Investigating Factors Affecting Environmental Pollution in Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D Student, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural and Envieonmental Economics, University of Zabol, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Zabol, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Zabol, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Regarding the importance of environmental issues, identification of the factors affecting environmental pollution has been considered more than ever. The present study examines the effects of electricity consumption, financial development, foreign direct investment and economic growth on carbon emissions in Iran over the years 1970-2016.
Material and Methods: For this purpose, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag method was used. To verify the Stationary, Augmented Dickey Fuller, Zivot – Andrews and Lee, Strazicich tests were used. Also, to investigate co-integration, Gregory-Hansen test were used.
Finding: The results of the ARDL model estimation with presence of Structural Break show, electricity consumption and economic growth has a positive effect on carbon emissions. And with a one percent increase, carbon emissions increased by 0.58% and 0.05%, respectively. The relationship between financial development and carbon emissions is negative, with a one-percent increase in financial development, carbon emissions will fall by 0.09 percent. The relation between foreign direct investment and carbon emissions is positive, which shows that the Pollution haven hypothesis has been approved in Iran and with a one percent increase in foreign direct investment, carbon emissions will increase by 0.01 percent.
Conclusion: Based on the results, and given that Iran is considered as a renewable resource, except for the rich countries, it is essential that, with a streamlined plan, both the release of budget and GDP from the trap of oil revenues, towards the replacement of renewables In order to maintain energy resources, environmental pollution will also decrease. It is also imperative that the government and legislators in Iran seek to raise funds for the reconstruction of the country's manufacturing sector, especially the industry and the use of environmentally friendly technologies.
JEL Classification: Q50, P18, C50

Keywords


  1. Al-Mulali U, Tang C. F. Investigating the validity of pollution haven hypothesis in the gulf cooperation council (GCC) co Energy Policy. 2013; 60: 813-819.‏ ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.055[
  2. Asghari M, Salarnazar rafsanjaipour S. The effect of foreign direct investment flow on the environmental quality of selected MENA countries. Economic Development. 2013; 9: 1-30. (In Persian). https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/1054792
  3. Ayres R. U, Nair I. Thermodynamics and economics. Physics Today. 1984; 37: 62-71.https://pascalfrancis.inist.fr/vibad/index.php?action=getRecordDetail&idt=8596445
  4. Antonakakis N, Chatziantoniou I, Filis, G. Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions, and Economic Growth: An ethical dilemma. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2017; 68: 808-824.‏ [DOI: org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.105]
  5. Bakhsh K, Rose S, Ali M. F, Ahmad N, Shahbaz M. Economic growth, CO2 emissions, renewable waste and FDI relation in Pakistan: New evidences from 3SLS. Environmental management. 2017; 196: 627-632.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.03.029[
  6. Baek J. A new look at the FDI–income–energy–environment nexus: dynamic panel data analysis of ASEAN. Energy Policy. 2016; 91: 22-27.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.12.045[
  7. Bahmanioskooee M, Nasir A. B. M. ARDL approach to test the productivity bias hypothesis. Review of Development Economics. 2004; 8(3): 483-488.‏ ]org/10.1111/j.1467-9361.2004.00247.x[
  8. Behboudi D, Barghi Golazaei E. Environmental Impacts of Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in Iran. Journal of Quantitative Economics. 2009; 5(4): 35-53. (In Persian). https://www.sid.ir/en/journal/ViewPaper.aspx?id=189344
  9. Behbudi D, Fallahi F, Barghi E. The Economical and Social Factors Effecting on CO2 Emission in Iran. Journal of Economic Research (Tahghighat- E- Eghtesadi). 2010; 45(1): 1-17. (In Persian). https://jte.ut.ac.ir/article_20732.html
  10. Behera S.R, Dash D.P. The effect of urbanization, energy consumption, and foreign direct investment on the carbon dioxide emission in the SSEA (South and Southeast Asian) region. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2017; 70: 96-106. ‏]org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.201 [
  11. Behboudi D, Asgharpur H, Fallahi F, Mohammadi Khaneghahi R. Impacts of financial and economic developments on greenhouse gas emission in selected OPEC countries: A panel cointegration and dynamic ordinary least squares approch. Journal of Economic Research (Tahghighat- E- Eghtesadi). 2014; 49(2): 315-335. (In Persian). ]10.22059/JTE.2014.51796[
  12. Bohloli P. Investigating the Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Environmental Pollution in Iran. Quantitative studies in management. 2014; 4(4): 193-210. (In Persian). https://www.sid.ir/en/journal/ViewPaper.aspx?id=407772
  13. Boopen S, Vinesh S. On the relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth: the Mauritian experience. In University of Mauritius, Mauritius Environment Outlook Report. 2011. http://www. Csae. Ox. Ac. uk/conferences/2011-EDiA/papers/776-Seetanah.
  14. Charfeddine L, Khediri K. B. Financial development and environmental quality in UAE: Cointegration with structural Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2016; 55: 1322-1335.‏ ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.07.059[
  15. Dong K, Hochman G, Zhang Y, Sun R, Li H, Liao H. CO2 emissions, economic and population growth, and renewable energy: Empirical evidence across regions. Energy Economics. 2018; 75: 180-192.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.08.017
  16. Energy Balance Sheet. Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy of the Ministry of Energy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2016; (In Persian). https://irandataportal.syr.edu/ministry-of-energy
  17. Frankel J. A, Romer D. H. Does trade cause growth, American economic review. 1999; 89(3): 379-399.‏ https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.89.3.379
  18. Grossman G. M, Krueger, A. B. (1991). Environmental impacts of a North American free trade agreement. National Bureau of Economic Research, 3914. ]DOI:10.3386/w3914[
  19. Gregory A. W, Hansen B. E. Residual-based Tests for Cointegration in Model with Regime Shifts. Journal of Economics. 1996; 70(1): 99-126. ]org/10.1016/0304-4076(69)41685-7[
  20. Harvie C, Pahlavani M. Sources of Economic Growth in South Korea: An Application of the ARDL Analysis in the Presence of Structural Breaks–1980-2005, University of Wollongong Economics Working Paper Series. 2006.‏ https://ro.uow.edu.au/commwkpapers/153
  21. Heidari H, Sadeghpour A. The Impact of Economic Variables on Environmental Pollution with Emphasis on Financial Development Index: Application of Generalized Method of Moments. Journal of Environmental Studies. 2014; 39(4): 29-44. (In Persian). ] DOI: 22059/jes.2014.36460 [
  22. International Energy Agency Report. Energy and Climate Change. World Energy Outlook Special Report. 2017. https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook
  23. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change. Climate Change Synthesis Report. 2014. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr
  24. Kuznets S. Economic growth and income inequality. The American economic review. 1955;45(1): 1-28.‏ https://www.jstor.org/stable/1811581
  25. Lee J.W. The contribution of foreign direct investment to clean energy use, carbon emissions and economic Energy Policy. 2013; 55: 483-489.‏ ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.12.039[
  26. Lee J, Strazicich M. C. Minimum LM unit root test with one structural break. Manuscript, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University. 2004; 33(4): 2483-2492. https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/aplwpaper/04-17.htm
  27. List J. A, McHone W. W, Millimet D. L. Effects of environmental regulation on foreign and domestic plant births: is there a home field advantage. Urban Economics. 2004; 56(2): 303-326.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.jue.2004.03.007[
  28. Lotfalipour M, Falahi M, Ashena, M. The Study of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Relation to Economic Growth, Energy Consumption and Trade in Ira. Journal of Economic Research (Tahghighat- E- Eghtesadi). 2011; 46(1): 151-173. (In Persian). https://jte.ut.ac.ir/article_22450.html?lang=en
  29. Mahdavi A, Amirbabaei S. The effect of financial development on the quality of environmental in Sustainable growth and development research. 2016; 15(4): 1-23. (In Persian). http://ecor.modares.ac.ir/article-18-4160-en.html
  30. Marin G. Sector CO2 and SOX emissions efficiency and investment: homogeneous vs heterogeneous estimates using the Italian NAMEA. 2010. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/24077
  31. Noferesti M. Unit Root and Co-integration in Econometrics, Rasa Publications, Tehran. 1999. (In Persian). https://rasabooks.ir/default.aspx?TabId=502&Id=26638
  32. Omri A, Daly S, Rault C, Chaibi A. Financial development, environmental quality, trade and economic growth: What causes what in MENA countries?, Energy Economics. 2015; 48: 242-252. ] org/10.1016/j.eneco.2015.01.008[
  33. Pazhoyan J, Zandi F. The relationship between foreign direct investment and the environment (Case study of selected countries). Financial Economics. 2010; 4(10): 1-28. (In Persian). http://ecj.iauctb.ac.ir/article_512531.html
  34. Pahlavani M, Harvie C. Multiple structural breaks in Korea’s macroeconomic data: an application of the Lumsdaine and Papell test. Korean Economy. 2008; 9(3): 425-441.‏ https://ro.uow.edu.au/commpapers/2078/
  35. Pao H.T, Tsai C.M. CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in BRIC countries. Energy 2010; 38(12):7850-7860. ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.08.045[
  36. Perron P. Testing for a Unit Root in a Time Series with a Changing Mean. Business and Economic Statastics. 1990; 8: 153-162. ]abs/10.1080/07350015.1990.10509786[
  37. Pesaran M.H, Shin Y. Smith R. Bound Testing Approaches to the Analysis of Level Relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics. 2001; 16(3): 289-326. ]org/10.1002/jae.616[
  38. Rafindadi A. A, Muye I. M, Kaita R. A. The effects of FDI and energy consumption on environmental pollution in predominantly resource-based economies of the GCC. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments. 2018;25, 126-137.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.12.008[
  39. Sadeghi K, Ebrahimi S. Sadegi S. Ebrahimi, S. Impact of Coal Consumption on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Iran. Iranian Energy Economics. 2013; 2(7): 43-73. (In Persian). https://jiee.atu.ac.ir/article_752.html
  40. Salmani M, Shokri M, Abedzadeh K. Study Factors affecting emission of Gas CO2 in Iran. Iranian Journal of 2017; 20(1): 51-46. (In Persian). http://necjournals.ir/browse.php?a_id=986&slc_lang=en
  41. Salahuddin M, Gow J, Ozturk I. Is the long-run relationship between economic growth, electricity consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and financial development in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries robust? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2015; 51: 317-326. ]org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.06.005 [
  42. Salahuddin M, Alam K, Ozturk I, Sohag K. The effects of electricity consumption, economic growth, financial development and foreign direct investment on CO2 emissions in Kuwait. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2018; 81: 2002-2010.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.06.009[
  43. Sadorsky P. The effect of urbanization on CO2 emissions in emerging economies. Energy Economics. 2014; 41: 147-153. ]org/10.1016/j.eneco.2013.11.007[
  44. Samadi A, Pahlavani M. Co-integration and structural Breaks on the economy, Noor elm Publications and Sistan & Blouchestan. 2009. (In Persian). https://www.adinehbook.com/gp/product/9642728718
  45. Stern, D. I. Economic growth and energy. Encyclopedia of Energy. 2004; 2(00147): 35-51.‏ http://www.sterndavidi.com/Publications/Growth
  46. Shahbaz M, Solarin S. A, Mahmood H, Arouri M. Does financial development reduce CO2 emissions in Malaysian economy?. A time series analysis. Economic Modelling. 2013; 35: 145-152.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.econmod.2013.06.037[
  47. Shahzad S. J. H, Kumar R. R, Zakaria M, Hurr, M. Carbon emission, energy consumption, trade openness and financial development in Pakistan: A revisit. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2017; 70: 185-192.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.042[
  48. Shahbaz M, Shahzad S. J. H, Ahmad N, Alam S. Financial development and environmental quality: The way forward. Energy Policy. 2016; 98: 353-364.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.09.002[
  49. Shahnazi R, Hadian E, Jargani L. An Investigation of Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and CO2 Emission in the Iranian Economic Sectors. Quarterly Journal of Economic Growth and Development Research. 2017; 7(28): 51-70. (In Persian). http://egdr.journals.pnu.ac.ir/article_2901.html
  50. Shahbaz M, Lean, H. H. Does financial development increase energy consumption? The role of industrialization and urbanization in Tunisia. Energy policy. 2012; 40: 473-479.‏ ]org/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.10.050[
  51. Tamazian A, Chousa J. P, Vadlamannati K. C. Does higher economic and financial development lead to environmental degradation: evidence from BRIC countries? Energy policy. 2009; 37(1): 246-253.‏ ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.08.025[
  52. Torabi T, Khajooeipour A, Tarighi S, pakravan M. The Effect of Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and International Business on Greenhouse Gas Emission in Iran. Economic Modeling. 2015; 9(29): 63-84. (In Persian). http://eco.iaufb.ac.ir/article_556765.html?lang=en
  53. United States Environmental Protection Agency Report. Climate change indicator in the United States. 2016; Fourth Edition. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/climate_indicators
  54. World energy Council (2017). World energy Council report. https://www.worldenergy.org
  55. World Bank. World Bank Development 2017; https://openknowledge.worldbank.org
  56. Zhang Y. J. The impact of financial development on carbon emissions: An empirical analysis in Energy Policy. 2011; 39(4): 2197-2203.‏ ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.02.026[

 

  1. Zhang C, Zhou X. Does foreign direct investment lead to lower CO2 emissions? Evidence from a regional analysis in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2016; 58: 943-951.‏ ]DOI.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.226[
  2. Zivot E, Andrews D.W. Further Evidence on the Great Crash, the Oil Price Shick, and the Unit Root Hypothesis. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. 1992; 10(3): 251-270. ] org/10.1198/073500102753410372[