Title: Fresh evidence on the influence of trading activities on CO₂ emissions in developed and developing high CO₂ emitting countries: long panel data modelling

Authors: Chindo Sulaiman; Ng Shing Leng; A.S. Abdul-Rahim; Iqbal Muhammad-Jawad; Nur Syafiqah A. Samad

Addresses: Department of Natural Resources and Sustainability, Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kelantan, Malaysia ' Investment Department, Public Mutual Berhad, Menara Public Bank 2, No. 78, Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, 43400 Selangor, Malaysia; Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security (ITAFoS), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Shahkot Division, Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), District Nankana, Pakistan ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract: There is a widespread concern for environmental quality across the world due to greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission, which is the main source of global warming. Both trade and carbon dioxide emissions are rising simultaneously over the years. This paper investigates the relationship between trade openness and carbon dioxide emissions in developed and developing high CO₂ emitting countries over the 1971-2017 period. Panel cointegration and pooled mean group (PMG) techniques were employed. The PMG result revealed that trade openness is positively related to CO₂ emission for the top emitters from developing countries and hence causes environmental degradation in the long-run. However, trade is negatively related to carbon dioxide emission for the top emitters from developed countries where trade liberalisation appears to increase environmental quality. These findings deliver insights on the need to protect the environment from degradation by adopting green technologies that are environmentally friendly with high-energy efficiency.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions; trade openness; energy consumption; environmental Kuznets curve; EKC; pooled mean group estimator.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2023.134186

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2023 Vol.15 No.4, pp.522 - 547

Received: 28 Mar 2022
Accepted: 22 May 2022
Published online: 13 Oct 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article