Abstract
Earth is in the Anthropocene era and humankind deteriorates the global environment; thus, there is a dire need for sustainable policies at all levels. This study investigates the causal and long-run association between financial development, research and development expenditures, and carbon dioxide emission including energy intensity and income level for selected West Asia and Middle East (WAME) economies along the belt and road. The long-run panel estimation findings reveal that the research and development expenditures (R&D) are negatively associated with environmental degradation, as they significantly mitigate carbon emissions. In contrast, financial development contributes to environmental degradation. The findings validated the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon for the WAME economies considering R&D and financial development. Further, energy intensity exacerbates environmental quality. Additionally, the findings from Dumitrescu-Hurlin (DH) causal approach reveal bidirectional causal associations between financial development and carbon emissions and between R&D and emissions. The findings have implications for policy and practice to attain environmental sustainability in the selected WAME countries.
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See for more detail: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change https://unfccc.int/process/the-convention/what-is-the-united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change
See for more detail: Marrakesh Accords (COP7) https://unfccc.int/lulucf-developments-past-cop-and-sb-sessions-0
See for more detail: Kyoto Protocol (COP3) https://unfccc.int/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/items/6034.php
See for more detail: Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/doha_amendment/items/7362.php
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Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-71972011, 71672009) under supervision of corresponding author.
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Shauku Kihombo (SK): writing original manuscript, writing review and editing, deciding title. Shah Saud (SS): conceptualization, data collection, writing original manuscript, writing review and editing. Zahoor Ahmed (ZA): empirical analysis, methodology, writing review and editing. Songsheng Chen (SC): reviewed, suggested modification, made corrections on the manuscript, funding provision, and supervision. All authors have contributed in reading and approving the final manuscript.
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Kihombo, S., Saud, S., Ahmed, Z. et al. The effects of research and development and financial development on CO2 emissions: evidence from selected WAME economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 51149–51159 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14288-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14288-5