Research Database

The study examines CO2 emission trends from electricity generation in ASEAN countries, highlighting factors influencing emissions, evaluating policy effectiveness, and identifying the shift from coal-fired plants as crucial for substantial emission reduction to achieve the region's 2050 net-zero transition goal.

Strategies to balance output growth and global warming are an important matter of discussion in the current environmental management literature. A decrease in energy prices encourages energy consumption. As energy subsidies and oil prices are a major influence on the overall energy price, they also influence the level of CO2 emissions associated with output growth. In this article, we investigate the asymmetric impact of energy subsidies, oil prices, and economic output on CO2 emissions. We used a panel dataset of 20 selected oil producing countries in Asia from 2010 to 2018. We employed threshold analysis to acquire further knowledge concerning the asymmetric impact of energy subsidies, oil prices, and output on CO2 emissions. Our findings suggest that while an energy subsidy was significant in terms of resultant CO2 emissions, energy subsidies had a greater impact on CO2 emissions when the oil price is low. However, energy subsidies are not expected to cause significantly higher CO2 emissions when the value of the subsidy is at a low level. Third, these relationships follow the pattern consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis only when the energy subsidy is relatively high. We consider an energy subsidy rationalisation program could serve to meet environmental management goals in energy use.

This study examines the effect of ICT and human capital on carbon emissions in the ASEAN economies from 1996 to 2019 using panel estimators. The region has implemented several joint-policies on climate change and ICT sector development. On the one hand, ICT can help reduce carbon emissions through innovative clean technology; however, there are concerns about the production and disposal of ICT. Meanwhile, human capital formation can increase carbon emissions as it indirectly affects growth; yet human capital can enhance the absorptive capacity of an economy and enhance the effectiveness of ICT technologies to reduce potentially emissions. Results show that ICT reduce carbon emissions while human capital formation increases it. However, the results vary when examining the impact of ICT and human capital on carbon emissions from manufacturing, residential, transport and other industries: ICT consistently reduces carbon emissions; meanwhile, human capital decreases carbon emissions for manufacturing and other industries. Subsequently, ASEAN policymakers should develop the ICT infrastructure in order to support the reduction of carbon emissions.

As we know, nowadays financial sector is waking up the climate change. Therefore, the aim and novelty of the paper is to show the link between energy efficiency, sustainable economic growth, population and financial development in ASEAN 5 countries. Panel data analysis was employed and results shows that factors such as financial development, economic growth, population and renewable energy found to be important factors in influencing climate change in this study. Based on the results, increasing financial development, more energy use, high population and increasing economic growth will generate more CO2 emissions and cause climate change. Thus, there are several policies suggested to balance the relationship between financial development and the carbon emission levels and these policy implications should be considered and carried out by government and policy makers in order to improve the environmental quality in ASEAN countries. In conclusion, in the 5 ASEAN countries, financial growth plays an important role in waking up the issues of climate change. Many past literatures focused the impacts of renewable energy consumption, population, economic growth and foreign direct investment on climate change. Thus, this study narrows the gap that exists in literature.by focusing on financial development which able to foster vigorous economic growth especially in ASEAN countries. Overall, results from the fixed effect estimates show that financial development is significant factor and has a positive contribution towards climate change.

We re-examine the relationship between CO2 emissions, energy consumption (EC) and economic growth (GDP) for the five main Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN-5) countries over the period 1980–2016. Our main contention is that the findings in previous studies that have examined the relationship between CO2, EC and GDP in the ASEAN-5 are biased because they fail to account for cross-sectional dependence (CD). We show that conventional tests applied to our dataset suggest a misleading conclusion about the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Granger causal relationship between CO2, EC and GDP in the presence of CD. When we apply a new panel test of Granger non-causality that addresses CD and heterogeneity, we find considerable heterogeneity. We find unidirectional Granger causality running from GDP to CO2 for Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; unidirectional causality running from GDP to EC in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand; unidirectional causality running from EC to GDP in Singapore and bidirectional causality between GDP and EC in the Philippines. We also find support for the EKC hypothesis for the ASEAN-5 countries.

In the context of remarkable economic growth and financial development in the emerging economies of East Asia, this paper attempts to shed light on the ecological consequences (CO2 emission) of economic growth, foreign direct investment and financial development in the selected ASEAN-5 economies. Drawing on the data from 1982 to 2014, we employed a set of quantitative techniques for panel data analysis which entailed Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) approaches. Our findings indicate that financial and economic development, as well as FDI, have a statistically significant long-run co-integrating relationship with environmental degradation (CO2 emissions) in the under analysis economies. It showed that in ASEAN-5 countries, economic growth, financial development and FDI leads to an increase in environmental degradation. The quadratic term for economic growth showed a negative impact on environmental degradation i.e. Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Our key findings manifest and emphasise the importance of appropriate policies for more inclusive economic and financial development and sustainable foreign direct investment which does not impede on the environment.

Closing the gap between economy activity and environmental quality is one of the solutions for reaching “sustainable development” in Malaysia. To do so, the cubic polynomial functional form of EKC is utilized by accommodating renewable energy into the base of the EKC model and validating its hypothesis between CO2 emissions and GDP growth for the 1971–2015 period. The F-bounds, VECM Granger causality, CUSUM, and CUSUMSQ tests are utilized. The estimated results consistently show that the inverted N-shaped EKC hypothesis holds in Malaysia. Ceteris paribus, the CO2 emissions will be declined when the GDP reach RM2841.9 billion in 2030, which is beyond the sample period. The renewable energy has a negative significant effect on CO2 emissions, and the direction of causality is running from CO2 emissions to renewable energy. Also, the GDP growth will be the remedy for environmental pollution problems and that renewable energy is one of important elements to be considered for improving environmental quality. A tighter and concentrated environmental policy is needed to direct the environment–economic growth nexus toward a downward trend. Consequently, these results may help Malaysian policymakers to establish an energy policy that guarantees a balance between economic growth and environmental prosperity.