Figure 2 shows the importance of EEKC analyses of different energy sources in Egypt, because all energy sources have different trends. In the global literature, the EEKC has been investigated considering a quadratic relationship to energy and growth [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ] and considering a cubic relationship to energy and growth [ 14 , 15 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. In the case of Egypt, the literature has investigated the linear impact of income on energy consumption, ignoring these quadratic or cubic relationships [ 19 , 20 , 23 , 24 ].…”