IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p1613-d492444.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Renewable Energy Use and Ecological Footprints Mitigation: Evidence from Selected South Asian Economies

Author

Listed:
  • Lian Xue

    (School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Mohammad Haseeb

    (Institute for Region and Urban-Rural Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Haider Mahmood

    (Department of Finance, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 173, Alkharj 11942, Saudi Arabia)

  • Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb

    (Department of Agricultural Economics, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33511, Egypt)

  • Muntasir Murshed

    (School of Business and Economics, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh
    Bangladesh Institutee of Development Studies (BIDS), Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh)

Abstract

Fossil fuel-dependency has induced a trade-off between economic growth and environmental degradation across the developing nations in particular. Against this backdrop, this study aims to evaluate the impacts of renewable energy use on the ecological footprints in the context of four South Asian fossil fuel-dependent nations: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The econometric analysis involves the use of recently developed methods that account for cross-sectional dependency, slope heterogeneity, and structural break issues in the data. The results reveal that renewable energy consumption reduces the ecological footprints while nonrenewable energy use boosts the ecological footprints. The results also confirm the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypotheses for the panel of the South Asian nations. Besides, foreign direct investment inflows are found to degrade the environment while higher institutional quality improves it. Furthermore, unidirectional causalities are run from overall energy use, economic growth, and institutional quality to ecological footprints. At the same time, bidirectional associations between foreign direct investment inflows and ecological footprints are also ascertained. The overall findings highlight the pertinence of reducing fossil fuel-dependency, enhancing economic growth, restricting dirty foreign direct investment inflows, and improving institutional quality to ensure environmental sustainability across South Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Lian Xue & Mohammad Haseeb & Haider Mahmood & Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb & Muntasir Murshed, 2021. "Renewable Energy Use and Ecological Footprints Mitigation: Evidence from Selected South Asian Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1613-:d:492444
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1613/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1613/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pao, Hsiao-Tien & Yu, Hsiao-Cheng & Yang, Yeou-Herng, 2011. "Modeling the CO2 emissions, energy use, and economic growth in Russia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 5094-5100.
    2. Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Salim, Ruhul & Nielsen, Ingrid, 2016. "Urbanization, openness, emissions, and energy intensity: A study of increasingly urbanized emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 20-28.
    3. Jushan Bai & Josep Lluís Carrion-I-Silvestre, 2009. "Structural Changes, Common Stochastic Trends, and Unit Roots in Panel Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(2), pages 471-501.
    4. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    5. Dumitrescu, Elena-Ivona & Hurlin, Christophe, 2012. "Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1450-1460.
    6. Destek, Mehmet & Sinha, Avik, 2020. "Renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: Evidence from organisation for economic Co-operation and development countries," MPRA Paper 104246, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    7. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2021. "General diagnostic tests for cross-sectional dependence in panels," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 13-50, January.
    8. Hashem Pesaran, M. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2008. "Testing slope homogeneity in large panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 50-93, January.
    9. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    10. Muntasir Murshed & Haider Mahmood & Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb & Suvajit Banerjee, 2020. "Calibrating the Impacts of Regional Trade Integration and Renewable Energy Transition on the Sustainability of International Inbound Tourism Demand in South Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Sharma, Rajesh & Sinha, Avik & Kautish, Pradeep, 2020. "Does renewable energy consumption reduce ecological footprint? Evidence from eight developing countries of Asia," MPRA Paper 104277, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    12. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    13. Murshed, Muntasir & Tanha, Muntaha Masud, 2020. "Oil Price Shocks and Renewable Energy Transition: Empirical evidence from net oil-importing South Asian economies," MPRA Paper 100162, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Muhammad Shahbaz & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad & Mantu Kumar Mahalik & Perry Sadorsky, 2018. "How strong is the causal relationship between globalization and energy consumption in developed economies? A country-specific time-series and panel analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(13), pages 1479-1494, March.
    15. Francis Teal & Markus Eberhardt, 2010. "Productivity Analysis in Global Manufacturing Production," Economics Series Working Papers 515, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Vanessa Smith, L. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2013. "Panel unit root tests in the presence of a multifactor error structure," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 94-115.
    17. Murshed, Muntasir & Dao, Nhung Thi Tuyet, 2020. "Revisiting the EKC hypothesis in South Asia: The role of Export Quality Improvement," MPRA Paper 111620, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    18. Caviglia-Harris, Jill L. & Chambers, Dustin & Kahn, James R., 2009. "Taking the "U" out of Kuznets: A comprehensive analysis of the EKC and environmental degradation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1149-1159, February.
    19. Eberhardt, Markus & Teal, Francis, 2008. "Modeling technology and technological change in manufacturing: how do countries differ?," MPRA Paper 10690, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Muhammad Saqib & François Benhmad, 2020. "Does ecological footprint matter for the shape of the environmental Kuznets curve? Evidence from European countries," Post-Print hal-03515525, HAL.
    21. Manzoor Ahmad & Zeeshan Khan & Zia Ur Rahman & Shoukat Iqbal Khattak & Zia Ullah Khan, 2021. "Can innovation shocks determine CO2 emissions (CO2e) in the OECD economies? A new perspective," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 89-109, January.
    22. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Mrabet, Zouhair, 2017. "The impact of economic development and social-political factors on ecological footprint: A panel data analysis for 15 MENA countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 138-154.
    23. Alexander Chudik & M. Hashem Pesaran, 2013. "Large Panel Data Models with Cross-Sectional Dependence: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 4371, CESifo.
    24. Liddle, Brantley & Lung, Sidney, 2013. "The long-run causal relationship between transport energy consumption and GDP: Evidence from heterogeneous panel methods robust to cross-sectional dependence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 524-527.
    25. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    26. Anindya Banerjee & Josep Lluís Carrion-i-Silvestre, 2017. "Testing for Panel Cointegration Using Common Correlated Effects Estimators," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 610-636, July.
    27. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    28. Pata, Ugur Korkut & Caglar, Abdullah Emre, 2021. "Investigating the EKC hypothesis with renewable energy consumption, human capital, globalization and trade openness for China: Evidence from augmented ARDL approach with a structural break," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    29. Iftikhar Yasin & Nawaz Ahmad & M. Aslam Chaudhary, 2020. "Catechizing the Environmental-Impression of Urbanization, Financial Development, and Political Institutions: A Circumstance of Ecological Footprints in 110 Developed and Less-Developed Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 621-649, January.
    30. Selim J rgen Ergun & Maria Fernanda Rivas, 2020. "Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in Uruguay using Ecological Footprint as a Measure of Environmental Degradation," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 473-485.
    31. Sadorsky, Perry, 2014. "The effect of urbanization on CO2 emissions in emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 147-153.
    32. Mrabet, Zouhair & Alsamara, Mouyad, 2017. "Testing the Kuznets Curve hypothesis for Qatar: A comparison between carbon dioxide and ecological footprint," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1366-1375.
    33. Suwal, Naresh & Huang, Xianfeng & Kuriqi, Alban & Chen, Yingqin & Pandey, Kamal Prasad & Bhattarai, Khem Prasad, 2020. "Optimisation of cascade reservoir operation considering environmental flows for different environmental management classes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 453-464.
    34. Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Zaidi, Syed Anees Haider & Khan, Naveed R. & Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Hou, Fujun & Kirmani, Syed Ali Ashiq, 2019. "The impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint: The case of the United States," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    35. Wang, Zhaohua & Bui, Quocviet & Zhang, Bin, 2020. "The relationship between biomass energy consumption and human development: Empirical evidence from BRICS countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    36. Muntasir Murshed & Haider Mahmood & Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb & Mohga Bassim, 2020. "The Impacts of Energy Consumption, Energy Prices and Energy Import-Dependency on Gross and Sectoral Value-Added in Sri Lanka," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.
    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. Zhongwei, Huang & Liu, Yishu, 2022. "The role of eco-innovations, trade openness, and human capital in sustainable renewable energy consumption: Evidence using CS-ARDL approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 131-140.
    2. Ansari, Mohd Arshad, 2022. "Re-visiting the Environmental Kuznets curve for ASEAN: A comparison between ecological footprint and carbon dioxide emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    3. Alvarado, Rafael & Tillaguango, Brayan & Murshed, Muntasir & Ochoa-Moreno, Santiago & Rehman, Abdul & Işık, Cem & Alvarado-Espejo, Johana, 2022. "Impact of the informal economy on the ecological footprint: The role of urban concentration and globalization," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 750-767.
    4. Li, Rongrong & Wang, Qiang & Li, Lejia & Hu, Sailan, 2023. "Do natural resource rent and corruption governance reshape the environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint? Evidence from 158 countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    5. Kostakis, Ioannis & Arauzo-Carod, Josep-Maria, 2023. "The key roles of renewable energy and economic growth in disaggregated environmental degradation: Evidence from highly developed, heterogeneous and cross-correlated countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1315-1325.
    6. Hussein Moghaddam & Robert M. Kunst, 2023. "The Role of Natural Gas in Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Major Gas-Producing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    7. Usman, Muhammad & Khalid, Khaizran & Mehdi, Muhammad Abuzar, 2021. "What determines environmental deficit in Asia? Embossing the role of renewable and non-renewable energy utilization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1165-1176.
    8. Jian Xue & Zeeshan Rasool & Raima Nazar & Ahmad Imran Khan & Shaukat Hussain Bhatti & Sajid Ali, 2021. "Revisiting Natural Resources—Globalization-Environmental Quality Nexus: Fresh Insights from South Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    9. Qaisar Shahzad & Kentaka Aruga, 2023. "Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hold for Coal Consumption? Evidence from South and East Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    10. Muntasir Murshed & Uzma Khan & Aarif Mohammad Khan & Ilhan Ozturk, 2023. "Can energy productivity gains harness the carbon dioxide‐inhibiting agenda of the Next 11 countries? Implications for achieving sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 307-320, February.
    11. Syed Asif Ali Naqvi & Bilal Hussain & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah & Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq & Muhammad Usman, 2022. "Influence of Economic Growth, Energy Production, and Subcomponents on the Environment: A Regional Level Analytical Modeling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    12. Ahmad, Mahmood & Jiang, Ping & Majeed, Abdul & Umar, Muhammad & Khan, Zeeshan & Muhammad, Sulaman, 2020. "The dynamic impact of natural resources, technological innovations and economic growth on ecological footprint: An advanced panel data estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Koç, Pınar & Gülmez, Ahmet, 2021. "Analysis of relationships between nanotechnology applications, mineral saving and ecological footprint: Evidence from panel fourier cointegration and causality tests," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Muhammad Shahbaz & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad & Mantu Kumar Mahalik & Perry Sadorsky, 2018. "How strong is the causal relationship between globalization and energy consumption in developed economies? A country-specific time-series and panel analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(13), pages 1479-1494, March.
    15. Malayaranjan Sahoo & Narayan Sethi, 2022. "The dynamic impact of urbanization, structural transformation, and technological innovation on ecological footprint and PM2.5: evidence from newly industrialized countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 4244-4277, March.
    16. Murshed, Muntasir & Saboori, Behnaz & Madaleno, Mara & Wang, Hong & Doğan, Buhari, 2022. "Exploring the nexuses between nuclear energy, renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions: The role of economic complexity in the G7 countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 664-674.
    17. Usman, Muhammad & Makhdum, Muhammad Sohail Amjad, 2021. "What abates ecological footprint in BRICS-T region? Exploring the influence of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, agriculture, forest area and financial development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 12-28.
    18. Li, Xuelin & Yang, Lin, 2023. "Natural resources, remittances and carbon emissions: A Dutch Disease perspective with remittances for South Asia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    19. Taiwo Onifade, Stephen & Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi & Haouas, Ilham & Bekun, Festus Victor, 2021. "Re-examining the roles of economic globalization and natural resources consequences on environmental degradation in E7 economies: Are human capital and urbanization essential components?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    20. Yu Shuangshuang & Wenzhong Zhu & Nafeesa Mughal & Sergio Ivan Vargas Aparcana & Iskandar Muda, 2023. "The impact of education and digitalization on female labour force participation in BRICS: an advanced panel data analysis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1613-:d:492444. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.