Improving environmental quality through renewable energy: evidence from South Asian economies
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Improving environmental quality through renewable energy: evidence from South Asian economies T. Luni1 · M. T. Majeed1 Received: 18 January 2020 / Accepted: 27 April 2020 © Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2020
Abstract Environmental degradation led climate change is jeopardizing sustainable development. To ensure sustainable development, environment-friendly resources should be harnessed. Among these resources, renewable energy has the potential to mitigate environmental degradation. This study investigates the relationship between renewable, nonrenewable energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions by utilizing the panel data of South Asian countries over the period 1990–2014. The study used cross-sectional dependence test, Pedroni co-integration, fully modified ordinary least square, dynamic ordinary least square, and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) panel causality test to find the relationships among the variables. Furthermore, the study used panel threshold regression to estimate the amount of renewable energy required for carbon dioxide mitigation. An increase in the share of renewable energy by 4.5143% of total energy will mitigate carbon emissions. The results suggest that renewable energy leads to an improved environment whereas nonrenewable energy contributes to environmental degradation. Finally, the findings of this study imply that the substitution of fossil fuel energy resources with renewable resources is an appealing alternative for sustainable development of the South Asian economies. Keywords Clean energy · Environmental degradation · Nonrenewable energy · Urbanization
Introduction The global patterns of climate change have awakened the thought for green technologies in both developed and developing countries that are required to sustain development. Green technologies such as renewable technology help to conserve the environment. Renewable energy consists of solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, tidal, biomass and biogas (World Bank 2019). With the development of economies energy demand to support the social and economic welfare of societies has increased. Energy is used to fulfill human basic needs however this energy usage has led to increased emissions. According to IPCC (2011, 2014) since 1850 global use of fossil fuel has increased to support energy production which resulted in increased emissions of carbon dioxide. * T. Luni [email protected] M. T. Majeed [email protected] 1
School of Economics, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Environmental degradation resulted because of anthropogenic activities (IPCC 2011). South Asia is experiencing rapid growth (Siddique and Majeed 2015) which was 7.5% in 2007 (World Bank 2019). Data suggest an upward trend of GDP in South and East Asia (Perera and Lee 2013). South Asian economies are facing pressure on energy resources, as they are experiencing high growth rates (Zakaria and Bibi 2019). Srivastava and Misra (2007) pointed out that the majority of the population in South Asian countries lacks access to clean and a
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