Another look at the nexus between economic growth trajectory and emission within the context of developing country: fresh insights from a nonparametric causality-in-quantiles test

• Published in: Environment, development and sustainability development and sustainability, 2023-10, Vol.25 (10), p.11397-11419
• Main Authors: Adebayo, Tomiwa Sunday, Bekun, Festus Victor, Rjoub, Husam, Agboola, Mary Oluwatoyin, Agyekum, Ephraim Bonah, Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Causality; Change agents; Clean energy; Clean technology; Climate change; Climate change mitigation; Developing countries; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological footprint; Ecology; Economic development; Economic Geology; Economic Growth; Economics; Energy consumption; Environment; Environmental degradation; Environmental Economics; Environmental Management; Footprint analysis; LDCs; Nonparametric statistics; Openness; Quantiles; Renewable energy; Renewable resources; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Trade flows
• ISSN: 1387-585X; 1573-2975
• DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02533-x

Achieving environmental sustainability has become a global concern amidst increasing climate change threat. Using quarterly frequency data for the case of Russia from 1992 to 2018, the present study explores the interaction between disaggregated energy consumption (renewable energy and non-renewable energy), trade flow and economic growth on a broader measure for environmental degradation (ecological footprint). The choice of the variables draws strength from initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG, 7, 8 11 and 13) for responsible energy consumption and clean energy consumption while mitigating climate change issues. The study applied the quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) and nonparametric causality-in-quantiles to capture these associations. The outcomes from the QQR disclosed that in the majority of the quantiles, trade openness and renewable energy use contribute to environmental sustainability, while nonrenewable energy amplifies ecological footprint. Furthermore, growth in Russia escalates its ecological footprint. Moreover, in the majority of the quantiles, all the exogenous variables can predict ecological footprint. Given the outcomes of this study, it outlines the need for a paradigm shift for alternative and clean energy consumption in Russian energy mix amidst its economic growth trajectory while accounting for green-development approaches. Pathways to fully achieve the sustainability targets are carefully outlined in the concluding section.