Link between Technically Derived Energy Efficiency and Ecological Footprint: Empirical Evidence from the ASEAN Region

Dilawar Khan, Muhammad Nouman, József Popp, Muhammad Asif Khan, Faheem Ur Rehman and Judit Oláh
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Dilawar Khan: Department of Economics, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat 26000, Pakistan
Muhammad Nouman: Department of Economics, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat 26000, Pakistan
József Popp: Department of Management, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Muhammad Asif Khan: Department of Commerce, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Kotli, Kotli 11100, Pakistan
Faheem Ur Rehman: Laboratory of International and Regional Economics, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, Prospekt Lenina, 51, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast 620075, Russia
Judit Oláh: College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-16

Abstract: The sustainable environment has been a desired situation around the world for the last few decades. Environmental contaminations can be a consequence of various economic activities. Different socio-economic factors influence the environment positively or negatively. Many previous studies have resulted in the efficient allocation of inputs as an environment-friendly component. This paper investigates the effects of energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the ASEAN region using balanced panel data from 2001 to 2019. First, this paper technically derives the energy efficiency, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) of the translog production type of single output and multiple inputs. Findings of the SFA show that the Philippines and Singapore have the highest energy efficiency (94%) and Laos has the lowest energy efficiency (85%) in the ASEAN region. The estimated average efficiency score of the ASEAN region was around 90%, ranging from 85% to 96%, indicating that there is still 10% room for improvement in energy efficiency. Second, this study employed the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to explore the short run and long run impact of technically derived energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the ASEAN region. Results of the panel ARDL model show that energy efficiency is a reducing factor of ecological footprint in the long run. Moreover, energy efficiency plays a significant role to control the environmental contaminations. In addition, results of this study also explored that urbanization is an increasing factor of ecological footprint, and investment in agriculture is also beneficial for the environment. Moreover, to obtain the directional nature of the associations between the ecological footprint and its independent variables, this paper has employed the paired-panel Granger causality test. The results of the paired wise panel Granger causality test also confirm that the energy efficiency, urbanization, and investment in agriculture cause ecological footprint. Finally, this study recommends that efficient utilization of energy resources as well as investment in agriculture are necessary for sustainable environment.

Keywords: ecological footprint; energy efficiency; panel ARDL model; Granger causality; ASEAN (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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