Ecological security and agricultural production in the Arab League: Is financial development moderating the interaction?

The jeopardizing of ecological security due to the detrimental effects of human activities necessitates the adoption of various actions to reduce ecological intensity. Though some studies have explored the moderating impact of financial development (FND) towards achieving ecological security, in Arab World it has not been thoroughly investigated. Against this backdrop, we investigate combined role of agricultural production (AFP), gross domestic product (GDP), energy consumption, population, direct and moderating impacts of FND on ecological intensity for a panel of 12 Arab League member states from 1995 to 2021. The empirical outcomes unveiled that AFP and GDP have U-shaped nexus with ecological intensity. It posits that at early stages of AFP, ecological intensity is reduced to a certain level, beyond which higher AFPhinders ecological security supporting the evidence against the Borlaug hypothesis. Our findings further unfolded that environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis does not hold for the selected Arab League member states, denoting that real GDP has a U-shaped relationship with ecological intensity. Further findings confirm that energy consumption induces ecological deterioration in the absence of its interaction with FND, along with the interaction term. The causality results largely support these outcomes. Based on these findings, Arab League's climate-related policies should further explore FND to drive energy transition and environmentally friendly measures.

Effect of exchange rate uncertainty, energy prices and sectoral spending on agriculture value added, household consumption, and domestic investment.

The agricultural value chain is underpinned by the interdependence of agricultural value added, household consumption and domestic investment. Understanding the complex interactions between these microeconomic outcomes and the uncertainties in the macroeconomic variables of exchange rates, energy prices and sectoral spending remains under-researched. Therefore, this study examines the impact of exchange rate, energy prices and sectoral spending on agricultural value added, household consumption and domestic investment in Nigeria from 1981 to 2020. Using Kernel regularized least squares (KRLS), the results show that the average pointwise marginal effects of exchange rate and agricultural spending are positive, while the average pointwise marginal effect of energy price is significantly negative for the agricultural value-added model. The results also show that the exchange rate, energy prices and agricultural expenditure all have a positive effect on household consumption. Regarding domestic investment, the effect of the exchange rate is positive and statistically insignificant, while the effects of energy prices and agricultural expenditure are negative and statistically significant. The study recommends the need to strengthen the social safety nets currently in place in Nigeria to support households that are vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, incentives should be given to households and farmers to help use renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power for agricultural activities. Also, investment in value chains and agribusiness initiatives should be encouraged rather than just in crop production.

Energy security-related risks and the quest to attain USA's net-zero emissions targets by 2050: a dynamic ARDL simulations modeling approach.

The Russia-Ukraine war and other similar conflicts across the globe have heightened risks to the United States of America's (USA's) energy security. However, little is known about the severity of the effect of energy security risks on the USA's quest to attain net-zero emissions targets by 2050. To this end, we examine the effect of energy security risks on the load capacity factor (LCF) in the USA. Employing a time series dataset spinning from 1970 to 2018, the results of the Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) simulations model suggest that energy security-related risk hampers the long-term net-zero emissions targets with its effect decreasing over time until it varnishes in about 5 years time. The results also show that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, renewable energy consumption, and green technology have long- and short-run positive effects on the LCF. Conversely, economic expansion and urbanization impede environmental quality by lowering the LCF both in the long run and short run. These findings are upheld by the outcomes of the multivariate quantile-on-quantile regression. Therefore, the study advocates for the consumption of renewable energy, investment in green technologies, and FDI inflows to mitigate energy security-related risks and attain the net-zero emissions targets by 2050 in the USA.

Differential benefit of coal and natural gas efficiency in Denmark: How clean is the environmental-related innovation?

Inspired by Denmark's ambitious renewable energy initiatives and its commitment to achieving a substantial 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, this study delves deeper into examining the roles of energy source efficiency, renewable energy utilization, and environment-related technologies spanning the years from 1990 to 2021. A comprehensive array of wavelet tools, including wavelet coherence, wavelet-based ordinary least squares (WBOLS), Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT), Granger causality, and wavelet correlation, was employed to dissect these dynamics. The primary findings underscore the potential for enhancing environmental sustainability through these key indicators. For instance, employing the WBOLS method reveals that a percent increase in renewable energy consumption translates into an approximate reduction of ∼0.02%, ∼0.03%, and ∼0.54% in GHG emissions in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. Similarly, improvements in energy efficiency yield remarkable outcomes. A one percent increase in the efficiency of natural gas utilization leads to GHG emission reductions of ∼0.44%, ∼0.19%, and ∼0.83% in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. Moreover, a 1 percent enhancement in coal energy efficiency results in GHG emission reductions of ∼0.23%, ∼0.19%, and ∼0.91% in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. Furthermore, the study indicates that a surge of 1% in innovation through environment-related technologies corresponds to GHG emission reductions of ∼0.56%, ∼0.10%, and ∼0.02% in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. The results are notably substantiated by the CWT Granger causality approach. Considering the somewhat modest impact of innovation on GHG emissions, especially in the long-term, the study recommends a deliberate emphasis on the design and formulation of environmentally-related innovations that prioritize attributes such as reliability, durability, and adaptability.

Impact of renewable energy investments in curbing sectoral CO2 emissions: evidence from China by nonlinear quantile approaches.

The study analyzes the impact of renewable energy investments (RENIV) on the environment in China. In doing so, the study uses sectoral carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as the environment indicator, considers RENIV as the explanatory variable, includes monthly data from 2004/1 to 2020/6, runs quantile on quantile regression approach as the fundamental model, and further performs quantile regression for the controlling. The study reveals that RENIV curb CO2 emissions in all sectors at higher levels of sectoral CO2 emissions. Also, RENIV have a varying impact based on quantiles and sectors. Moreover, the results are robust based on the alternative approach. Thus, RENIV have a significantly decreasing impact on sectoral CO2 emissions in China. Accordingly, China policymakers should continue to focus on providing a decrease in energy and industrial sector CO2 emissions as the highest emitting sectors.

Examining obesity kuznets curve in the United States from the perspective of globalization and biocapacity.

Given the recent rise in the adult obesity prevalence in the United States, the central and state-level governments and health agencies in the country are considering appropriate measures. Further motivation for this investigation stems from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG-3, 8, and 13), that highlights the need for sustainable health for all, sustainable decent economic growth amidst environmental sustainability. Driven by this motivation, this study investigates the validity of Obesity Kuznets curve (OKC) in the United States over the experimental period of 1975-2016. In addition, this study illustrates the (mediating) role of globalisation and biocapacity in controlling the prevalence of obesity in the United States. While the study established the validity of obesity Kuznets curve, especially in the short run, it found an inverted U-shaped relationship between globalisation and obesity for the United States. This interprets that a significant reduction in wealth-related health issues is achievable with increased (socioeconomic and political) globalisation policy amidst improved (socioeconomic) welfare of the Americans. Moreover, biocapacity showed a desirable impact on obesity since the short- and long-run relationship with a respective elasticity of 0.02 and 1.86 is negative and statistically significant. In general, this study puts forward policy from the perspective of socioeconomic and political globalisation and domestic welfare measures across the country.

The effects of gas flaring as moderated by government quality in leading natural gas flaring economies.

This study seeks to address pertinent economic and environmental issues associated with natural gas flaring, especially for the world's leading natural gas flaring economies (i.e. Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela, and Nigeria). By applying relevant empirical panel and country-specific approaches, the study found that fuel energy export positively impacts economic growth with elasticity of ~ 0.22 to ~ 0.24 for the panel examination. It is further revealed that environmental quality in the panel is hampered by increase in economic growth, gas flaring, fuel energy export, and urbanization. Moreover, for the country-wise inference, government quality desirably moderates economic and environmental aspects of gas flaring in Venezuela and Nigeria, and in Russia and Iran respectively. However, government quality moderates gas flaring to cause economic downturn in the USA. Additionally, economic growth increased with increase in urbanisation (in Iraq and the USA), gas flaring (in Iran and the USA), government quality (only in the USA), and fuel energy export (only in Algeria) while economic growth downturn is due to increase urbanisation in Russia and the USA, increase in fuel energy export in the USA, and increase in government quality in Russia. Meanwhile, environmental quality is worsened through intense carbon dioxide emission from increased urbanisation activity (in Iraq, Iran, Algeria, and Nigeria), increased fuel energy export (in Nigeria), increased natural gas flaring (in Algeria and Nigeria), increased GDP (in Russia, Iran, USA, Algeria, and Venezuela), and high government quality (in Iran). Interestingly, the result revealed that increase in GDP (in Nigeria), increase in urbanisation (in the USA), and increase in gas flaring (in Algeria and Nigeria) dampens environmental quality. Importantly, this study offers policy insight into sustainable approaches in natural gas production, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality.

Environmental quality outlook of the leading oil producers and urbanized African states.

This study seeks to explore the links between energy consumption and environmental quality in the wake of rapid urbanization in Africa with empirical insights from the cases of Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, and South Africa. These countries aside from being among the largest economies; are also among the leading energy producers and the most urbanized economies that emit the most carbon dioxide on the continent. Based on the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) panel ARDL estimator, the dynamics nexus between the variables was estimated vis-à-vis the short-run and long-run coefficients using relevant sample data between 1990 and 2015. The study further examines the channels of causality between the variables while also testing for the validity of the popular Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the panel of countries. The results confirm that the rising level of energy use significantly exacerbates the level of carbon emission among the countries in the study while growing urbanization significantly creates a negative impact on carbon emission. In addition, an increase in per capita income improves the environmental quality but the doubling of income per capita triggers environmental degradation, thus invalidating the EKC hypothesis in the examined panel economies. In essence, these countries have not reached the supposed turning point at which income growth can yield desirable emission mitigation effects. Following the findings, essential recommendations are provided for policymakers in the main text.

Assessing the human development aspects of CO, PM2.5, PM10, NOX, and SO2 in the United States.

Exploring the effect of environmental pollution on human development does not only afford the opportunity to show how human health is impacted, it further exposes the role of environmental pollution in humans' knowledge development and living standard. To shed lighter on this perspective, we consider environmental aspects of human development by employing the national air quality standards of United States Environmental Protection Agency which outlines the main environmental pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matters less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), particulate matters less than 10 µm (PM10)). By using series of empirical techniques for the United States' dataset that covers the period 1990-2019, the investigation revealed that economic performance improves human development (with elasticity relationship) while the square of economic performance causes a declining effect (inelasticity not more than 0.7). Thus, the relationship suggests a vicious and virtuous cycle scenarios that is characterized by economic performance threshold. Moreover, except for PM10, the examined environmental pollutants hamper human development aspects. To provide a robust perspective, a frequency domain Granger causality approach further revealed causative only from economic performance, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, PM2.5, and PM10 to human development largely in the long-run at varying frequencies. Meanwhile, human development Granger causes nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide in the short-run and long-run respectively at different frequency magnitudes. By implication, the result of the study further highlights the criticality of sustainable development and the complexity associated with economic expansion amidst environmental factors.

Comparative analysis of the USA's Washington Ferries and road transport carbon emissions using the Trozzi and Vaccaro and Greatest Integer functions.

Countries' sectors are currently under great scrutiny for their response to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile and the general effect of the sectoral activities on the environment. As in the agenda of all sectors, environmental concerns and investigations are of high importance in shipping and maritime transport. Amidst the rising forms of globalization, the need for sustainable transportation is constantly increasing. However, the machines that are the cornerstone of transportation largely depend on fossil fuels, thus resulting in environmental degradation. Notably, environmental-related degradation has continued to account for global warming, climate change, and ocean acidification. Shipping is considered the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per ton per mile of transported unit load when compared against road transportation. In this study, six ferry lines (FLs) of Washington State Ferries were calculated to compare ship-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those from road transportation as if the carried vehicles had used the highway instead of transport by FL. While making these calculations, the Greatest Integer function (GIF) and Trozzi and Vaccaro function (TVF) were utilized. From the examined three scenarios, i.e., all passengers travel by car instead of ferry as scenario 1, all ferries carry both cars and passengers as scenario 2, and all car-free passengers travel by bus instead of ferry as scenario 3, the outlined results are as follows: (i) none of the cars were carried by the ferry, and car-free passengers preferred traveling by their own cars as observed in scenario 1; (ii) hypothetical scenarios (1 to 3) in which the road vehicles carried on FLs had instead used the highway, and the total potential CO2 emissions of these road vehicles were calculated as 2,638,858.138, 704,958.2998, and 1,394,148.577 tonnes per year, respectively. Policy-wise, this study revealed the management strategies for CO2 emissions reduction for two transport modes, shipping and road transportation, under current conditions.

SCADA securing system using deep learning to prevent cyber infiltration.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are computer-based control architectures specifically engineered for the operation of industrial machinery via hardware and software models. These systems are used to project, monitor, and automate the state of the operational network through the utilization of ethernet links, which enable two-way communications. However, as a result of their constant connectivity to the internet and the lack of security frameworks within their internal architecture, they are susceptible to cyber-attacks. In light of this, we have proposed an intrusion detection algorithm, intending to alleviate this security bottleneck. The proposed algorithm, the Genetically Seeded Flora (GSF) feature optimization algorithm, is integrated with Transformer Neural Network (TNN) and functions by detecting changes in operational patterns that may be indicative of an intruder's involvement. The proposed Genetically Seeded Flora Transformer Neural Network (GSFTNN) algorithm stands in stark contrast to the signature-based method employed by traditional intrusion detection systems. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, extensive experiments are conducted using the WUSTL-IIOT-2018 ICS SCADA cyber security dataset. The results of these experiments indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms traditional algorithms such as Residual Neural Networks (ResNet), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) in terms of accuracy and efficiency.

The potency of natural resources and trade globalisation in the ecological sustainability target for the BRICS economies.

The BRICS nations have yet to significantly contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 7 and 13. Dealing with this problem might necessitate a policy shift, which is the main topic of this research. Therefore, the current study scrutinizes the interrelationship between natural resources, energy, trade globalisation and ecological footprint using panel data from the period between 1990 and 2018 for the BRICS nations. To assess the interrelationship between ecological footprint and its determinants, we used the Cross sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) and common correlated effects. mean group (CCEMG) estimators. The findings show that economic progress, and natural resources lessen ecological quality, while renewable energy and trade globalization improves ecological quality in the BRICS nations. Based on these results, the BRICS nations need to upgrade their use of renewable energy sources and improve the structure of their natural resource endowments. Furthermore, trade globalisation necessitates immediate policy responses in these nations since it reduces ecological damage.

Analysing the waste management, industrial and agriculture greenhouse gas emissions of biomass, fossil fuel, and metallic ores utilization in Iceland.

With Iceland's CAP 2020, the country aims significant improvement in the state of its environment through reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission especially in energy production and small industry, waste management, ships and ports, land transport, and agriculture by 2030. Considering this ambition, this study queries whether the consumptions of domestic materials i.e., DMC (especially metallic ores, biomass, and fossil fuels) exhibit differential impact on (i) aggregated greenhouse gas emissions i.e., GHG, (ii) waste management greenhouse gas emission i.e., WGHG, (ii) industrial greenhouse gas emission i.e., IGHG, and (iv) agriculture greenhouse gas emission i.e., AGHG during the period 1990 to 2019. By using Fourier function approaches, the investigation establishes that metallic ores DMC spur GHG, but biomass and fossil fuel DMC mitigate GHG in the long run. Additionally, biomass DMC mitigates AGHG and WGHG by respective elasticities of 0.04 and 0.025 in the long run. While IGHG is significantly reduced by fossil fuel DMC with elasticity of 0.18 in the long run, the AGHG and WGHG are unaffected by the consumption of fossil fuel domestic materials. Moreover, metallic ores DMC spurs only IGHG by elasticity of ∼0.24. The overall evidence shows the need for more stringent material use and resource circularity (especially for metallic ores and fossil fuels) for the country to stay on course of the CAP 2020 and maintain environmental sustainability.

The role of alternative energy and globalization in decarbonization prospects of the oil-producing African economies.

This study assesses the environmental impacts of the energy mix of mainly oil-producing African nations. The economic aspects of decarbonization prospects were also viewed from the perspectives of fossil energy dependence among the countries. More insights on the impacts of energy mix on decarbonization prospects were also provided on a country-specific analysis basis via the application of second-generation econometric techniques in assessing carbon emission levels across the countries between 1990 and 2015. From the results, only renewable resources proved to be a significant decarbonization tool among the understudied oil-rich economies. Moreover, the consequences of the trio of fossil fuel consumption, income growth, and globalization are diametrically opposed to achieving decarbonization as the rise in their usage significantly acts as pollutant-inducing tools. The validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) conjecture was also upheld for the combined analysis of the panel countries. The study thus opined that the reduction in conventional energy dependence will enhance environmental quality. Consequently, given the advantages of the geographical locations of these countries in Africa, concerted strategies for more investment in clean renewable energy sources like solar and wind were suggested to policymakers among other recommendations.

Asymmetric effect of environmental cost of forest rents in the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic: The Nigerian experience.

Several studies have identified deforestation as a major cause of environmental degradation, but little is known about the asymmetric effect of the environmental cost of forest rents. To fill this gap, our study uses the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model and asymmetric causality test to examine the environmental implication of forest rents in the Guinean Forest-Savanna Mosaic of Nigeria over the period 1990:Q1 to 2016:Q4. The empirical results show that forest rents increase CO2 emissions when the shock to forest rents is positive and decreases CO2 emissions when the shock to forest rents is negative. The results further show evidence of asymmetric effects of crop production, fossil fuel energy consumption, and economic growth on CO2 emissions. Moreover, the effects of both positive and negative shocks in economic growth are elastic, suggesting that CO2 emissions respond in a larger magnitude to a 1% positive or negative shock in economic growth. While the positive shock to crop production and economic growth stimulates CO2 emissions, their negative shocks dampen CO2 emissions. In addition, the positive (negative) shocks to fossil energy consumption exert upward (downward) pressure on CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the asymmetric causality test divulges that a positive change in forest rents causes a negative change in CO2 emissions and a negative change in forest rents causes a positive change in CO2 emissions. Based on these findings, the study recommends the need for policymakers to formulate sound policies to protect the forests and transit toward clean energy consumption to minimize energy-related CO2 emissions in the country.

Is pass-through of the exchange rate to restaurant and hotel prices asymmetric in the US? Role of monetary policy uncertainty.

This study examines the exchange rate pass-through to the United States (US) restaurant and hotel prices by incorporating the effect of monetary policy uncertainty over the period 2001:M12 to 2019:M01. Using the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model, empirical evidence indicates asymmetric  pass-through of exchange rate and monetary policy uncertainty. Moreover, a stronger pass-through effect is observed during depreciation and a negative shock in monetary policy uncertainty, corroborating asymmetric pass-through predictions. Our results further show that a positive shock in energy prices leads to an increase in restaurant and hotel prices. Furthermore, asymmetric causality indicates that a positive shock in the exchange rate causes a positive shock to restaurant and hotel prices. We found feedback causal effects between positive and negative shocks in monetary policy uncertainty and positive and negative shocks in the exchange rate. Additionally, we detected a one-way asymmetric causality, flowing from a positive (negative) shock to a positive (negative) shock in energy prices. Therefore, these findings provide insights for policymakers to achieve low and stable prices in the US restaurant and hotel industry through sound monetary policy formulations.

Analysing the co-benefit of environmental tax amidst clean energy development in Europe's largest agrarian economies.

The increasing human activities amidst competition for resources across the globe has made environmental challenges an ongoing classic problem, thus prompting policymakers to continually seek effective solution while ensuring sustainable development. With the wide coverage of the relevance of the double dividend hypothesis in explaining the co-benefit of environmental tax, there is a dearth of evidence in the literature to suggest that environmental tax offers green dividends for both the environment and agricultural practice in the European countries. As such, this study employed the more recent Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) alongside other approaches for Europe's largest agrarian economies (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) over the annual period 1995-2020. The investigation affirms the validity of the co-benefit of environmental tax as far as environmental sustainability and value-added to agriculture are concerned in this panel of 'Big Four' economies, thus motivating the countries to relentlessly pursue the carbon-neutral 2050 target. Moreover, the study aligns with the expectation that renewable energy utilization and population density are desirable factors for achieving a carbon-neutral target. Lastly, the findings suggest that environmental quality is attainable in the panel, especially as increasing income surpasses a certain threshold, thus validating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Above all, the findings provide timely policy insight that accommodates both the environmental sustainability and food security framework of the European Union. The policy options relevant in light of the study's conclusions include that the decision makers in the selected agrarian economies should ramp up energy transition opportunities through a resilient environmental tax system that incentives availability of credit and investment financing in the agriculture sector.

Capital stock, energy, and innovation-related aspects as drivers of environmental quality in high-tech investing economies.

By looking at the technological advancement and climate change mitigation plan of the advanced economies, the current study examines the role of sustainable development aspects such as innovations, high technology export, labor productivity, capital stock, research and development (R&D), information and communication technology (ICT), capital stock, and energy use in mitigating environmental degradation for the selected panel of countries with the most investment in technology (China, Denmark, Finland, France, Israel, Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States) over the period 2000-2018. Foremost, the pooled ordinary least square (POLS) and random-effects (RE) generalized least squares (GLS) approaches provided additional interesting inferences. As such, the POLS result revealed that only capital stock in the panel countries shows a desirable environmental effect. At the same time, labor productivity, innovation, R&D, ICT, and energy further hamper ecological quality in the examined panel countries. Similarly, the GLS result largely affirms the POLS results, with only the capital stock among the explanatory variables showing evidence of emission mitigation effect in the panel. Additionally, the panel Granger causality result illustrates evidence of unidirectional causality only innovation, ICT, and capital stock to environmental degradation.

Does economic policy uncertainty drive outbound tourism expenditures in 20 selected destinations?

Across several destinations, tourism receipts and the aspects of tourism industry has continued to influence the quality of life of the people as well contributing to the national development and sustainable growth. However, the uncertainties and risks experienced in the tourism industry and other economy sectors have remained the drawback of most economies and destinations. As such, the panel of 20 selected destinations is investigated via the common correlated effect method to examine the nexus of economic policy uncertainty and tourism development over the period 2001-2017. Interestingly, the result established a long term relationship between the economic policy uncertainty index and outbound tourism expenditures. Specifically, the finding revealed that outbound tourism expenditures are affected negatively by the rise of uncertainty in economic policies, thus suggesting instability of economic-related policy is the bane of tourism development in the destinations. This result stands to have important policy guide for especially for tourism-related activities in the panel of 20 selected countries.

Do bureaucratic policy and socioeconomic factors moderate energy utilization effect of net zero target in the EU?

Based on the commitment to improve environmental quality across European Union under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and varying national goals, this study investigates the dynamic linkages between bureaucracy, socioeconomic factors, conventional fossil fuel energy consumption vis-à-vis aggregate fossil and disaggregate fossil (oil, coal, and gas) fuels and environmental quality in the panel of selected 25-EU nations for the period 1990-2017. The study employs relevant second-generation empirical method and unearth the following results: (1) inverted environmental Kuznets curve was validated while fossil fuel consumption has a deteriorating impact on environmental performance due to its positive effect on carbon emission; (2) fossil fuel energy consumption (both aggregate and it components) exerts a dampening impact on environmental performance due to its positive effect on carbon emission; (3) that direct effect of bureaucracy and socioeconomic factors promote environmental quality but the degree or magnitude of influence is significantly different between bureaucratic system and socioeconomic factor, and (4) the moderating or indirect impact of bureaucracy, socioeconomic on the environment via fossil fuel energy consumption is observed and significantly different across the model specification. Moreover, the result reveals a unidirectional causal relationship flows from GDP per capita, bureaucracy and socioeconomic factors to carbon emission, while bi-directional relationships between oil, gas and carbon emission are established. In policy direction, the study therefore recommend that the European Union member countries should further explore the opportunities in clean energy development in order to ameliorate the continent's environmental concerns. Furthermore, in the quest to scale up the bloc's energy transition, significant improvement in the countries' bureaucracy establishment and socioeconomic conditions could hasten the energy transition and efficiency policy while improving the environmental sustainability drive.