The role of Socio-Economic Development after COVID-19 and Energy-Growth-Environment in ASEAN Economies

ABSTRACT

The present study assesses the energy-growth-environment nexus by including the effects of socio-economic development in ASEAN economies – a literature vacuum that needs to be filled. For this objective, panel data of 8 ASEAN nations throughout the 2000-2020 timeframe is obtained to examine the effect of human development, urbanization, and industrialization on energy-growth-environment interaction. Empirical estimation is carried out by adopting the second generation Cross Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (CS-ARDL) as the data's cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity are present. It is observed that human development has a considerable negative influence on the environment and a significant positive impact on economic growth but has minimal effect on energy consumption. Urbanization and industrialization are the primary drivers of CO2 emission and energy consumption. However, urbanization does not affect economic growth considerably in ASEAN countries. Based on the findings, chosen countries are encouraged to invest more in human development measures, the transition towards zero-emission industrial variety, energy transition, and energy-efficient production technology. © 2022 asociación Cuadernos de economía.