The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the environmental problem of the day

Gill, Abid Rashid; Viswanathan, K. Kuperan; Hassan, Sallahuddin

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.247

Cited by 220 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The current empirical study results of global pollutants, greenhouse gases, comprehensive environmental pressure indicators, or energy consumption do not always support the EKC hypothesis [19]. In fact, different research results have been derived for different pollutants [20]. In addition, research results could be different when different quantitative methods are used [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Economic Growth and Pollution Emission in China: Structural Path Analysis

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution has long been a controversial topic. However, simply the detection of the existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is not enough to understand how economic growth induced environmental pollution. This study investigated the path and mechanism of the effect of economic growth on the emission of two types of environmental pollutants, that is, industrial smoke and dust and sulfur dioxide, by using a structural equation model and a sample of 283 prefecture-level cities in China in 2005 and 2015. The research results show that economic growth exerted both direct and indirect effects on the emission of the two environmental pollutants. In addition to a direct impact through the economic scale effect, economic growth also indirectly impacted the two environmental pollutants emissions through three mediators, that is, industrial structure, technological innovations and environmental regulations. For different pollutants, the effect paths of economic growth on their emission showed both similarities and differences. First, with regards to industrial smoke and dust emissions and sulfur dioxide emissions, the effects of economic growth on the amount of these two emissions through environmental regulations and the industrial structure were negative inhibitory effects and positive promoting effects, respectively. This means that in prefectural-level cities in China, environmental regulation factors have produced some effects in reducing the emissions of these two pollutants while the industrial structure (level of industrialization) can increase the emissions of these two pollutants. However, the effect strength of these two paths shows a gradual weakening. Second, these two paths differ in effect strength and its changes. The positive promoting effects of the industrial structure on pollutant emission are significantly higher than the inhibitory effects of environmental regulation. In addition, our study also found that the direct impact path of economic growth on environmental pollution also passed significance testing, particularly in 2015. This shows that other reasons affect pollutant emission, such as system factors, spatial migration of industries and so forth.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Economic Growth and Pollution Emission in China: Structural Path Analysis

et al. 2018

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“…The study provides a way to determine the relationship between the variables used in the EKC and the agricultural sectoral level in South Africa, as intended SDG indicators. The EKC should be a precursor for developing nations to pursue economic (sectoral) growth instead of implementing pro-environment policies [39]. Economic (sectoral) growth eventually leads to attaining both environmental and economic goals, whilst pro-environment policies slow down the economic (sectoral) growth.…”

Section: Conceptual Framework: Environmental Kuznets Curvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conceptual framework of the study is based on environmental Kuznets curves (EKC). EKCs increase awareness of environmental changes including global warming and climate change [39]. Environmental Kuznets curves (EKC) often reflect people paying more attention to environmental issues and resolving them with the help of increasing income.…”

Section: Conceptual Framework: Environmental Kuznets Curvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Achieving Food Security in a Climate Change Environment: Considerations for Environmental Kuznets Curve Use in the South African Agricultural Sector

Ngarava

Zhou

Ayuk

et al. 2019

Climate

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This study relates agricultural income and agricultural carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the context of environmental Kuznets curves for South Africa. We posit likely relationships between UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 1, 2 and 13, relating food production to climate change action. CO2 emissions, income, coal energy consumption and electricity energy consumption time series data from 1990 to 2012 within the South African agricultural sector were used. The autoregressive distributive lag bounds-test and the error correction model were used to analyse the data. The results show long-run relationships. However, agricultural income was only significant in the linear and squared models. Changes in agricultural CO2 emissions from the short run towards the long run are estimated at 71.9%, 124.7% and 125.3% every year by the linear, squared and cubic models, respectively. Exponentially increasing agricultural income did not result in a decrease in agricultural CO2 emissions, which is at odds with the Kuznets hypothesis. The study concludes that it will be difficult for South Africa to simultaneously achieve SDGs 1, 2 and 13, especially given that agriculture is reliant upon livestock production, the largest CO2 emitter in the sector. The sector needs to shift to renewable energy consumption with fewer CO2 emissions.

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“…Recently, more attention has been focused on analyses of factors influencing APEs. Some studies established econometric models to discuss the relationships between APEs and macroeconomic variables [20][21][22][23] and explore the effects of these macroeconomic variables on APEs [24][25][26][27]. Some scholars analyzed sources of APEs from the sectoral perspective and found that the power and transport sectors were the main sources [28][29][30], followed by the agriculture and household sectors [31,32].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Decomposition Analysis of Factors that Drive the Changes of Major Air Pollutant Emissions in China at a Multi-Regional Level

Yang

Miao

et al. 2019

Sustainability

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The regional emission reduction determines the national emission reduction for one country, and the differences in regional economic characteristics may result in regional differences in air pollutant emissions (APEs). In this regard, this study constructs a regional contribution index of different factors through an extended LMDI (Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index) method and investigates regional differences in factors driving the changes of China's major APEs (SO 2 , NO x , and PM 2.5 ). It reveals that the regional emission efficiency effect was a key inhibitory factor on APEs, which was more obvious in the eastern and northern regions. The regional energy intensity had greater inhibitory effects on SO 2 and NO x than on PM 2.5 , and these inhibitory effects were more obvious in the eastern region. The regional population structure promoted APEs for northern, southern, northeastern, and eastern regions, and inhibited APEs for central, southwestern, and northwestern regions. The regional relative income had a slight effect, which curbed APEs for northern, eastern, southern, and northern regions. The national economic growth effect was the key factor in promoting APEs, which was obvious in eastern and northern regions, followed by southern, central, and southwestern regions. Policy implications are put forward based on empirical results.Sustainability 2019, 11, 7113 2 of 22 reduction target for the 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) (2016-2020) that by 2020 the energy consumption per 10,000 RMB GDP would be cut by 15% in comparison to 2015, and SO 2 and NO x would be within 15.8 and 15.74 million tons, respectively, which are both 15% lower than the level of 2015. There are regional differences in APEs for China because of its serious imbalances in economic development. As for the air pollutant reduction, the national reduction target should be reasonably allocated to each province and municipality as a regional target, to smoothly realize the national emission reduction target. Therefore, it is urgent and important to study the regional differences in factors that affect APEs in China, which is conductive to offer references for designing policies according to regional differences and effectively reduce air pollutant emissions (APEs).Many previous studies touched on the issues related to air pollutant emission trends and characteristics [6][7][8][9], and the harm to the economy and human health [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Recently, more attention has been focused on analyses of factors influencing APEs. Some studies established econometric models to discuss the relationships between APEs and macroeconomic variables [20][21][22][23] and explore the effects of these macroeconomic variables on APEs [24][25][26][27]. Some scholars analyzed sources of APEs from the sectoral perspective and found that the power and transport sectors were the main sources [28][29][30], followed by the agriculture and household sectors [31,32]. The decomposition method has been widely used to decompose factors influencing energy u...

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The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the environmental problem of the day

Cited by 220 publications

References 38 publications

Economic Growth and Pollution Emission in China: Structural Path Analysis

Economic Growth and Pollution Emission in China: Structural Path Analysis

Achieving Food Security in a Climate Change Environment: Considerations for Environmental Kuznets Curve Use in the South African Agricultural Sector

Decomposition Analysis of Factors that Drive the Changes of Major Air Pollutant Emissions in China at a Multi-Regional Level

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