Modeling the Effects of Agricultural Innovation and Biocapacity on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in an Agrarian-Based Economy: Evidence From the Dynamic ARDL Simulations

Abstract

In this paper, we modeled the effects of income, agricultural innovation, energy utilization, and biocapacity on Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We tested the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Nigeria from 1981 to 2014. We applied the novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) simulations to develop conceptual tools for policy formulation. The empirical results confirmed the EKC hypothesis and found that agricultural innovation and energy utilization have an escalation effect on CO2 emissions whereas income and biocapacity have long-run emission-reduction effects. The causality results found agricultural innovation attributable to CO2 emissions and observed that income drives energy demand. Income, biocapacity, and energy utilization are found to predict changes in CO2 emissions. These results are validated by the innovation accounting techniques—wherein 22.79% of agricultural innovation corresponds to 49.43% CO2 emissions—5.95% of biocapacity has 35.78% attributable CO2 emissions—and 1.61% of energy spurs CO2 emissions by 16.27%. The policy implication for this study is that energy efficiency, clean energy utilization and sustainable ecosystem recovery and management are the surest ways to combat climate change and its impacts.

Energy consumption, economic development and environmental degradation nexus for Nigeria

“…Similarly, an increase in GDP per capita increases CO2 emissions by 109.99 percent, implying a positive relationship between GDP per capita and CO2 emissions. This also corroborates findings by Aiyetan and Olomola, 2017;Egbetokun et al, 2019;Ali et al, 2021. This also conforms with a-priori expectation as a rise in GDP per capita is closely followed by an increase in emissions as posited by the EKC hypothesis. This is so because activities that increase GDP are driven by energy which increases environmental degradation.…”

“…A percentage increase in the squared value of GDP per capita reduces CO2 emissions by 333.79 percent in the long run. This also conforms with a-priori expectation as posited by the EKC hypothesis, while corroborating findings by Aiyetan and Olomola, 2017;Egbetokun et al, 2019;Ali et al, 2021. Gross fixed capital formation and GDP per capita did not show significant effect on CO2 emissions.…”

“…Empirical evidence on the existence of the EKC in Nigeria is at best mixed (Egbetokun et al, 2019;Aiyetan and Olomola, 2017;Alege and Ogundipe, 2013;Akpan and Chuku, 2011). While some studies have confirmed the existence (Egbetokun et al, 2019;Aiyetan and Olomola, 2017;Ali et al, 2021), others have refuted the evidence (Chuku,2011;Alege and Ogundipe, 2013). Differences in the result could be attributed to the different estimation techniques employed by different researchers as well as variables employed in the study.…”

The carbon dioxide emissions effect of income growth, electricity consumption and electricity power crisis

“…This is because it is a major contributing factor to greenhouse gases that lead to the twin problem of global warming and climate change. Thus, researchers have investigated the drivers of carbon emissions or cleaner environment at the national and firm levels from different angles (El-Kassar and Singh, 2019; Singh and Giacosah, 2019; Nwani, 2021; Ali et al , 2021) toward limiting the pace of carbon emission. Such investigation is worthwhile since a lower CO 2 emission is necessary for achieving sustainable development.…”

Modelling the effect of energy consumption on different environmental indicators in the United States: The role of financial development and renewable energy innovations

“…Considering that the United States became an ecological footprint (EF) deficit nation since July 14, 2015 (see the report of Global Footprint Network, 2020), this further supports the argument that the country's ecology cannot sustain the exponential growth of human induced environmental pollution 1 . With the current trend in US consumption patterns (see Table 1) amid ecological supply deficits, the environmental impact of other factors such as renewable energy development, immigration, energy prices and real income growth become increasingly important (Ali et al 2021; Alola, 2019a, 2019b; Alola et al, 2020; Alola & Kirikkaleli, 2019; Ike et al, 2020a; Ike, Usman, Alola, et al, 2020; Iorember et al 2020; Musa et al 2021; Usman et al 2021; Usman, Alola, et al, 2020; Usman, Olanipekun, et al, 2020; Al‐Mulali and Ozturk 2016).…”