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China, being the world's largest exporter, has now certain environmental commitments such as to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. These commitments of China has raised a reasonable concern regarding the expected reduction in the production and export of pollution intensive goods in the future. Besides China, the most efficient countries in the region to produce these goods are most of the member countries from ASEAN. The current study therefore aims to analyze if in the future, China reduces the production and export of these goods, whether the selected ASEAN countries can be the next choice for the export of pollution intensive goods. Based on the data availability for the period 1990-2019, this study considers five selected ASEAN countries (ASEAN-5). The results are based on the Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration and Error Correction Modeling (ECM). The aggregate analysis of five pollution intensive goods (pulp and paper (341), industrial chemicals (351), non-metallic minerals products (369), iron and steel (371) and non-ferrous metals (372)) suggests that Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow can significantly increase the export of pollution intensive goods only in case of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. However, there is no significant effect of FDI on the export of pollution intensive goods in case of Philippines and Singapore. The disaggregate analyses of the five pollution intensive goods suggest that in each of the ASEAN-5 countries, FDI inflow can significantly increase the export of pollution intensive goods in some of these industries rather than in all of them. In nutshell, it is concluded that ASEAN-5 countries can be a potential choice for the export of pollution intensive goods in some of the pollution intensive industries but not in all of them.

L'un des objectifs stratégiques de la Chine est d'augmenter la consommation d'énergie renouvelable en réduisant la consommation d'énergie non renouvelable. Cela nous motive à étudier attentivement les effets asymétriques de l'approfondissement financier sur la consommation d'énergie renouvelable et non renouvelable pour la Chine, en utilisant les données annuelles de 1990 à 2019. Les résultats montrent qu'en Chine, un choc positif des dépôts bancaires et de la monnaie au sens large a un effet croissant significatif sur la consommation d'énergie renouvelable, tandis qu'un choc négatif des dépôts bancaires et de la monnaie au sens large a également un effet croissant significatif sur la consommation d'énergie renouvelable à long terme. En outre, une variation positive des dépôts bancaires et de la monnaie au sens large a un impact inverse sur la consommation d'énergie non renouvelable, tandis qu'un changement négatif a stimulé la consommation d'énergie non renouvelable à long terme. Ainsi, les politiques du gouvernement et des décideurs visant à promouvoir l'approfondissement financier en Chine doivent être persistantes et durables pour favoriser la consommation d'énergie renouvelable. Uno de los objetivos estratégicos de China es aumentar el consumo de energía renovable mediante la reducción del consumo de energía no renovable. Esto nos motiva a investigar cuidadosamente los efectos asimétricos de la profundización financiera en el consumo de energía renovable y no renovable para China, utilizando datos anuales de 1990 a 2019. Los resultados muestran que en China, un choque positivo en los depósitos bancarios y el dinero en sentido amplio tiene un efecto cada vez mayor significativo en el consumo de energía renovable, mientras que un choque negativo en los depósitos bancarios y el dinero en sentido amplio también tiene un efecto cada vez mayor significativo en el consumo de energía renovable a largo plazo. Además, el cambio positivo en los depósitos bancarios y el dinero en sentido amplio tiene un impacto inverso en el consumo de energía no renovable, mientras que el cambio negativo ha estimulado el consumo de energía no renovable a largo plazo. Por lo tanto, las políticas gubernamentales y de los responsables políticos destinadas a promover la profundización financiera en China deben ser persistentes y sostenibles para fomentar el consumo de energía renovable. One of the strategic objectives of China is to increase renewable energy consumption by reducing non-renewable energy consumption.This motivates us to carefully investigate the asymmetric effects of financial deepening on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption for China, using annual data from 1990 to 2019.The results show that in China, a positive shock in bank deposits and broad money has a significant increasing effect on renewable energy consumption, while a negative shock in bank deposits and broad money has also a significant increasing effect on renewable energy consumption in the long-run.Moreover, positive change in bank deposits and broad money has an inverse impact on non-renewable energy consumption, while negative change has stimulating non-renewable energy consumption in long run.Thus, government and policymaker's policies aimed at promoting financial deepening in China must be persistent and sustainable to foster renewable energy consumption. أحد الأهداف الاستراتيجية للصين هو زيادة استهلاك الطاقة المتجددة عن طريق الحد من استهلاك الطاقة غير المتجددة. هذا يحفزنا على التحقيق بعناية في الآثار غير المتماثلة للتعميق المالي على استهلاك الطاقة المتجددة وغير المتجددة في الصين، باستخدام البيانات السنوية من 1990 إلى 2019. تظهر النتائج أنه في الصين، يكون للصدمة الإيجابية في الودائع المصرفية والأموال الواسعة تأثير متزايد كبير على استهلاك الطاقة المتجددة، في حين أن الصدمة السلبية في الودائع المصرفية والأموال الواسعة لها أيضًا تأثير متزايد كبير على استهلاك الطاقة المتجددة على المدى الطويل. علاوة على ذلك، فإن التغيير الإيجابي في الودائع المصرفية والأموال الواسعة له تأثير عكسي على استهلاك الطاقة غير المتجددة، في حين أن التغيير السلبي يحفز استهلاك الطاقة غير المتجددة على المدى الطويل. وبالتالي، يجب أن تكون سياسات الحكومة وصانعي السياسات التي تهدف إلى تعزيز التعميق المالي في الصين مستمرة ومستدامة لتعزيز استهلاك الطاقة المتجددة.

This study focuses on determining the relationship between carbon emissions, financial development, population, green technology innovation, energy Consumption, and employment rate from 1980 to 2019 in China. The study applies the unit root test, bootstrapped ARDL cointegration, and the Granger causality to examine the data properties and association between the variables of interest. Empirical findings indicate that green technology innovations and financial development play a major role in environmental protection, specifically in the long run. In contrast, energy consumption and employment rate are more vulnerable to protecting the natural environment in China. On the other side, the findings under short-run estimation do not support the role of green technology innovation in reducing environmental degradation. Based on the empirical findings, it is suggested that a strong financial system would help to achieve long-run sustainability and the emissions mitigating effects can be further strengthen by implementing green technologies across industries. In doing so, strict environmental regulations can regulate the financial and traditional industrial sector in adoption of energy efficient technologies.

Embracing energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) is essential for improving environmental quality. This research investigates the asymmetric impacts of EE, RE, and other factors on CO2 emissions in BRICS (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries from 1990 to 2014. In contrast to previous studies, the present study considers EE as a major cause of CO2 emissions in BRICS countries. By using the new hidden panel cointegration and nonlinear panel autoregressive distributive lag model, this study is the first of its kind that unfolds the asymmetric links among EE, RE, and CO2 emissions. Findings clearly explain that the impact of the selected variables on CO2 emissions is asymmetric, and both EE and RE help to lower CO2 emissions in BRICS countries. In the long run, positive shocks in EE and RE can significantly mitigate CO2 emissions in BRICS economies. In particular, a 1% fluctuation in the positive sum of EE reduces CO2 emissions by 0.783% in the long run. On the other hand, a 1% fluctuation in the positive component of RE reduces CO2 emissions by 0.733%. Moreover, individual country estimates suggest the heterogeneous effects among BRICS countries. Based on the empirical findings, policymakers should consider the asymmetric behavior of the EE, RE, and economic growth while formulating, energy, environment, and growth policies of BRICS countries. Graphical abstract.

In the last decade, many malaria-endemic countries, like Zambia, have achieved significant reductions in malaria incidence among children <5 years old but face ongoing challenges in achieving similar progress against malaria in older age groups. In parts of Zambia, changing climatic and environmental factors are among those suspectedly behind high malaria incidence. Changes and variations in these factors potentially interfere with intervention program effectiveness and alter the distribution and incidence patterns of malaria differentially between young children and the rest of the population. We used parametric and non-parametric statistics to model the effects of climatic and socio-demographic variables on age-specific malaria incidence vis-à-vis control interventions. Linear regressions, mixed models, and Mann-Kendall tests were implemented to explore trends, changes in trends, and regress malaria incidence against environmental and intervention variables. Our study shows that while climate parameters affect the whole population, their impacts are felt most by people aged ≥5 years. Climate variables influenced malaria substantially more than mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying interventions. We establish that climate parameters negatively impact malaria control efforts by exacerbating the transmission conditions via more conducive temperature and rainfall environments, which are augmented by cultural and socioeconomic exposure mechanisms. We argue that an intensified communications and education intervention strategy for behavioural change specifically targeted at ≥5 aged population where incidence rates are increasing, is urgently required and call for further malaria stratification among the ≥5 age groups in the routine collection, analysis and reporting of malaria mortality and incidence data.

CO2 emissions tend to increase more rapidly in underdeveloped economies as compared to developed countries mainly in China, India, and Asia. One of the aspects that accounts for the increasing CO2 emissions is urbanization (UR) and it is increasing all over the world particularly in Asian and African regions. The present study examines the impact of energy use and UR on carbon emissions over the period 1995 to 2018 while using the extended STIRPAT model for Asian countries. Panel co-integration techniques and Granger causality test are applied on selected variables. FMOLS and DOLS methods are also applied to check for robustness. Findings confirm the presence of long-run co-integration among variables. The outcomes propose that energy consumption and UR have positive impact on CO2 emissions and output. Outcomes also reveal that financial development (FD) has negative effect on emissions of CO2 but positive effect on economic growth. Results of Granger causality technique indicate that long-run causality association exists among emissions of CO2, economic growth, and UR. In the short run (SR), bidirectional causal relationship has been found between trade openness and FD.

The emerging environmental concerns are entrenched in social issues, largely stem from income differences and power disparity. Income distribution and environmental disruption are increasingly pointed as obstacles in securing sustainable development goals and environmental preservation. The existing empirical studies have explored the environmental pollution impact of income inequality. However, the results are conflicting, and little attention has been paid to explore the short and long-run environmental impacts from a national viewpoint. Similarly, the role of aggregate income and financial sector for environmental quality has attracted considerable attention and many studies have provided conflicting empirical evidence. The literature generally ignores the importance of relative income in explaining environmental outcomes and also assumes symmetric association, ignoring asymmetric shocks. The present study explores the role of nonlinear associations in forming the links between income distribution and environmental quality using linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag models from 1972 to 2018. The study follows the extended environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) approach. The results suggest that inequality promotes environmental pollution. Further financial development also escalates carbon emissions. The nonlinear analysis confirms the asymmetric effect of inequality on ecological footprint. The EKC, however, is not validated for Pakistan. The results suggest important policy implications.

Acute shortage of energy sources in developing countries in general and South Asian countries in particular has shown that energy has become a binding input for any production process. Nowadays operation of heavy machinery and electrical equipment, and transportation of raw material and final products from their place of origination to their destination require heavy consumption of energy in one form or the other. Therefore, energy consumption that was previously ignored in the production function of a firm and an economy is now considered a vital input in production process. It affects GDP directly as by increasing energy consumption; more output can be produced with given stock of capital and labor force in a country. Also uninterrupted availability of energy at reasonable cost improves competiveness of home products in international markets and thus increases exports of home country a great deal. Resulting increase in net exports further adds to the GDP through multiplier effect