IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eco/journ2/2021-03-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modelling the Impact of Energy Consumption, Natural Resources, and Urbanization on Ecological Footprint in South Africa: Assessing the Moderating Role of Human Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Solomon Prince Nathaniel

    (University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria)

  • Festus Bekun

    (Faculty of Economics Administrative and Social Sciences, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul, Turkey,)

  • Alimshan Faizulayev

    (Bang College of Business, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan)

Abstract

Apart from being the most urbanized and largest emitter of CO2 emissions in Africa, South Africa currently harbours an ecological deficit territory mainly due to its desire to attain more growth with less attention to its natural environment. Since environmental distortions are mainly an outcome of human activities, this study becomes the first to investigate the linkage between natural resource (NR), human capital, energy consumption, and ecological footprint (EF) in South Africa. Findings from the long-run results reveal that energy consumption, natural resource, economic growth, and urbanization add to the EF, while human capital curtails environmental deterioration. The interaction between human capital and urbanization helps in mitigating environmental degradation, which suggests a moderating effect of human capital in urban sustainability. The CCR, DOLS and FMOLS confirm the robustness of the findings. A feedback causality exists between natural resource and economic growth, and between economic growth and EF. Natural resources and urbanization also Granger cause EF. Lastly, policies relating to urban and natural resource sustainability and human capital development are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Solomon Prince Nathaniel & Festus Bekun & Alimshan Faizulayev, 2021. "Modelling the Impact of Energy Consumption, Natural Resources, and Urbanization on Ecological Footprint in South Africa: Assessing the Moderating Role of Human Capital," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(3), pages 130-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:eco:journ2:2021-03-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/download/11099/5796
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/view/11099/5796
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamisu S. Ali & Solomon P. Nathaniel & Gizem Uzuner & Festus V. Bekun & Samuel A. Sarkodie, 2020. "Trivariate Modelling of the Nexus between Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Fresh Insights from Maki Cointegration and Causality Tests," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/010, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    2. Anindya Banerjee & Juan Dolado & Ricardo Mestre, 1998. "Error‐correction Mechanism Tests for Cointegration in a Single‐equation Framework," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 267-283, May.
    3. Udi Joshua & Festus V. Bekun & Samuel A. Sarkodie, 2020. "New Insight into the Causal Linkage between Economic Expansion, FDI, Coal consumption, Pollutant emissions and Urbanization in South Africa," Working Papers 20/011, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    4. Sharif, Arshian & Baris-Tuzemen, Ozge & Uzuner, Gizem & Ozturk, Ilhan & Sinha, Avik, 2020. "Revisiting the role of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on Turkey’s ecological footprint: Evidence from Quantile ARDL approach," MPRA Paper 100044, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    6. Johansen, Soren & Juselius, Katarina, 1990. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Inference on Cointegration--With Applications to the Demand for Money," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 52(2), pages 169-210, May.
    7. Ahmed, Zahoor & Asghar, Muhammad Mansoor & Malik, Muhammad Nasir & Nawaz, Kishwar, 2020. "Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Zivot, Eric & Andrews, Donald W K, 2002. "Further Evidence on the Great Crash, the Oil-Price Shock, and the Unit-Root Hypothesis," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 25-44, January.
    9. Destek, Mehmet & Sinha, Avik, 2020. "Renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: Evidence from organisation for economic Co-operation and development countries," MPRA Paper 104246, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    10. Boswijk, H. Peter, 1995. "Efficient inference on cointegration parameters in structural error correction models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 133-158, September.
    11. Eyup Dogan & Nigar Taspinar & Korhan K Gokmenoglu, 2019. "Determinants of ecological footprint in MINT countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(6), pages 1065-1086, September.
    12. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    13. Al-Mulali, Usama & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2015. "The effect of energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, industrial output, and the political stability on the environmental degradation in the MENA (Middle East and North African) region," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 382-389.
    14. Ahmadov, Anar Kamil & van der Borg, Charlotte, 2019. "Do natural resources impede renewable energy production in the EU? A mixed-methods analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 361-369.
    15. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    16. Panayotou T., 1993. "Empirical tests and policy analysis of environmental degradation at different stages of economic development," ILO Working Papers 992927783402676, International Labour Organization.
    17. Toda, Hiro Y. & Yamamoto, Taku, 1995. "Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1-2), pages 225-250.
    18. Zameer, Hashim & Yasmeen, Humaira & Wang, Rong & Tao, Jing & Malik, Muhammad Nasir, 2020. "An empirical investigation of the coordinated development of natural resources, financial development and ecological efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    20. Serena Ng & Pierre Perron, 2001. "LAG Length Selection and the Construction of Unit Root Tests with Good Size and Power," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(6), pages 1519-1554, November.
    21. Christian Bayer & Christoph Hanck, 2013. "Combining non-cointegration tests," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 83-95, January.
    22. Solomon P. Nathaniel & Festus V. Bekun, 2020. "Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Economic Growth in Nigeria: New Insights from Combined Cointegration amidst Structural Breaks," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/013, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    23. Foo Shi He & Gerald Goh Guan Gan & Usama Al-mulali & Sakiru Adebola Solarin, 2019. "The Influences of Economic Indicators on Environmental Pollution in Malaysia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 123-131.
    24. Al-Mulali, Usama & Saboori, Behnaz & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2015. "Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Vietnam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 123-131.
    25. Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Zaidi, Syed Anees Haider & Khan, Naveed R. & Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Hou, Fujun & Kirmani, Syed Ali Ashiq, 2019. "The impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint: The case of the United States," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    26. Zallé, Oumarou, 2019. "Natural resources and economic growth in Africa: The role of institutional quality and human capital," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 616-624.
    27. Destek, Mehmet Akif & Ulucak, Recep & Dogan, Eyüp, 2018. "Analyzing the Environmental Kuznets Curve for the EU countries: The role of ecological footprint," MPRA Paper 106882, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    28. Johansen, Soren, 1991. "Estimation and Hypothesis Testing of Cointegration Vectors in Gaussian Vector Autoregressive Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1551-1580, November.
    29. Usman, Ojonugwa & Alola, Andrew Adewale & Sarkodie, Samuel Asumadu, 2020. "Assessment of the role of renewable energy consumption and trade policy on environmental degradation using innovation accounting: Evidence from the US," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 266-277.
    30. Ndoricimpa, Arcade, 2017. "Analysis of asymmetries in the nexus among energy use, pollution emissions and real output in South Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 543-551.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Voumik, Liton Chandra & Ghosh, Smarnika & Rashid, Mamunur & Das, Mihir Kumar & Esquivias, Miguel Angel & Rojas, Omar, 2024. "The effect of geopolitical risk and green technology on load capacity factors in BRICS," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Solomon Prince Nathaniel, 2021. "Ecological footprint and human well-being nexus: accounting for broad-based financial development, globalization, and natural resources in the Next-11 countries," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Yasmeen, Rizwana & Huang, Haiping & Shah, Wasi Ul Hassan, 2024. "Assessing the significance of FinTech and mineral resource depletion in combating energy poverty: Empirical insights from BRICS economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Pruethsan Sutthichaimethee & Chanintorn Jittawiriyanukoon, 2022. "The Impact of Causal Factors Relationship over the Changes in Future Scenario Management under the Sustainability Policy of Thailand," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(5), pages 36-46, September.
    5. Cankun Ma & Md. Qamruzzaman, 2022. "An Asymmetric Nexus between Urbanization and Technological Innovation and Environmental Sustainability in Ethiopia and Egypt: What Is the Role of Renewable Energy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-25, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nathaniel Solomon Prince, 2021. "Natural Resources, Urbanisation, Economic Growth and the Ecological Footprint in South Africa: The Moderating Role of Human Capital," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 40(2), pages 63-76, June.
    2. Liu, Yaping & Sadiq, Farah & Ali, Wajahat & Kumail, Tafazal, 2022. "Does tourism development, energy consumption, trade openness and economic growth matters for ecological footprint: Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve and pollution haven hypothesis for Pakistan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    3. Mary O. Agboola & Festus V. Bekun, 2019. "Does Agricultural Value Added Induce Environmental Degradation? Empirical Evidence from an Agrarian Country," CEREDEC Working Papers 19/040, Centre de Recherche pour le Développement Economique (CEREDEC).
    4. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Bekun, Festus Victor & Etokakpan, Mfonobong Udom & Driha, Oana M., 2019. "A road to enhancements in natural gas use in Iran: A multivariate modelling approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Hossain, Md. Emran & Islam, Md. Sayemul & Bandyopadhyay, Arunava & Awan, Ashar & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Rej, Soumen, 2022. "Mexico at the crossroads of natural resource dependence and COP26 pledge: Does technological innovation help?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Md. Qamruzzaman, 2023. "Does Environmental Degradation-Led Remittances Flow? Nexus between Environmental Degradation, Uncertainty, Financial Inclusion and Remittances Inflows in India and China," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(2), pages 9-26, March.
    7. Solomon P. Nathaniel & Festus V. Bekun, 2020. "Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Economic Growth in Nigeria: New Insights from Combined Cointegration amidst Structural Breaks," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/013, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    8. Yongliang Zhang & Md. Qamruzzaman & Salma Karim & Ishrat Jahan, 2021. "Nexus between Economic Policy Uncertainty and Renewable Energy Consumption in BRIC Nations: The Mediating Role of Foreign Direct Investment and Financial Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-29, August.
    9. Ahmed, Zahoor & Asghar, Muhammad Mansoor & Malik, Muhammad Nasir & Nawaz, Kishwar, 2020. "Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Syed Ale Raza Shah & Syed Asif Ali Naqvi & Sofia Anwar & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah & Abdul Majeed Nadeem, 2022. "Socio-economic impact assessment of environmental degradation in Pakistan: fresh evidence from the Markov switching equilibrium correction model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 13786-13816, December.
    11. Avishek Khanal & Mohammad Mafizur Rahman & Rasheda Khanam & Eswaran Velayutham, 2021. "Are Tourism and Energy Consumption Linked? Evidence from Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-20, September.
    12. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Mallick, Hrushikesh & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Sadorsky, Perry, 2016. "The role of globalization on the recent evolution of energy demand in India: Implications for sustainable development," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 52-68.
    13. Agboola, Mary Oluwatoyin, 2021. "Female Labour Force Participation in Saudi Arabia and its Determinants," Gospodarka Narodowa-The Polish Journal of Economics, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie / SGH Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 2021(1), March.
    14. Adewale Samuel Hassan, 2023. "Modeling the linkage between coal mining and ecological footprint in South Africa: does technological innovation matter?," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 36(1), pages 123-138, January.
    15. Nathaniel, Solomon Prince & Yalçiner, Kürşat & Bekun, Festus Victor, 2021. "Assessing the environmental sustainability corridor: Linking natural resources, renewable energy, human capital, and ecological footprint in BRICS," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. Mary Oluwatoyin Agboola, 2021. "Female Labour Force Participation in Saudi Arabia and its Determinants," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 135-152.
    17. Ayhan Orhan & Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo & Sema Yılmaz Genç & Dervis Kirikkaleli, 2021. "Investigating the Linkage between Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability in India: Do Agriculture and Trade Openness Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.
    18. Muhammad Shahbaz & Ronald Ravinesh Kumar & Stanislav Ivanov & Nanthakumar Loganathan, 2017. "The nexus between tourism demand and output per capita with the relative importance of trade openness and financial development," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(1), pages 168-186, February.
    19. Debi P Bal & Badri N Rath, 2019. "Nonlinear causality between crude oil price and exchange rate: A comparative study of China and India - A Reassessment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 592-604.
    20. Husam Rjoub & Jamiu Adetola Odugbesan & Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo & Wing-Keung Wong, 2021. "Investigating the Causal Relationships among Carbon Emissions, Economic Growth, and Life Expectancy in Turkey: Evidence from Time and Frequency Domain Causality Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy Consumption; Natural Resource; Human Capital; Urbanization; Ecological Footprint; South Africa.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • D45 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Rationing; Licensing
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eco:journ2:2021-03-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ilhan Ozturk (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econjournals.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.