Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.

Environmental protection holds a paramount position in the pursuit of sustainable development. The existing body of literature has extensively examined various driving forces for environmental enhancement, including renewable energy sources, innovation, and governmental interventions. This study aim...

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Main Authors: Chen Gang, He Sha, Md Qamruzzaman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295628
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author Chen Gang
He Sha
Md Qamruzzaman
author_facet Chen Gang
He Sha
Md Qamruzzaman
author_sort Chen Gang
collection DOAJ
description Environmental protection holds a paramount position in the pursuit of sustainable development. The existing body of literature has extensively examined various driving forces for environmental enhancement, including renewable energy sources, innovation, and governmental interventions. This study aims to assess the impact of green investment, energy efficiency, and urbanization on achieving environmental sustainability in the MENA region during the period 2004-2019. A comprehensive set of econometric tools has been employed to achieve this goal, including the CADF and CIPS panel unit root tests, error correction-based panel cointegration analysis, Cross-sectional ARDL, and asymmetric ARDL models. The key findings of this research are as follows: Cross-sectional dependency and homogeneity tests demonstrated that the research units shared common dynamics and heterogeneity properties. The stationarity tests based on CIPS and CADF indicated that all variables became stationary after the first differencing. The panel cointegration analysis established a long-term relationship between green investment (GI), energy efficiency (EE), urbanization (UR), and environmental sustainability (ES) in MENA nations. Empirical model estimations using Cross-sectional ARDL revealed significant contributions of GI, EE, and UR to ES in the long and short run. The asymmetry assessment uncovered a nonlinear relationship between the explanatory and dependent variables, both in the long and short run. Specifically, the asymmetric coefficients of GI, EE, and UR displayed negative statistical significance at the 1% level, highlighting their significant roles in promoting environmental sustainability. In light of these findings, this study provides valuable insights for policymakers to formulate strategies to further environmental sustainability in the MENA region.
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institution Kabale University
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spelling doaj-art-58d6c6ac9d4843a9965b1c2ee3057eff2025-08-20T03:48:51ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-011812e029562810.1371/journal.pone.0295628Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.Chen GangHe ShaMd QamruzzamanEnvironmental protection holds a paramount position in the pursuit of sustainable development. The existing body of literature has extensively examined various driving forces for environmental enhancement, including renewable energy sources, innovation, and governmental interventions. This study aims to assess the impact of green investment, energy efficiency, and urbanization on achieving environmental sustainability in the MENA region during the period 2004-2019. A comprehensive set of econometric tools has been employed to achieve this goal, including the CADF and CIPS panel unit root tests, error correction-based panel cointegration analysis, Cross-sectional ARDL, and asymmetric ARDL models. The key findings of this research are as follows: Cross-sectional dependency and homogeneity tests demonstrated that the research units shared common dynamics and heterogeneity properties. The stationarity tests based on CIPS and CADF indicated that all variables became stationary after the first differencing. The panel cointegration analysis established a long-term relationship between green investment (GI), energy efficiency (EE), urbanization (UR), and environmental sustainability (ES) in MENA nations. Empirical model estimations using Cross-sectional ARDL revealed significant contributions of GI, EE, and UR to ES in the long and short run. The asymmetry assessment uncovered a nonlinear relationship between the explanatory and dependent variables, both in the long and short run. Specifically, the asymmetric coefficients of GI, EE, and UR displayed negative statistical significance at the 1% level, highlighting their significant roles in promoting environmental sustainability. In light of these findings, this study provides valuable insights for policymakers to formulate strategies to further environmental sustainability in the MENA region.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295628
spellingShingle Chen Gang
He Sha
Md Qamruzzaman
Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.
PLoS ONE
title Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.
title_full Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.
title_fullStr Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.
title_full_unstemmed Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.
title_short Nexus between energy efficiency, green investment, urbanization and environmental quality: Evidence from MENA region.
title_sort nexus between energy efficiency green investment urbanization and environmental quality evidence from mena region
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295628
work_keys_str_mv AT chengang nexusbetweenenergyefficiencygreeninvestmenturbanizationandenvironmentalqualityevidencefrommenaregion
AT hesha nexusbetweenenergyefficiencygreeninvestmenturbanizationandenvironmentalqualityevidencefrommenaregion
AT mdqamruzzaman nexusbetweenenergyefficiencygreeninvestmenturbanizationandenvironmentalqualityevidencefrommenaregion