Assessing the environmental implications of structural change in middle-income countries: introducing the structural change index


Oluc I., Can M., ERÖNAL Y., Saboori B.

International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, cilt.21, sa.8, ss.6339-6356, 2024 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 21 Sayı: 8
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s13762-023-05408-4
  • Dergi Adı: International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Biotechnology Research Abstracts, CAB Abstracts, Compendex, Environment Index, Geobase, INSPEC, Pollution Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.6339-6356
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: CO2 emissions, Institutional quality, Middle-income countries, Population density, Structural change index
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The climate crisis is a critical global issue that demands immediate and collective action from all stakeholders. Researchers are trying to find out the factors that cause the climate crisis and how they can be prevented. This research focuses on identifying the sources of carbon emissions, especially for countries with increasing emissions, which are the main contributors to global warming. Middle-income countries (MICs) pose more of a risk to global climate change because of their rapid industrial development and structural change, which often comes at the expense of environmental quality. This research intends to check out the influence of structural change, institutional quality, population density, and natural resource rent on environmental quality in MIC in the period 2000–2018. We employed method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) and bootstrapped simultaneous quantile regression (BSQR) estimates to obtain long-term effects. The influences of explanatory variables are not uniform across different quantiles of CO2 emissions. This implies that there are different levels of sensitivity and responsiveness to these variables among different groups of countries. The study’s conclusions demonstrate a trade-off between environmental degradation and structural changes in MIC. It has been determined that, among all the independent variables, only institutional quality has a positive effect on the environment, while economic expansion, the utilization of natural resources, and structural transformation have negative effects. As soon as possible, MICs must move to expedite structural changing and embark on an economic path that would guarantee sustainable development.