Environmental Pollution a Negative Externality from China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Policy implications for Pakistan

Abstract

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) isconsidered as the ‘flagship’ project of China’s Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI) and has been widely acclaimedby both Chinese and Pakistani officials often terming itas ‘game-changer’ to overcome Pakistan’s lingeringissues of energy and economic crisis. Within theframework of CPEC, China is investing more than 56billion US dollars as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)in various energy and infrastructure projects includinga vast network of railways, highways, economic zonesand gas pipelines. While much has been debated andwritten about various projects under CPEC in theexisting academic discourses, vis-à-vis threats to thebiodiversity (Nabi et al., 2017), its potentialimplications to environmental hazards (Ali, 2018) andto overcome energy shortfall of Pakistan (Kugelman,2017). However, scientific study to reinforce the issuesof environmental pollution, particularly related toCEPEC coal-based energy projects have been stilllacking.The pertained literature on CPEC consisted qualitativestudies to inspect and judge different aspects such asimportance of CPEC for both countries and its effectson geo political of South Asia. Challenges for CPEC inPakistan, South Asia and foreign policy betweenChina-Pakistan), as Nan, (2015) explained that thisproject is not only valuable for Pakistan and China, butit is also beneficial for the global economy byincluding several other countries. Furthermore, Li andSun, (2015) and Irshad, etal, (2015) reported theimportance of CPEC and it long and short-termbenefits for both countries. Further, Hussain and Khan(2017) also stated that it will enhance the cooperationbetween two countries and advantageous for Chinese,Middle Eastern and South Asian people (Ali, 2016).Further, Wolf, (2017) explained the insights, potentialsand challenges concerning CPEC and domestic levelcooperation between China and Pakistan.In addition, quantitative studies focused to shed a lighton the impact of China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) (Such as, impact on gdp, socio-economy,trade, stock market, energy sector and infrastructure).CPEC will build rails and roads infrastructure andinfrastructure development may decrease the povertyand increases the agriculture development in Pakistan(Ahmed & Mustafa, 2016). Most recent articleexamined the impact of CPEC impact on energy(energy consumption and energy saving potential) inthe prospect of Pakistan (Mirza, Fatima, Ullah, 2019).A latest study surveyed in Pakistan and their researchresults shows that entrepreneur’s attitude andintentions to China and Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) development is positive, it means CPECproject also designing an entrepreneurial environment(Kanwal et al., 2019).A large number of studies (Begum, etal., 2015; Ozturk,and Acaravci, 2010) have discussed various elementsand causes of CO2 emissions. Similarly, manyresearches (Khurshid, etal., 2018; Hadi, etal., 2018;Hussain, 2017; Hussain, 2015) on Pakistan-Chinarelations in the context of economy, society andgeopolitical point of view. Present study is aimed toinvestigate the CPEC development effects i.e. grossdomestic product (gdp), foreign direct investment (fdi),trade openness (top), energy consumption (enguse) onenvironmental pollution (CO2) in Pakistan usingFMOLS and DOLS methods.