Associating Renewable Energy, Globalization, Agriculture, and Ecological Footprints: Implications for Sustainable Environment in South Asian Countries

Lixun Wang; Usman Mehmood; Ephraim Bonah Agyekum; Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure; Karabo Shale

doi:10.3390/ijerph191610162

Associating Renewable Energy, Globalization, Agriculture, and Ecological Footprints: Implications for Sustainable Environment in South Asian Countries

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 16;19(16):10162. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191610162.

Authors

Lixun Wang¹, Usman Mehmood^{2

3}, Ephraim Bonah Agyekum⁴, Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure⁵, Karabo Shale⁵

Affiliations

¹ Terms in Financial Engineering School of Economics and Management, Weifang University of Science and Technology, Weifang 262799, China.
² Department of Political Science, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54590, Pakistan.
³ Remote Sensing, GIS and Climatic Research Laboratory (National Center of GIS and Space Applications), Centre for Remote Sensing, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Nuclear and Renewable Energy, Ural Federal University Named after the First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, 19 Mira Street, 620002 Ekaterinburg, Russia.
⁵ Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P.O. Box 652, Cape Town 8000, South Africa.

Abstract

The main purpose of this work is to investigate the impacts of globalization (GL), renewable energy (RE), and value-added agriculture (AG) on ecological footprints (EF) and CO₂ emissions. For quantitative analysis, this research paper includes yearly data from 1990-2018 for four South Asian nations: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These countries are most vulnerable to climate hazards and rapid economic transitions. The Westerlund test provides a strong association among the panel data. The findings of ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) show that RE is lowering CO₂ emissions and EF in the long run. A 1% increase in RE results in a 10.55% and 2.08% CO₂ decrease in emissions and EF, respectively. Globalization and AG are contributing to environmental degradation in selected South Asian countries. Therefore, these countries need to exploit solar energy to its full capacity. Moreover, these countries need to explore more RE resources to reduce their dependence on non-RE sources. These countries can make their agricultural sectors sustainable by following efficient farming practices. Environmental awareness should be enhanced among the farmers. Farmers can use animal fertilizers and clean inputs in AG to achieve sustainable agricultural products. Overall, this work suggests that these countries can achieve a cleaner environment by adopting RE and by promoting efficient technologies through globalization.

Keywords: CO2 emissions; South Asian countries; ecological footprint; globalization; renewable energy.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Carbon Dioxide*
Economic Development*
Internationality
Renewable Energy

Substances

Carbon Dioxide

Grants and funding

The research funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Ural Federal University Program of Development within the Priority-2030 Program) is gratefully acknowledged.