• Energy Research

Environmental goods and low-carbon technologies have long been identified as having the potential to drive long-term economic progress without compromising environmental quality. However, their exact role in mitigating environmental degradation are yet to be unravelled. In addressing this shortfall, the extant literature relied on research funding and patent application as proxies for green technologies. Having established the weaknesses in the use of these variables as proxies for green technologies, this study explored the role of trade in environmental goods and low-carbon technologies in boosting environmental quality among G20 nation using a panel dataset from 1994 to 2018. The study employed the Method of Moment quantile regression for the model estimation and the Ridge regression, Discroll-Kraay standard error, and the Newey-West standard error estimators to test the robustness of our findings. Our findings indicate that whereas environmental goods promote environmental quality, low-carbon technologies decrease same. Also, the study found economic growth to exert an aggravating effect on environmental quality, while foreign direct investments, natural resource rents, human capital development, and renewable energy consumption exert positive influence on environmental quality. Based on the findings of the study, G20 nations are encouraged to improve green market structures to improve the trade in environmental goods and low-carbon technologies. Also the share of renewable energy sources in the overall energy basket must be improved to help improve environmental quality.

AbstractAs the environmental sustainability effectiveness of various political systems is taken into consideration, it is doubtful as to whether the presumption of the overall efficiency of democracy can be sustained in global governance architecture. The effectiveness of autocracies and democracies (i.e., governance indicators are compared in the present study) with reference to strengths and weaknesses in environmental objectives. This analysis explores the effect of autocracy, democracy, as well as the trend of globalization on CO2 emissions for open and closed economies from 1990 to 2020. Crucial indicators such as economic growth, renewable energy and non-renewable energy are controlled for while examining the roles of economic expansion on the disaggregated energy consumption portfolios for both open and closed economies. The empirical analysis revealed some insightful results. First, for the open economies, with the exception of non-renewable energy which shows a positive significant impact on emissions, all variables show a negative effect on emissions. Furthermore, the closed economies result indicate that, apart from renewable energy which has a negative relationship with emissions, all the variables including the interaction terms have a positive relation with emissions. However, an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis was validated for both economies.

This study used panel simultaneous equations models with a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator to examine the three-way linkages between ecological footprint (EFP), renewable energy consumption (REC), and income in the Group of Seven (G7) countries over the period 1990–2018. The outcomes of this study demonstrate a two-way association between gross domestic product (GDP) and renewable energy. The findings confirm the presence of a bidirectional link between outcome and ecological footprint, as well as between EFP and renewable energy. The results of this study demonstrate that improving human capital positively and significantly effects income, environmental quality, and REC. Ecological footprint is not significantly impacted by economic and social globalization, whereas the impact of financial globalization is negative and significant. Trade openness is positively and significantly connected with REC and income, which could contribute to reducing environmental deterioration. In conclusion, we make policy recommendations that are based on the findings of the study.

Universities all over the world are increasingly recognizing the need for the attainment of environmental sustainability on campuses resulting in the adoption of several environmental sustainable initiatives by university management. This article, therefore, seeks to investigate the impact of campus-base management practices on environmental quality among Russian Universities. The study also explores the strengths and weaknesses against the best practices for campus sustainability as defined by the UI greenMetric world university ranking as well as the awareness of students about pro-environmental behaviours on campuses. Secondary data from the 2015 to 2019 world university ranking was sourced for the impact assessment as well as the strengths and weaknesses. The study also sourced primary data with the help of a structured questionnaire from student respondents to assess their awareness of pro-environmental behaviours. Fixed-effects, and random-effects models were used to assess the management impact on environmental quality. The result from the empirical models indicate that education and research, transportation and waste influence environmental quality on university campuses. The strengths and weaknesses of universities were assessed based on six (6) categories (setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transport, and education and research). The study also assessed the perception of students on pro-environmental activities. While the results show an increasing trend of awareness among Russian universities (Management) in campus sustainability initiatives, most students appear to be unaware of environmental initiatives undertaken by their universities. The study, therefore, made some recommendations that can help improve campus sustainability levels while at the same time increase student participation.

Achieving economic development is one of the most important economic goals of every country. Identifying the determinants of economic growth, is a useful tool for adopting appropriate economic policies. This study, therefore, empirically examines the impact of trade openness, foreign direct investment, and financial development on economic growth, across 62 countries over the period 1995–2016. These countries are divided into two groups: low-income and high-income countries. We employ the pooled mean group (PMG), mean group (MG), and dynamic fixed effect (DFE) estimation techniques on the cross-country panel data. The findings show a positive long run association between trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI), financial development, labor, government expenditure, and economic growth in low-income countries, with a positive and negative short run effect from capital and government expenditures, respectively. For high-income countries, a positive long run association between trade openness, FDI, capital, and economic growth exist. The short run estimates indicate a positive effect on trade openness and capital as well as a negative effect on government expenditure. Our study shows that the adoption of policies that improves access to skilled labor and international trade, affect the attainment of a sustainable economic development.

Les promesses et les engagements des gouvernements des pays riches ont été pris lors du sommet de la COP26 à Glasgow, ravivant ainsi l'espoir des nations de relever le défi du changement climatique. Ainsi, l'étude examine la complémentarité du développement financier et des émissions de carbone, tout en tenant compte de l'influence conditionnelle de la bonne gouvernance sous trois indicateurs désagrégés – la gouvernance économique, institutionnelle et politique pour les économies des BRICS, de la MONNAIE et du G7. Tout d'abord, l'étude révèle que le développement financier en fonction de l'indicateur adopté a des effets mitigés sur les niveaux de pollution de l'environnement. Plus précisément, le développement financier déclenche l'effet de pollution le plus élevé via le crédit national au secteur privé par rapport aux investissements directs étrangers, tandis que l'indice de développement financier réduit la pollution environnementale. Deuxièmement, la gouvernance économique favorise la qualité de l'environnement en réduisant la pollution de l'environnement grâce à une réglementation de la qualité. Troisièmement, la gouvernance institutionnelle par le biais d'un État de droit plus faible induit la pollution, tandis que le contrôle de la corruption s'oppose aux niveaux de pollution. En outre, seule la voix de la responsabilité soutient l'effet d'atténuation de la pollution de la gouvernance politique. Sur une analyse comparative bloc à bloc, l'efficacité de la gouvernance favorise la pollution environnementale dans les trois blocs économiques, mais à des amplitudes différentes, tandis que la voix de la responsabilité n'exerce un impact souhaitable significatif sur la pollution que dans les pays du G7. Enfin, les énergies renouvelables et la libéralisation du commerce exercent respectivement une influence négative et positive sur la dégradation de l'environnement. En la cumbre de Glasgow COP26 se hicieron promesas y compromisos de los gobiernos de las naciones ricas, lo que rejuvenece la esperanza entre las naciones para enfrentar el desafío del cambio climático. Por lo tanto, el estudio examina la complementariedad del desarrollo financiero y las emisiones de carbono, al tiempo que tiene en cuenta la influencia condicional de la buena gobernanza bajo tres indicadores desagregados: gobernanza económica, institucional y política para las economías BRICS, MINT y G7. En primer lugar, el estudio revela que el desarrollo financiero en función del indicador adoptado tiene efectos mixtos en los niveles de contaminación ambiental. Específicamente, el desarrollo financiero desencadena el mayor efecto de contaminación a través del crédito interno al sector privado en comparación con las inversiones extranjeras directas, mientras que el índice de desarrollo financiero reduce la contaminación ambiental. En segundo lugar, la gobernanza económica promueve la calidad ambiental al reducir la contaminación ambiental a través de la regulación de la calidad. En tercer lugar, la gobernanza institucional a través de un estado de derecho más débil induce a la contaminación, mientras que el control de la corrupción antagoniza los niveles de contaminación. Además, solo la voz de la rendición de cuentas respalda el efecto mitigador de la contaminación de la gobernanza política. En un análisis comparativo de bloque a bloque, la efectividad de la gobernanza promueve la contaminación ambiental en los tres bloques económicos, aunque en diferentes magnitudes, mientras que la voz de la rendición de cuentas ejerce un impacto significativo deseable sobre la contaminación solo en los países del G7. Por último, la energía renovable y la liberalización del comercio ejercen una influencia negativa y positiva en la degradación ambiental, respectivamente. Pledges and commitments from governments of wealthy nations were made at the COP26 Glasgow summit, thereby rejuvenating hope among nations to confront the climate change challenge. Thus, the study examines the complementarity of financial development and carbon emissions, while accounting for the conditional influence of good governance under three disaggregated indicators – economic, institutional, and political governance for the BRICS, MINT, and the G7 economies. First, the study reveals that financial development depending on the adopted indicator has mixed effects on environmental pollution levels. Specifically, financial development triggers the highest pollution effect via domestic credit to the private sector compared to foreign direct investments, while financial development index reduces environmental pollution. Secondly, economic governance promotes environmental quality by reducing environmental pollution through quality regulation. Third, institutional governance through weaker rule of laws induces pollution, while the control of corruption antagonizes pollution levels. Furthermore, only the voice of accountability supports the pollution-mitigating effect of political governance. On a bloc-to-bloc comparative analysis, governance effectiveness promotes environmental pollution in all the three economic blocs albeit at different magnitudes while the voice of accountability exerts a significant desirable impact on pollution only in the G7 countries. Lastly, renewable energy and trade liberalization exerts a negative and positive influence on environmental degradation respectively. تم تقديم تعهدات والتزامات من حكومات الدول الغنية في قمة غلاسكو COP26، مما جدد الأمل بين الدول في مواجهة تحدي تغير المناخ. وبالتالي، تبحث الدراسة في التكامل بين التنمية المالية وانبعاثات الكربون، مع مراعاة التأثير المشروط للحوكمة الرشيدة في إطار ثلاثة مؤشرات مصنفة – الحوكمة الاقتصادية والمؤسسية والسياسية لاقتصادات بريكس ومينت ومجموعة السبع. أولاً، تكشف الدراسة أن التنمية المالية التي تعتمد على المؤشر المعتمد لها تأثيرات متباينة على مستويات التلوث البيئي. على وجه التحديد، تؤدي التنمية المالية إلى أعلى تأثير للتلوث عن طريق الائتمان المحلي للقطاع الخاص مقارنة بالاستثمارات الأجنبية المباشرة، في حين يقلل مؤشر التنمية المالية من التلوث البيئي. ثانياً، تعزز الحوكمة الاقتصادية الجودة البيئية من خلال الحد من التلوث البيئي من خلال تنظيم الجودة. ثالثًا، تؤدي الحوكمة المؤسسية من خلال ضعف سيادة القوانين إلى التلوث، في حين أن السيطرة على الفساد تستعدي مستويات التلوث. علاوة على ذلك، فإن صوت المساءلة وحده يدعم التأثير المخفف للتلوث للحكم السياسي. عند إجراء تحليل مقارن بين الكتلة والكتلة، تعزز فعالية الحوكمة التلوث البيئي في جميع الكتل الاقتصادية الثلاث وإن كان ذلك بأحجام مختلفة في حين أن صوت المساءلة له تأثير مرغوب كبير على التلوث فقط في بلدان مجموعة السبع. وأخيراً، تؤثر الطاقة المتجددة وتحرير التجارة تأثيراً سلبياً وإيجابياً على التدهور البيئي على التوالي.

Since the industrial era, the selection of energy sources to facilitate economic advancement has been criticized because of the resulting ecological calamity. This has prompted the introduction of radical approaches such as ISO 14001, which tackles the drivers of pollution. Therefore, this study analyses the ISO 14001—environment nexus from three distinct points of view: BRICS, MINT, and G7 countries from 1999–2020. Also, our work fills an extant gap in assessing structural change and innovation’s role in augmenting the relationship. The Driscoll and Kraay estimator is employed as an analytical tool for cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity, while the fixed effects approach provides sufficient robustness checks on the findings. While some outcomes vary per bloc, others are relatively similar across the three blocs. That is: (1) ISO 14001 shows an abatement portfolio for only the G7 bloc, and the Full sample. (2) Structural change showed potential for abating carbon emissions in all blocs. (3) Technology led to an increase in pollution in all blocs except for the MINT economy. (4) ICT in the form of mobile phones also help reduce carbon emissions in all three blocs except for their composite. (5) Renewable energy helps reduce carbon emission in all blocs except for G7. ISO 14001 shows the potential to encourage green growth. As a result, policymakers should work to enhance ISO 14001 certification, which might serve as a management tool to promote sustainable development.

The exponential increase in the population of Ghana and the need to meet the population’s food security needs while creating job opportunities have necessitated the implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative by the Government of Ghana (GoG). Using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analytical tool, we SWOT of the PFJ initiative. We further complemented the study with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) tool to rank the various criteria (factors) identified under the SWOT analysis. The study identified favorable environmental conditions as the highest strength, which recorded 59.3%, followed by agricultural lands availability (21.8%). Inadequate of financial services was identified as the highest weakness (55.8%), followed by over-reliance on climatic conditions (25.9%). High export potential relative to agricultural products in the country was identified as the highest opportunity, which recorded a weight of 50.3%. The One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative came up as the second highest opportunity. Negative ramification of climate change was identified as the main threat to Ghana’s agricultural sector (57.9%), followed by the importation of basic food products (25%).