• Energy Research

This editorial of the special issue on ‘Export Product quality, Renewable Energy, and Sustainable Production’ presents the bibliometric analysis of the 44 studies published in Frontiers in Environmental Sciecne. This special issue addresses the theoretical and empirical concerns in this fundamental research area and identifies key areas in governance, labour, digitalisation and other aspects to help sustainable development, economic growth and lower carbon emissions.

Abstract The literature on energy-growth nexus has consistently stated that economic development, which leads to environmental degradation in its early stages, is the only way to ensure environmental sustainability. The paper examines the interrelationships between the performance on sustainability indicators and economic growth in European Union. The data for sustainability indicators such as human development index, financial development index, urban population, renewable energy consumption, non-renewable energy consumption, ecological footprints, carbon emissions, and economic growth indicator that is gross domestic product are analyzed for 27 EU countries. The study employs Arellano-Bond dynamic panel data estimation, system dynamic panel data estimation, and Augmented Mean Group model. The results show a two-way positive relationship between economic growth and non-renewable energy and a two-way negative relationship between economic growth and renewable energy. Besides, ecological footprint, non-renewable energy consumption, and carbon emissions are shown to positively impact economic growth. In contrast, renewable energy consumption is shown to negatively impact economic growth. The results reveal explain the reasoning for unimpressive performance of Europe on the front of climate action, and average performance on clean energy, notwithstanding reasonable economic growth. The novelty of the study lies in finding out that the shift towards renewable energy may not seem economically viable in the short-run, but after a point of time, renewable energy consumption is bound to positively impact the economic growth in line with the Environmental Kuznets Curve.

Agriculture and the food system emit a considerable amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere. Hence, current researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders are calling for improving the environmental performance of agriculture. This study utilizes the countries of The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to investigate the effect of agriculture value-added, pesticide use, renewable energy adoption, human capital, and economic growth on greenhouse gas emissions. The moderation effect of renewable energy use and human capital is also introduced to see whether they can offset agriculture's emissions in these BIMSTEC economies. Having reported a state-of-the-art literature review, the econometric procedure applies the second-generation unit root tests, panel cointegration and panel quantile regression for three preferred model specifications. The result from the Panel quantile regression method reveals a U-shaped relationship between agriculture value-added and greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting the significance of a small farming system. Human capital has a negative effect, whereas pesticide use has a positive effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the moderation effect of human capital and pesticide use suggests that human capital is not significant enough to offset the effect of pesticide use on the greenhouse gas emissions, whereas the interaction of renewable and pesticide use suggests that renewable energy adoption in the agriculture sector can mitigate the effect of pesticide use on GHG emissions. Finally, the conclusions of the study support the achievement of few sustainable development goals.

Emerging economies are mostly plague by a massive consumption of non-renewable energy amidst an ever inceasing urbanization rate with little or no attention to the quality of the environmental. As such, this paper investigates the relationship between renewable energy, urbanization, economic growth, trade openness, and ecological footprint in CIVETS countries, namely, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa. The study employs augmented mean group estimator, panel cointegration, and causality tests. The findings reveal that renewable energy improves environmental quality, and trade is not particularly harmful to the environment. However, non-renewable energy consumption and urbanization are the chief contributors to environmental degradation in the CIVETS countries. Economic expansion mitigates environmental deterioration in Colombia, South Africa, and Turkey, but contributes to pollution in Egypt, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Finally, the causality test suggests that urbanization drives environmental degradation. Policy directions are discussed.

COVID-19 has slowed global economic growth and consequently impacted the environment as well. Parallelly, the environment also influences the transmission of this novel coronavirus through various factors. Every nation deals with varied population density and size; air quality and pollutants; the nature of land and water, which significantly impact the transmission of coronavirus. The WHO (Ziaeepour et al., 2008) [1] has recommended rapid reviews to provide timely evidence to the policymakers to respond to the emergency. The present study follows a rapid review along with a brief bibliometric analysis of 328 research papers, which synthesizes the evidence regarding the environmental concerns of COVID-19. The novel contribution of this rapid review is threefold. One, we take stock of the diverse findings as regards the transmission of the novel coronavirus in different types of environments for providing conclusive directions to the ongoing debate regarding the transmission of the virus. Two, our findings provide topical insights as well as methodological guidance for future researchers in the field. Three, we inform the policymakers on the efficacy of environmental measures for controlling the spread of COVID-19.