IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v107y2017icp678-687.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does urbanization affect carbon dioxide emissions? A cross-country panel data analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Ning
  • Yu, Keren
  • Chen, Zhongfei

Abstract

As a crucial indicator of modernization, urbanization has significant effects on carbon dioxide emissions. Using a panel data of 141 countries over the period of 1961–2011, this paper analyzes the impact of urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions empirically. We employ two-way fixed effects model based on the extended STIRPAT theoretical frameworks. Our results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between urbanization and carbon emissions and the turn point is around 73.80%. But excessive urban concentration can claim the benefits of high-level urbanization. These findings can also help policy makers to use efficient urbanization to curb the carbon emissions, especially for the Asian countries that with high density of population.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Ning & Yu, Keren & Chen, Zhongfei, 2017. "How does urbanization affect carbon dioxide emissions? A cross-country panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 678-687.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:678-687
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.072
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517301933
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.072?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liddle, Brantley, 2013. "Population, Affluence, and Environmental Impact Across Development: Evidence from Panel Cointegration Modeling," MPRA Paper 52088, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Shi, Anqing, 2003. "The impact of population pressure on global carbon dioxide emissions, 1975-1996: evidence from pooled cross-country data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 29-42, February.
    3. Azomahou, Theophile & Laisney, Francois & Nguyen Van, Phu, 2006. "Economic development and CO2 emissions: A nonparametric panel approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(6-7), pages 1347-1363, August.
    4. Duarte, Rosa & Mainar, Alfredo & Sánchez-Chóliz, Julio, 2013. "The role of consumption patterns, demand and technological factors on the recent evolution of CO2 emissions in a group of advanced economies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-13.
    5. Salim, Ruhul A. & Shafiei, Sahar, 2014. "Urbanization and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in OECD countries: An empirical analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 581-591.
    6. Werner Antweiler & Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2001. "Is Free Trade Good for the Environment?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 877-908, September.
    7. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hye, Qazi Muhammad Adnan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Leitão, Nuno Carlos, 2013. "Economic growth, energy consumption, financial development, international trade and CO2 emissions in Indonesia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 109-121.
    8. Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Aurelia Bengochea-Morancho & Rafael Morales-Lage, 2007. "The impact of population on CO 2 emissions: evidence from European countries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 38(4), pages 497-512, December.
    9. Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Maruotti, Antonello, 2011. "The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: Evidence from developing countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1344-1353, May.
    10. Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Salim, Ruhul & Nielsen, Ingrid, 2016. "Urbanization, openness, emissions, and energy intensity: A study of increasingly urbanized emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 20-28.
    11. Machado, Giovani & Schaeffer, Roberto & Worrell, Ernst, 2001. "Energy and carbon embodied in the international trade of Brazil: an input-output approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 409-424, December.
    12. Kohler, Marcel, 2013. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade: A South African perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1042-1050.
    13. Omri, Anis & Daly, Saida & Rault, Christophe & Chaibi, Anissa, 2015. "Financial development, environmental quality, trade and economic growth: What causes what in MENA countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 242-252.
    14. Sharma, Susan Sunila, 2011. "Determinants of carbon dioxide emissions: Empirical evidence from 69 countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 376-382, January.
    15. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    16. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Loganathan, Nanthakumar & Muzaffar, Ahmed Taneem & Ahmed, Khalid & Ali Jabran, Muhammad, 2016. "How urbanization affects CO2 emissions in Malaysia? The application of STIRPAT model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 83-93.
    17. York, Richard & Rosa, Eugene A. & Dietz, Thomas, 2003. "STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 351-365, October.
    18. Xu, X.Y. & Ang, B.W., 2014. "Multilevel index decomposition analysis: Approaches and application," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 375-382.
    19. Henderson, Vernon, 2002. "Urban primacy, external costs, and quality of life," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 95-106, February.
    20. Coondoo, Dipankor & Dinda, Soumyananda, 2008. "Carbon dioxide emission and income: A temporal analysis of cross-country distributional patterns," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 375-385, April.
    21. Liddle, Brantley & Lung, Sidney, 2010. "Age-Structure, Urbanization, and Climate Change in Developed Countries: Revisiting STIRPAT for Disaggregated Population and Consumption-Related Environmental Impacts," MPRA Paper 59579, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Alam, Shaista & Fatima, Ambreen & Butt, Muhammad S., 2007. "Sustainable development in Pakistan in the context of energy consumption demand and environmental degradation," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 825-837, October.
    23. Matthew A. Cole & Eric Neumayer, 2003. "Examining the Impact of Demographic Factors On Air Pollution," Labor and Demography 0312005, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 May 2004.
    24. Andreoni, Valeria & Galmarini, Stefano, 2016. "Drivers in CO2 emissions variation: A decomposition analysis for 33 world countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 27-37.
    25. Karen Ehrhardt‐Martinez & Edward M. Crenshaw & J. Craig Jenkins, 2002. "Deforestation and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Cross‐National Investigation of Intervening Mechanisms," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(1), pages 226-243, March.
    26. Fernández-Amador, Octavio & Francois, Joseph F. & Tomberger, Patrick, 2016. "Carbon dioxide emissions and international trade at the turn of the millennium," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 14-26.
    27. Jones, Donald W., 1991. "How urbanization affects energy-use in developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 621-630, September.
    28. Sebri, Maamar & Ben-Salha, Ousama, 2014. "On the causal dynamics between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and trade openness: Fresh evidence from BRICS countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 14-23.
    29. Kasman, Adnan & Duman, Yavuz Selman, 2015. "CO2 emissions, economic growth, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in new EU member and candidate countries: A panel data analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 97-103.
    30. Sharif Hossain, Md., 2011. "Panel estimation for CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and urbanization of newly industrialized countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 6991-6999.
    31. Wang, Ping & Wu, Wanshui & Zhu, Bangzhu & Wei, Yiming, 2013. "Examining the impact factors of energy-related CO2 emissions using the STIRPAT model in Guangdong Province, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 65-71.
    32. Jayanthakumaran, Kankesu & Verma, Reetu & Liu, Ying, 2012. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, trade and income: A comparative analysis of China and India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 450-460.
    33. Marcel Kohler, 2013. "CO2 Emissions, Energy Consumption, Income and Foreign Trade: A South African Perspective," Working Papers 356, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    34. Mongelli, I. & Tassielli, G. & Notarnicola, B., 2006. "Global warming agreements, international trade and energy/carbon embodiments: an input-output approach to the Italian case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 88-100, January.
    35. Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2015. "Index decomposition analysis with multidimensional and multilevel energy data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 67-76.
    36. Kwon, Tae-Hyeong, 2005. "Decomposition of factors determining the trend of CO2 emissions from car travel in Great Britain (1970-2000)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 261-275, April.
    37. Al-mulali, Usama & Binti Che Sab, Che Normee & Fereidouni, Hassan Gholipour, 2012. "Exploring the bi-directional long run relationship between urbanization, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emission," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 156-167.
    38. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Kumar Tiwari, Aviral & Nasir, Muhammad, 2013. "The effects of financial development, economic growth, coal consumption and trade openness on CO2 emissions in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1452-1459.
    39. Wang, Yuan & Li, Li & Kubota, Jumpei & Han, Rong & Zhu, Xiaodong & Lu, Genfa, 2016. "Does urbanization lead to more carbon emission? Evidence from a panel of BRICS countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 375-380.
    40. Poumanyvong, Phetkeo & Kaneko, Shinji, 2010. "Does urbanization lead to less energy use and lower CO2 emissions? A cross-country analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 434-444, December.
    41. Ozcan, Burcu, 2013. "The nexus between carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Middle East countries: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1138-1147.
    42. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "Impacts of urbanization and industrialization on energy consumption/CO2 emissions: Does the level of development matter?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1107-1122.
    43. Al-mulali, Usama & Fereidouni, Hassan Gholipour & Lee, Janice Y.M. & Sab, Che Normee Binti Che, 2013. "Exploring the relationship between urbanization, energy consumption, and CO2 emission in MENA countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 107-112.
    44. Sadorsky, Perry, 2014. "The effect of urbanization on CO2 emissions in emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 147-153.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hanen Ragoubi & Zouheir Mighri, 2021. "Spillover effects of trade openness on CO2 emissions in middle‐income countries: A spatial panel data approach," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 835-877, June.
    2. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "Impacts of urbanization and industrialization on energy consumption/CO2 emissions: Does the level of development matter?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1107-1122.
    3. Jiang Qingquan & Shoukat Iqbal Khattak & Manzoor Ahmad & Lin Ping, 2020. "A new approach to environmental sustainability: Assessing the impact of monetary policy on CO2 emissions in Asian economies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1331-1346, September.
    4. Muhammad, Sulaman & Long, Xingle & Salman, Muhammad & Dauda, Lamini, 2020. "Effect of urbanization and international trade on CO2 emissions across 65 belt and road initiative countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    5. Xiaoxia Shi & Haiyun Liu & Joshua Sunday Riti, 2019. "The role of energy mix and financial development in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions’ reduction: evidence from ten leading CO2 emitting countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 695-729, October.
    6. Charfeddine, Lanouar, 2017. "The impact of energy consumption and economic development on Ecological Footprint and CO2 emissions: Evidence from a Markov Switching Equilibrium Correction Model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 355-374.
    7. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Ben Khediri, Karim, 2016. "Financial development and environmental quality in UAE: Cointegration with structural breaks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1322-1335.
    8. Wang, Qiang & Wu, Shi-dai & Zeng, Yue-e & Wu, Bo-wei, 2016. "Exploring the relationship between urbanization, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions in different provinces of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1563-1579.
    9. Wang, Jing & Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen, 2019. "Participation in GVCs and CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    11. Khalid Khan & Chi-Wei Su & Ran Tao & Lin-Na Hao, 2020. "Urbanization and carbon emission: causality evidence from the new industrialized economies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 7193-7213, December.
    12. Wang, Shaojian & Fang, Chuanglin & Guan, Xingliang & Pang, Bo & Ma, Haitao, 2014. "Urbanisation, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions in China: A panel data analysis of China’s provinces," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 738-749.
    13. Mohammed Musah & Yusheng Kong & Isaac Adjei Mensah & Stephen Kwadwo Antwi & Mary Donkor, 2021. "The connection between urbanization and carbon emissions: a panel evidence from West Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 11525-11552, August.
    14. Lapatinas, Athanasios & Garas, Antonios & Boleti, Eirini & Kyriakou, Alexandra, 2019. "Economic complexity and environmental performance: Evidence from a world sample," MPRA Paper 92833, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Ertugrul, Hasan Murat & Çetin, Murat & Şeker, Fahri & Dogan, Eyüp, 2015. "The impact of trade openness on global carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from the top ten emitters among developing countries," MPRA Paper 97539, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Mar 2016.
    16. Du, W.C. & Xia, X.H., 2018. "How does urbanization affect GHG emissions? A cross-country panel threshold data analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 872-883.
    17. Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh & Zakaria, Muhammad & Hurr, Maryam, 2017. "Carbon emission, energy consumption, trade openness and financial development in Pakistan: A revisit," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 185-192.
    18. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    19. Hussain Ali Bekhet & Nor Salwati Othman & Tahira Yasmin, 2020. "Interaction Between Environmental Kuznet Curve and Urban Environment Transition Hypotheses in Malaysia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(1), pages 384-402.
    20. Sinha, Avik & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Balsalobre, Daniel, 2017. "Exploring the Relationship between Energy Usage Segregation and Environmental Degradation in N-11 Countries," MPRA Paper 81212, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Sep 2017.

    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:eee:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:678-687. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.