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This study investigates the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the case of Turkey from 1960 to 2013 by considering energy consumption, trade, urbanization, and financial development variables. Although previous literature examines various aspects of the EKC hypothesis for the case of Turkey, our model augments the basic model with several covariates to develop a better understanding of the relationship among the variables and to refrain from omitted variable bias. The results of the bounds test and the error correction model under autoregressive distributed lag mechanism suggest long-run relationships among the variables as well as proof of the EKC and the scale effect in Turkey. A conditional Granger causality test reveals that there are causal relationships among the variables. Our findings can have policy implications including the imposition of a "polluter pays" mechanism, such as the implementation of a carbon tax for pollution trading, to raise the urban population's awareness about the importance of adopting renewable energy and to support clean, environmentally friendly technology.

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Environmental Kuznets curve literature mostly uses a single indicator as a measure for environmental degradation. However, each single variable captures only a part of the environmental problem, and a reduction in any single measure does not indicate that the environmental problem is diminishing in general. Our study is the first one which investigates the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey (MINT) countries by employing the ecological footprint as the measure of environmental degradation. Autoregressive distributed lag results indicate that the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid for each of the MINT countries for the period of 1971-2013. The long-run coefficients of our augmented environmental Kuznets curve model show that fossil fuel energy consumption, exports, urbanization, and financial development are the most common causes of anthropogenic pressure on the environment. The effects of exports and imports are negative and positive on environmental degradation, respectively. The long-run coefficients of urbanization, financial development, and renewable energy consumption differ at certain levels for the sampled countries. The results of the analysis point to a number of different policy proposals for each country.

This study investigates the long-run equilibrium relationship among carbon dioxide (CO) emissions, income growth, energy consumption, and agriculture, thus testing the existence of what we call the agriculture-induced environmental Kuznets' curve (EKC) hypothesis in the case of Pakistan for the period of 1971-2014. The long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables in the conducted model is confirmed by Maki's (EM 29(5), 2011-2015, 2012) co-integration test under multiple structural breaks. Toda-Yamamoto's (JE 66(1):225-250, 1995) causality test results reveal bidirectional causal relationships among gross domestic product (GDP), energy use, agriculture, and CO emissions. Fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) results suggest that GDP has elastic positive impacts on CO emissions, and energy use and agricultural value added have inelastic positive impacts on CO emissions, whereas squared GDP has an inelastic and negative effect on CO emissions. This finding confirms the existence of the agriculture-induced EKC hypothesis in Pakistan and can be a guideline for other agrarian developing countries for the creation of effective policies around environmental degradation.