The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on CO2 Emissions in the Ten Countries with the Highest Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Abstract

The environmental pollution during the COVID-19 crisis has declined dramatically due to quarantines that have severely reduced transport and industry but has had little effect on the steady rise in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Through the Paris Agreement, countries are working to reduce the emissions of these pollutants, for example, by burning fossil fuels. These greenhouse gases trap heat near the earth’s surface and raise the temperature. This global warming threatens global food resources. In times of corona crisis and environmental pollution, especially in countries with the highest CO2 emissions, governance is a key factor that explains the poor economic, social, and environmental performance of many countries. Governance plays an important role in controlling these crises. In this study, the World Bank’s governance indicators have been used to examine the relationship between governance and economic performance and its impact on CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 outbreak period. Also, the Tobit panel model with a limited-dependent model from 2011 to 2020 has been used. Several economic factors and governance variables are also considered. Given the negative relationship between governance and CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 outbreak, the role of governance in reducing environmental pollution is emphasized, and it is shown that policymakers can take appropriate measures by implementing good governance and enforcing the right laws to control the corona epidemic and also reduce carbon emissions in the long run.

Do financial development, urbanization, economic growth and renewable energy promote the emission mitigation agenda of Africa? Evidence from models that account for cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity

“…This collaborates the study of Gyimah et al (2023). Moreover, GDP improves ecological safety in Southern and Eastern regions contrasting the study of Ronaghi and Scorsone (2023), but harms ecological sustainability in the aggregate panel and the Northern region aligning the investigation of (Abid et al, 2023). Finally, urbanization has immaterial effect on environmental quality in the Norther and Southern regions contrasting the study of conflicting the studies of Hussain et al (2022) and Ahmed et al (2019).…”

“…Value added is the value of the gross output of producers less the value of intermediate goods and services consumed in production, before accounting for consumption of fixed capital in production. Researchers Abid et al (2023), Ronaghi and Scorsone, (2023) and Umar et al (2023) in their study on the determinants of environmental quality, confirmed economic growth as one of the key factors. Therefore, using the variable to explain ecological quality in the regions is very fitting.…”

AI-Driven Solutions for a Low-Carbon Transition: Evaluating Effectiveness and Limitations in Climate Change Mitigation

“…But at the same time, the immobility of individuals may reduce the carbon release from transports, counteracting the carbon emission and carbon footprint growth. From the study by Ronaghi and Scoresone, the overall carbon dioxide emission has undergone a sharp decline in 2020 (Ronaghi & Scorsone, 2023). Therefore, these omitted factors could appear as influential factors to some extent to affect the trend in developing a low-carbon economy.…”