Abstract:
In recent years, environmental degradation has been the primary source of concern for all
countries, especially the industrialized ones. To determine the comprehensive impact of
industrialization measured through a share of industry (including manufacturing) as a percentage
of GDP in addition to Foreign direct investment (FDI), Trade openness (TO), Gross domestic
product per capita (GDPPC), and Oil consumption (OIL) on environmental degradation as
measured by CO2 emissions, this study used panel data of seven Asian countries from 1990 to
2021 and estimated several models, including a fixed effects model with cross-section weights
and an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The findings revealed GDPPC, OIL and
TO have a positive relation with CO2 emission in the long run, INDUS and FDI have a negative
and insignificant relation with CO2 emissions respectively, while GDPPC2 has a negative
relation with CO2 emissions. Most of the results of the long-run ARDL coefficients were similar
to the fixed effects model with the exception of the coefficient of industrialization. This study
also concludes that the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution paradise (PH)
hypotheses are supported in the selected Asian nations. The key to assuring the quality of the
environment, this study concludes, would be the strict implementation of environmental
guidelines or the adoption of a new policies for increasing production capacity and trade
liberalization at a safe CO2 emission level. Economic expansion is fueled by manufacturing and
industrial production, but our study has proved that the impact of oil on CO2 emissions is much
stronger than industrialization. To reduce CO2 emission, national policies should be established
to identify alternative energy sources, while developing nations should employ clean and
ecologically beneficial technologies, and government should increase funding for research and
collaborate
