The paper examines the impact of macroeconomic variables on CO2 emissions, very few research studies are available to estimate the asymmetric impact and causality. Because of the significance of asymmetries, this paper examines the asymmetric impact of economic growth, crude oil use, and FDI inflows on CO2 emissions in the India wherein COP (Crude oil price) is comprised as the extra variable. The implicate aggressive growth of selected variables over the period 1990–2020 is also assessed. This study uses the methodology ARDL and NARDL model to determine the macroeconomics variable's effects on CO2 emission over the period 1990-2020. Additionally, also applied the EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) hypothesis with an application of ARDL and NARDL model. With help of the ARDL and NARDL model, the study shows the results that a rise in economic growth would reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions while a decrease in economic growth would raise CO2 emissions which indicates an inverted U-shaped Curved relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions. The positive and negative shockwaves in COP (crude oil prices) have a satisfactory and substantial impact on CO2 emissions as well. Besides, the crude oil consumption with positive shockwave confirmations has a positive and substantial impact on CO2 emission. In addition, the results of FDI inflows support the pollution heaven hypothesis. In light of these outcomes, this paper also recommended policy implications and future research, the policy implications are where the descending flow of FDI allows limited space to India in FDI selection; however, the existence of emission merging and implementation of carbon pricing may facilitate India in achieving its environmental targets.

Ever since the emancipation of a country, its environmental quality has undergone a significant transition during the development phases; Bangladesh is no exception. Bangladesh is facing a serious threat in the age of global warming, and climate change as the country is looking forward in achieving the SDGs by 2030. Yet, there is a dearth of study regarding the relationship among crucial macroeconomic drivers and ecological footprint (a proxy for environmental degradation). Under the circumstances, this study explores the effects of economic growth, capital formation, urbanization, trade openness, energy use, and technological innovation on the ecological footprint by adopting the novel dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) simulations approach for Bangladesh, using annual frequency data from 1972 to 2017. Empirical results from the bounds test ascertained that there exists a long-run equilibrium association among the outlined variables. Furthermore, the novel dynamic ARDL simulation results revealed that Bangladesh is yet to achieve the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. It was observed that the Bangladesh economy is still at the scale stage of its economic trajectory, emphasizing economic growth relative to her environmental status. However, capital formation, urbanization, and energy use seemed to degrade environmental quality, while trade openness and technological innovation upgraded the environmental quality. Putting it more elaborately, a unit escalation in GDP per capita increases the ecological footprint by 0.829% in the long run, while a unit increase in energy consumption upsurges the ecological footprint by 1.074% and 0.761% in the long run and short run, respectively. As regards technology innovation, one unit increase in it cutbacks the ecological footprint by 0.596% in the long run. Furthermore, the frequency domain causality unveiled the long-run feedback effect between economic growth and ecological footprint. The study further presents possible recommendations that can sustainably address environmental issues, keeping the economy buoyant.

This study examines the convergence in renewable energy consumption over the period 2000–2018 by using a convergence algorithm developed by Phillips and Sul. We used 183 countries which were sub-divided into five regions, namely: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); Middle East and North Africa (MENA); Europe and Central Asia (ECA); East and South Asia and the Pacific (ESAP); and America. The possible influencing determinants of the convergence/divergence clubs for the regions were also investigated by utilising multinomial logit regression. The determinants were majorly classified into macroeconomic, socio-economic, and institutional quality variables, which were computed via principal component analysis by using six governance indicators. The results show an absence of panel convergence and a weak speed of convergence for the regions. The final club formation results obtained from the iteration procedure show that 6 clubs (for SSA), 2 (for MENA and ECA), 5 (for ESAP), and 3 (for America) were formed for the regions. The determinants of renewable energy consumption play both significant and insignificant roles in the likelihood of a country belonging to a particular convergence club in each of the regions. This study found that at the regional level, the process of convergence in renewable energy consumption is yet to echo desirable emanations of renewable energy consumption policies sharing similar characteristics, but the narrative differs when clustering algorithms form clubs for each region. This implies that at regional levels, achieving convergence clubs in renewable energy consumption for environmental sustainability is possible, most especially when realistic policies around macroeconomic, socio-economic and institutional quality variables are taken into account.

Overutilized hydro-energy production through non-sustainable mode is detrimental for both the economy and the environment. Intermittent consumption of hydro-energy from non-sustainable production methods may induce deleterious impacts in terms of rapid pollution in the economy. This paper investigates the impacts of hydro-power consumption upon pollution for 5 BRICS countries from 1965 to 2019. Our balanced panel model shows that infrequent usages of hydro-power consumption led to more pollution over the year. This relation is also further explained by considering several macroeconomic factors, in the context of the growth scenario. Our empirical findings show that an increase in population and consequent rise in per capita income have exhibited positive impacts on pollution. Even, improved industrialized led production and investment in these economies contribute heavily towards pollution and declined environmental standards. Our results further state that intermittent usages of natural resources by population in terms of rising ecological footprint have resulted in higher emission intensity over the year. These findings underscore how rising hydro-power energy consumption has led to the rising pollution amidst the growth scenario in BRICS economies.

The intensification of international trade movements and economic interconnectivity has far-reaching implications for many macroeconomic indicators, not to mention ecological consequences. To this end, this analysis examines the dynamic interaction between foreign direct investment (FDI), natural resources, economic advancement, and urbanization on consumption-based carbon emission which is adjusted to global trade for oil-producing Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The time frame for this analysis is from 1990 to 2018. To examine the nature of relationship between the outlined variables, a balanced panel econometric analysis alongside augmented mean group (AMG), common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG), and the Driscoll-Kraay(DK) OLS techniques while the system-GMM was utilized for robustness purposes. The outcomes reveal that income increases consumption-based carbon emission within the range of 0.668 to 1.1333%; natural resources also increase consumption-based carbon emission within the range of 0.0159 to 0.2304%; FDI on the other hand increases consumption-based carbon emission around 0.0156 to 0.186%, while urbanization increases consumption-based carbon emission within the range of 0.0231 to 0.6176% in the long run. Thus, there is a positive relationship between consumption-based carbon emission and all the understudied variables within the oil-producing Sub-Sahara Africa countries thereby affirming the pollutant haven hypothesis for the countries on the premises that foreign direct investment inflow has a detrimental influence on the receiving economies alongside natural resource. Hence, the outcomes suggest the need to pursue low-carbon strategies for a cleaner and friendly environment.

This work investigates the relationship of financial development with energy efficiency and economic growth. Due to the coexistence of economic expansion, trade openness, financial development, and urbanization in Indonesia and Turkey, these two countries are considered. Johansen cointegration, error correction, and Granger causality tests are applied to validate the predicted effects of economic activity on the environment. Results show a long-term relationship of Indonesia’s CO₂ emissions with five out of six macroeconomic factors, except for urbanization, which has a detrimental effect on carbon emissions. On the other hand, no cointegration across variables is found in the case of Turkey. However, unidirectional causality is observed from energy consumption and economic growth to economic growth. Furthermore, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness have a two-way causal effect on financial development. This work encourages Turkish and Indonesian policymakers and regulators to strengthen environmental laws. It also encourages other economies and governments to conduct similar analyses and determine the best course of action.

To devise an appropriate climate policy dealing with environmental degradation, reliable measurement of CO₂ emissions is essential. In the recent past, most researchers have utilized production-based emissions in their studies, ignoring the important role of consumption-based emissions in environmental degradation. Therefore, the present research examines the drivers of consumption-based CO₂ emissions in SAARC nations over the period 1990 to 2018. By employing traditional and second-generation panel cointegration methodologies, the study, more specifically, explores the link between consumption-based CO₂ emissions and its five macroeconomic determinants, namely, GDP growth, energy consumption, FDI, trade openness (measured by composite trade share index), and urbanization. The study also applies the FMOLS and DOLS techniques for calculating the long-run elasticities of regressors with respect to the explained variable. The results establish a cointegration relationship between the variables and validate an “N-shaped EKC” for the SAARC region. It is also found that in the long run, energy consumption and urbanization amplify the consumption-based CO₂ emissions while FDI and trade openness improve the environmental quality by plummeting emissions. Most importantly, the study rejects the “pollution-haven hypothesis” for the SAARC region based on the outcomes of FDI and trade openness. Lastly, based on the results, some policies are recommended for the abatement of environmental degradation in SAARC countries. As the SAARC nations rely heavily on fossil-based energy, it is suggestive for these economies to enhance the level of energy efficiency and augment the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix. Furthermore, the policy designers in this region should encourage trade openness and liberalize inward FDI for containing consumption-based emissions.

Clarifying the time-varying spillovers among pilot carbon emission permit trading markets in China is an important foundation for building the national carbon emission trading market. We calculate the dynamic spillover of carbon price return among the pilot carbon emission permit trading markets in China with the time-varying connectedness approach. The dataset is constructed from transaction data from seven pilot carbon markets in China during the period of June 23, 2014, to December 31, 2020. The quantitative analysis suggests that (i) Beijing and Chongqing carbon emission trading markets are the main spillover markets of carbon price returns, with strong pricing power, while the Guangdong and Tianjin markets are the main receivers of the price return spillover in other pilot carbon emission trading markets. (ii) The spillover effect among China’s carbon markets has a strong policy orientation. The improvement and development of the carbon market driven by macroeconomic regulation and control policies can effectively improve the spillover ability of the carbon market, and the market trading activity, namely the volatility of the carbon price return rate, can amplify the spillover ability of the carbon market in the short term. (iii) There exist three types of price return spillover among China’s pilot carbon emission trading markets, including central divergence, one-way chain transmission, and circular spillover. Along with the improvement of market operation efficiency, the central divergent type of spillover shifts to the pattern of circular spillover. It is necessary for the government to improve market efficiency and ensure the coordinated development of China’s pilot carbon emission trading market and national carbon emission trading market.

Sustainable development goals aim to promote the implementation of environmental and energy policies towards establishing a sustainable environment. Considering that energy demand has steadily increased in emerging countries along with their rapid economic growth, controlling CO₂ emissions in these countries is crucial to achieving global environmental sustainability. An important concern is that renewable energy is generally classified into traditional and modern sources, and their relationships with environmental degradation can differ at the macroeconomic level. This study examines the link of the two renewable energy sources to CO₂ emissions by employing an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for 31 emerging countries from 1990 to 2016. This analysis provides clear evidence of heterogeneity of the effects between traditional and modern renewable energy sources. Although CO₂ emissions have negative associations with both traditional and modern renewable energy sources in the long-term, they are more sensitive to modern renewable energy sources than to traditional ones. These results suggest that modern renewable energy sources are an effective target for environmental and energy policies in emerging countries. Policy regulators and international communities should strengthen domestic and international schemes that facilitate the transfer of green technology, particularly, that related to modern renewable energy sources, from advanced countries to emerging countries.

In recent times, the persistent global environmental challenges have paved the way for the underpinning of climate change within the perspective of financial performance. Given this motivation, the current study further examines the interaction of foreign direct investment, fiscal development, renewable energy usage, economic growth, and CO₂ outrush of South Africa (1970 to 2014). The unit root test of Zivot-Andrews and augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), vector autoregressive (VAR), and Pesaran ARDL (autoregressive distributed lag bounds) approach were employed in the data analysis. The existence of a statistically significant correlation among the series was detected by the Johansen multivariate cointegration in long term and subsequently by the long run coefficient of the vector error correction model test result. Furthermore, in the long run, significant positive correlation existed among renewable energy, GDP (economic growth), development in finance (FD), and CO₂ outrush. While in the short run, GDP and development in finance have a statistically positive correlation with outrush of CO₂; renewable energy consumption exerts a negative relationship on CO₂ in the short run. The Granger causality results show overall causality among the series; proof of bidirectional stimulus running from renewable energy to economic growth; foreign direct investment to trade; and also one causality direction running among the other variables. The policy twist is that the implementation of energy efficiency programs currently pursued by the South African government to enhance renewable energy consumption should be facilitated with more determination. In addition, the government and policymakers should thrive to align these energy efficiency programs with other macroeconomic and financial variables such as foreign direct investment (FDI), fiscal development, and trade openness to achieve minimum CO₂ outrush level in South Africa, thus yielding environmental sustainability.