Financial inclusion-environmental degradation nexus in OIC countries: new evidence from environmental Kuznets curve using DCCE approach
2022
Chaudhry, Imran Sharif | Yusop, Zulkornain | Muzafar Shah Habibullah,
The disastrous consequences of climate change for human life and environmental sustainability have drawn worldwide attention. Increased global warming is attributed to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss, and deforestation due to industrial output and huge consumption of fossil fuels. Financial inclusion can be acted as an adaptation or a mitigation measure for environmental degradation. This study analyzed the impact of financial inclusion on environmental degradation in OIC countries for the period 2004–2018. A novel approach, “Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE)” is used to tackle the problem of heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence (CSD). Various GHG emissions along with deforestation and ecological footprint are used as indicators of environmental degradation. Long-run estimation confirms that financial inclusion is positively and significantly linked with CO₂ emission, CH₄ emission, and deforestation while negatively correlated with ecological footprint and N₂O emission in overall and higher-income OIC economies. An inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is validated when ecological footprint, CO₂, and CH₄ are used in all panels of OIC countries. An inverted U-shaped EKC is also observed for deforestation in lower-income and overall OIC countries. In the case of N₂O emission, however, a U-shaped EKC appears in lower-income and overall OIC countries. It is suggested that the governments of OIC countries should continue to have easy access to financial services and maintain sustainable use of forests and biocapacity management to address environmental challenges.
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