Analyzing the long run linkage between Population, Economic Development and Energy Consumption on Carbon emissions of ASEAN Nations

Abstract

This study examined the effect of population, energy consumption, economic development on environment degradation in the context of ASEAN countries. For this purpose, the study used the panel data of nine ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam) from 1995 to 2018 with the help of the World Development Indicators (WDI) dataset. Panel FMOLS and Panel ARDL methodology are used to examine the econometric model. ARDL results show that economic growth increases the emission of carbon dioxide which means economic development makes the environment unhealthy, moreover it confirmed the validity of the EKC hypothesis for ASEAN countries. There is a long-term positive impact of GDP and the consumption of energy on CO2 emission. In contrast, the impact of population growth is significant on the per capita emission of carbon dioxide. However, the emission of carbon dioxide hurts economic growth in the long run. Consequently, emission of carbon dioxide can be reduced, and economic growth can be sustainable by using low carbon emission technologies such as renewable energy.