Dirty dance: tourism and environment

Tourism was one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy before the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for around 10% of global GDP. This has created a number of challenges including environmental degradation, especially in small island countries where the carbon footprint of tourism constitute a substantial share of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This study investigates the impact of tourism on CO2 emissions in a relatively homogenous panel of 15 Caribbean countries over the period 1960–2019. The results show that international tourist arrivals have a statistically and economically significant effect on CO2 emissions, after controlling for other economic, institutional and social factors. Managing tourism sustainably requires a comprehensive set of policies and reforms aimed at reducing its environmental impact, and curbing excessive dependency on fossil fuel-based energy consumption. © 2022 International Monetary Fund.

Extreme events and carbon emissions: What we could learn from decomposition of national- and sector-carbon emission

The lockdown policies related with the COVID-19 pandemic brings carbon emissions slump, but emissions potentially restore to increase as lockdown policies relaxed and the economy recovers. In this context, this study aims to explore the changes in carbon emissions and their underlying factors in the post-COVID-19 era from a national and sectoral perspective by drawing on the experience of carbon emissions before and after the 2008 global crisis. The latest extreme event and carbon emission trends might provide some implications for curbing potential emission rebound after the pandemic. The results indicate that, (i) developing countries like China and India still struggle with carbon reduction, which need more efforts made to control continuously increased carbon emission;(ii) energy intensity and economic level are respectively major contributor and inhibitor to national and industrial emission reduction whether in developing or developed countries, while in developed countries, energy intensity has a slightly stronger impact on carbon emissions than economic level. Carbon intensity had both positive and negative impact on carbon emission, and population scale usually drove carbon emission increase, particularly in developing countries like India;(iii) Industrial carbon emissions vary widely across economies, but most industrial carbon emissions continue to decrease in developed countries while increase in developing countries. Therefore, we contend that energy intensity is the key point to prevent a potential rebound of emission in post-COVID-19 era. © 2022

Dynamic Effects and Regional Differences of Industrialization and Urbanization on China’s Energy Intensity under the Background of “Dual Carbon”

Based on China’s provincial panel data during 2012–2019, this paper performs an empirical analysis of the dynamic effect and regional difference of industrialization and urbanization on the energy intensity in China by separating the energy intensity into three levels including low, middle and high and using the dynamic panel data with system GMM estimation. The results show that the energy intensity will increase by 0.4298% for every 1% increase in the industrialization level on the premise of keeping other variables unchanged. For every 1% increase in the urbanization level, the energy intensity will increase by 0.5674% on average. For every 1% increase in energy intensity in the previous period, the energy intensity in that year will increase by 0.7968% on average. Moreover, there are regional differences in the effects of industrialization and urbanization on the energy intensity in areas with different energy intensities. In addition, all of the factors including the development level of the regional economy, energy price, and technological innovation have different effects on the energy intensity in China. Meanwhile, there exist the rebound effects of the technological innovation in China, and the energy price has an induced effect on the technological innovation. Undoubtedly, industrialization and urbanization jointly promote the increase in energy intensity. At the same time, the level of economic development, energy prices and technological innovation are also reasons for the differences in the energy intensity among regions. Therefore, in order to effectively reduce energy intensity while carrying out technological innovation, promoting high-quality development and increasing income, it is necessary to improve the internal quality of industrialization and urbanization, and to promote new resource-saving and environmentally friendly methods of industrialization and urbanization.

Environmental Hazard of Polypropylene from Disposable Face Masks Linked to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Possible Mitigation Techniques through a Green Approach

The COVID-19 outbreak again underlined plastic items' importance in our daily lives. The public has widely utilized disposable face masks constructed of polypropylene polymer materials as effective and inexpensive personal protective equipment (PPE) to inhibit virus transmission. The consequences of this have resulted in millions of tons of plastic garbage littering the environment due to inappropriate disposal and mismanagement. Surgical masks are among them, and this study aimed to assess the biodegrading efficiency of disposable face masks using Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1. This work used a bacterial strain, Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1, obtained from sewage water-contaminated surface soil in Tiruchirappalli, India, to investigate the biodegradation of polypropylene (PP) face masks. The mask pieces were incubated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1 culture in three different solid and liquid media for 30 days at 37°C. Surface changes and variations in the intensity of functional groups and carbonyl index variations were confirmed using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis to ensure microbial degradation (up to 5.37% weight reduction of PP films within 30 days). These findings show that Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1 could be a good choice for biodegrading PP masks without harming our health or the environment. There is a need for a novel solution for the degradation of PP. The methods and strain presented here reveal the potential biodegrading agents of PP masks. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Chemistry is the property of Hindawi Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Dirty dance: tourism and environment

Tourism was one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy before the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for around 10% of global GDP. This has created a number of challenges including environmental degradation, especially in small island countries where the carbon footprint of tourism constitute a substantial share of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This study investigates the impact of tourism on CO2 emissions in a relatively homogenous panel of 15 Caribbean countries over the period 1960-2019. The results show that international tourist arrivals have a statistically and economically significant effect on CO2 emissions, after controlling for other economic, institutional and social factors. Managing tourism sustainably requires a comprehensive set of policies and reforms aimed at reducing its environmental impact, and curbing excessive dependency on fossil fuel-based energy consumption.

Role of Green Financing and Eco-Innovation for Energy Efficiency in Developed Countries: Contextual Evidence for Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Era

Following the environmental concerns such as global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation, scholars and policymakers discovered energy utilization as the key factor in these issues. Therefore, economies are paying more attention to green finance and eco-innovation to reduce energy usage and enhance energy efficiency. The prime objective of this study is to explore whether the mentioned variables exhibit any influence on the energy efficiency target achievement. In this sense, the current study explores the association of green finance and eco-innovation with energy intensity in the group of seven economies from 1990 to 2020. By using panel data approaches, this study employs diagnostic tests that confirm the heterogeneous slopes and the existence of panel cross-section dependence. Also, the cointegration tests validate the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the variables. Based on the asymmetric distribution of the data, this study employs the method of moments quantile regression. The empirical results reveal that green finance and eco-innovation significantly reduce energy intensity across the selected quantiles. Control variables such as urban growth and trade openness also adversely affect energy intensity. However, economic growth is the only significant factor that enhances energy intensity. The results are robust as validated by the panel quantile regression and the Granger panel heterogenous causality test. Based on the findings, this study recommends that green finance be promoted and environmental-related technology innovation be encouraged to achieve the goal of energy efficiency in developed economies. This study also provides additional policies appropriate for environmental recovery.

Decomposition Analysis of Energy Consumption in Thailand, 1990-2020

Thailand is a net energy importer that has steadily increased the demand for energy over the past several decades. But there has not been a systematic analysis of the energy demand change factors. Therefore, in this study, a decomposition analysis was applied to determine the major driving forces of the changes in energy use from the years 1990-2020. The analysis period covered a regional financial crisis known in Thailand as the “Tom Yum Kung” crisis in 1997-1998 and a global pandemic COVID-19 in 2020. The analysis results showed that the value-added of economic sectors is the most important factor in requiring more energy, while energy intensity is the most important factor in reducing energy consumption. Therefore, increasing the value-added of productions and enhancing the energy efficiency more stringent will lead to a decoupling of energy consumption against GDP and sooner peak demand of energy in Thailand. © 2022, Econjournals. All rights reserved.

The impact of ownership structure and corporate governance on energy intensity: evidence from Indian business groups

Purpose>Energy efficiency is critical for global sustainability (International Energy Agency, 2019). The purpose of this paper is to examine how agency conflicts arising from pyramidal ownership structures impact the energy intensity (EI) of group-affiliated Indian firms. Group-affiliated firms face unique governance challenges. For instance, parent owners (promoters) may transfer profits from one group-affiliated firm to another firm in which they have greater ownership. The authors hypothesize that such governance issues will lead to underinvestment in energy-saving projects among group firms in which promoters have a low ownership stake, resulting in their greater EI.Design/methodology/approach>The authors measure EI as the ratio of total energy expense to total sales revenue (EI) and as the industry-adjusted version of this ratio. Group-affiliated Indian firms are divided into high- and low-stake firms based on the sample’s median promoter ownership.Findings>Results support the authors’ prediction: group firms in which promoters have low ownership are more energy intensive, consistent with these firms being exposed to greater governance challenges and agency conflicts that result in operating inefficiencies and/or underinvestment in energy-saving projects.Practical implications>Given energy efficiency will be key in addressing climate change, this study could raise awareness among activists, motivate regulators to consider agency problems among group-affiliated firms in emerging markets and may underscore the importance of environmental-related corporate disclosures.Originality/value>To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to identify the significant impact that firm ownership structure and associated governance challenges have on corporate EI.

ICT, Energy Intensity, and CO2 Emission Nexus

The relationship between information and communication technology investment (ICT), environmental impacts, and economic growth has received increasing attention in the last 20 years. However, the relationship between ICT, energy intensity, environmental impacts, and economic growth was relatively neglected. In this paper, we aimed to contribute to the environmental literature by simultaneously analyzing the relationship between ICT, energy intensity, economic growth, Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and energy consumption for the period of 1990–2020 in G7 countries. We employed the Panel Quantile Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (PQARDL) method and Panel Quantile Granger Causality (PQGC) methods. According to the results of PQARDL method, energy consumption, ICT, CO2 emission, and energy intensity have effects on economic growth in the long and short run. According to the of PQGC methods allowing causality results for different quantiles, there is evidence of a bidirectional causality between ICT investment and economic growth for all quantiles and evidence of a unidirectional causality from ICT to energy consumption and from CO2 emissions to ICT investment and energy efficiency. Our results indicate that the governments of the G7 countries have placed energy efficiency and ICT investment at the center of their policies while determining their environmental and energy policies, since energy consumption is a continuous process.

Impact of movement control order implementation on electricity consumption: A case study of university buildings

The Covid-19 pandemic has first been identified in China at the end of 2019 and later has spread worldwide. In Malaysia, Covid-19 cases have increased drastically in March 2020 that caused the Government to implement a Movement Control Order (MCO) starting 18 March 2020 to curb the outbreak which has affected all sectors in the country including higher education institutions. The objective of this paper is to present the impact of MCO implementation on the electricity consumption on the university buildings particularly at Universiti Malaysia Perlis. The methodology processes involve comparing the energy usage in 2019 as baseline data with usage in 2020 as the assessed data. These data then been analyzed for every 3 months or quarterly for reporting. Based on the results, MCO implementation has shown positive impact to the energy conservation where 3,023 MWh of electrical energy has been reduced in 2020 which is 25.72% less than the same period in 2019. This condition has been extremely beneficial to the university's operations where RM 1.369 million of electricity bill has been saved. In the aspect of environmental sustainability, the amount of energy reduction is equivalent to more than 2,000 tonnes of CO2 avoidance at rated value 0.694 tCO(2) per MWh. As a result from energy reduction, the BEI performance of the buildings has improved from 3-Star (moderately efficient) to 4-Star (efficient).

Preventing a rebound in carbon intensity post-COVID-19 - lessons learned from the change in carbon intensity before and after the 2008 financial crisis.

The carbon emission rebound of the post-2008 financial crisis teaches us a lesson that avoiding a rebound in carbon intensity is key to prevent the carbon emission increase afterward. Although how carbon emission will change the world after the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, it is urgent to learn from the past and avert or slow down the potential rebound effect. Therefore, this study aims to identify key drivers of carbon intensity changes of 55 sectors, applying the decomposition techniques and the world input-output data. Our results demonstrate that global carbon intensity fluctuates drastically when shocked by the global financial crisis, presenting an inversed-V shape for the period 2008-2011. Industrial carbon emission and gross output vary among different industries, the growth rate of industrial carbon intensity varies from -55.55% to 23.77%. The energy intensity effect and economic structure effect have opposite impacts on carbon intensity decrease, accelerating and hindering the decreasing carbon intensity, respectively. However, the energy mix effect has a minor impact on carbon intensity decrease. The industrial carbon intensity decomposition results show the impact of technological and structural factors are significantly different among industries. Moreover, the impact of energy intensity is slightly stronger than the energy mix. More measures targeting avoiding the rebound in carbon intensity should be developed.