IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v89y2020ics0140988320301389.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamics and drivers of per capita CO2 emissions in Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Parker, Steven
  • Bhatti, M. Ishaq

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to document recent trends in Asia's CO2 emissions and explore the mechanisms that drive those emissions for fourteen countries over the period 1971 to 2017. We apply a sequential method which has a strong relationship to policy indicators. First, an analysis of the dynamics is undertaken to identify if convergence is occurring, followed by a study of the determinants of those dynamics. This approach overcomes some of the limitations of previous work analyzing emission convergence by focusing on country specific characteristics such as energy mix and energy efficiency. The analysis reveals per capita CO2 emissions, energy intensity, carbonization and per capita incomes are slowly converging over the full sample. Yet this behavior is not uniform; there were differences in transition paths prior to and after the Asian Financial Crisis. The per capita income driver was the most important driver in explaining the dynamics and variation of emissions while carbonization and energy intensity drivers were less pronounced. The analysis reveals that the energy needs of the region's extraordinary economic growth favored fossil fuels and a surprising revelation is that despite having different per capita income levels China, Korea, and Vietnam all share a common convergence path. This paper provides further evidence against using carbon intensity solely as a target for climate policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Parker, Steven & Bhatti, M. Ishaq, 2020. "Dynamics and drivers of per capita CO2 emissions in Asia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:89:y:2020:i:c:s0140988320301389
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104798
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988320301389
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104798?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2007. "Transition Modeling and Econometric Convergence Tests," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(6), pages 1771-1855, November.
    2. Camarero, Mariam & Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2013. "Are the determinants of CO2 emissions converging among OECD countries?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 159-162.
    3. Mark Strazicich & John List, 2003. "Are CO 2 Emission Levels Converging Among Industrial Countries?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(3), pages 263-271, March.
    4. Hao, Yu & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2015. "Is China’s carbon reduction target allocation reasonable? An analysis based on carbon intensity convergence," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 229-239.
    5. Phu Nguyen Van, 2005. "Distribution Dynamics of CO 2 Emissions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 32(4), pages 495-508, December.
    6. Bhattacharya, Mita & Inekwe, John N. & Sadorsky, Perry, 2020. "Consumption-based and territory-based carbon emissions intensity: Determinants and forecasting using club convergence across countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Romero-Ávila, Diego, 2008. "Convergence in carbon dioxide emissions among industrialised countries revisited," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2265-2282, September.
    8. Bernard, Andrew B. & Durlauf, Steven N., 1996. "Interpreting tests of the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 161-173.
    9. Li, Xuehui & Lin, Boqiang, 2013. "Global convergence in per capita CO2 emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 357-363.
    10. G. E. Boyle & T. G. McCARTHY, 1999. "Simple measures of convergence in per capita GDP: a note on some further international evidence," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(6), pages 343-347.
    11. William Brock & M. Taylor, 2010. "The Green Solow model," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 127-153, June.
    12. Sevil Acar & Patrik Söderholm & Runar Brännlund, 2018. "Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions: implications and meta-analysis," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 512-525, April.
    13. Andrews, Donald W K, 1991. "Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 817-858, May.
    14. Mishra, Vinod & Smyth, Russell, 2014. "Convergence in energy consumption per capita among ASEAN countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 180-185.
    15. Joseph E. Aldy, 2007. "Divergence in State-Level Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 83(3), pages 353-369.
    16. Luukkanen, Jyrki & Kaivo-oja, Jari, 2002. "ASEAN tigers and sustainability of energy use--decomposition analysis of energy and CO2 efficiency dynamics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 281-292, March.
    17. Chhavi Tiwari & Mrutyunjay Mishra, 2017. "Testing the CO2 Emissions Convergence: Evidence from Asian Countries," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 6(1), pages 67-72, January.
    18. David Klenert & Linus Mattauch & Emmanuel Combet & Ottmar Edenhofer & Cameron Hepburn & Ryan Rafaty & Nicholas Stern, 2018. "Making carbon pricing work for citizens," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 669-677, August.
    19. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2009. "Economic transition and growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 1153-1185.
    20. Rodríguez, Miguel & Pena-Boquete, Yolanda, 2017. "Carbon intensity changes in the Asian Dragons. Lessons for climate policy design," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 17-26.
    21. Bhattacharya, Mita & Inekwe, John Nkwoma & Sadorsky, Perry & Saha, Anjan, 2018. "Convergence of energy productivity across Indian states and territories," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 427-440.
    22. Wang, Yiming & Zhang, Pei & Huang, Dake & Cai, Changda, 2014. "Convergence behavior of carbon dioxide emissions in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 75-80.
    23. Morten O. Ravn & Harald Uhlig, 2002. "On adjusting the Hodrick-Prescott filter for the frequency of observations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 371-375.
    24. Joseph Aldy, 2006. "Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Convergence or Divergence?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 33(4), pages 533-555, April.
    25. Herrerias, M.J., 2013. "The environmental convergence hypothesis: Carbon dioxide emissions according to the source of energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1140-1150.
    26. Joakim Westerlund & Syed Basher, 2008. "Testing for Convergence in Carbon Dioxide Emissions Using a Century of Panel Data," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 40(1), pages 109-120, May.
    27. Ekaterini Panopoulou & Theologos Pantelidis, 2009. "Club Convergence in Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 44(1), pages 47-70, September.
    28. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Inekwe, John & Ivanovski, Kris, 2018. "Conditional convergence in per capita carbon emissions since 1900," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 916-927.
    29. Xu, X.Y. & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Index decomposition analysis applied to CO2 emission studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 313-329.
    30. Parker, Steven & Liddle, Brantley, 2017. "Economy-wide and manufacturing energy productivity transition paths and club convergence for OECD and non-OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 338-346.
    31. Paul Evans & Ji Uk Kim, 2016. "Convergence analysis as spatial dynamic panel regression and distribution dynamics of $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 emissions in Asian countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 729-751, May.
    32. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Inekwe, John & Ivanovski, Kris, 2020. "Stochastic convergence in per capita CO2 emissions: Evidence from emerging economies, 1921–2014," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ivanovski, Kris & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2020. "Convergence and determinants of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia: A regional analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Belloc, Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2023. "Are greenhouse gas emissions converging in Latin America? Implications for environmental policies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 337-356.
    3. Rodríguez-Benavides, Domingo & Andrés-Rosales, Roldán & Álvarez-García, José & Bekun, Festus Víctor, 2024. "Convergence of clubs between per capita carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cement production," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    4. Ivanovski, Kris & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2018. "A club convergence analysis of per capita energy consumption across Australian regions and sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 519-531.
    5. Jian-Xin Wu & Ling-Yun He, 2017. "The Distribution Dynamics of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity across Chinese Provinces: A Weighted Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Ahmed, Mumtaz & Khan, Atif Maqbool & Bibi, Salma & Zakaria, Muhammad, 2017. "Convergence of per capita CO2 emissions across the globe: Insights via wavelet analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 86-97.
    7. Octavio Fernández-Amador & Doris A. Oberdabernig & Patrick Tomberger, 2019. "Testing for Convergence in Carbon Dioxide Emissions Using a Bayesian Robust Structural Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(4), pages 1265-1286, August.
    8. Nazlioglu, Saban & Payne, James E. & Lee, Junsoo & Rayos-Velazquez, Marco & Karul, Cagin, 2021. "Convergence in OPEC carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from new panel stationarity tests with factors and breaks," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    9. Mar'ia Jos'e Presno & Manuel Landajo, 2024. "EU-28's progress towards the 2020 renewable energy share. A club convergence analysis," Papers 2402.00788, arXiv.org.
    10. Matsuki, Takashi & Pan, Lei, 2021. "Per capita carbon emissions convergence in developing Asia: A century of evidence from covariate unit root test with endogenous structural breaks," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    11. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Inekwe, John & Ivanovski, Kris, 2020. "Stochastic convergence in per capita CO2 emissions: Evidence from emerging economies, 1921–2014," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2017. "Per capita carbon dioxide emissions across U.S. states by sector and fossil fuel source: Evidence from club convergence tests," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 365-372.
    13. Veli Yilanci & Muhammed Sehid Gorus & Sakiru Adebola Solarin, 2022. "Convergence in per capita carbon footprint and ecological footprint for G7 countries: Evidence from panel Fourier threshold unit root test," Energy & Environment, , vol. 33(3), pages 527-545, May.
    14. Firat Emir & Mehmet Balcilar & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2018. "Inequality in Carbon Intensity in EU-28: Analysis Based on Club Convergence," Working Papers 15-38, Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Economics.
    15. Wang, Yiming & Zhang, Pei & Huang, Dake & Cai, Changda, 2014. "Convergence behavior of carbon dioxide emissions in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 75-80.
    16. Cialani, Catia & Mortazavi, Reza, 2021. "Sectoral analysis of club convergence in EU countries’ CO2 emissions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    17. Song, Yang & Liu, Dayu & Wang, Qiaoru, 2021. "Identifying characteristic changes in club convergence of China's urban pollution emission: A spatial-temporal feature analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    18. Cuihong Ye & Yiguo Chen & Roula Inglesi-Lotz & Tsangyao Chang, 2020. "CO2 emissions converge in China and G7 countries? Further evidence from Fourier quantile unit root test," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(2), pages 348-363, March.
    19. Acar, Sevil & Yeldan, A. Erinç, 2018. "Investigating patterns of carbon convergence in an uneven economy: The case of Turkey," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 96-106.
    20. Shiwei Yu & Xing Hu & Xuejiao Zhang & Zhenxi Li, 2019. "Convergence of per capita carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(5), pages 776-799, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:89:y:2020:i:c:s0140988320301389. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.