School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China.
School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Apr;28(13):15755-15767. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-11495-4. Epub 2020 Nov 26.
This study seeks to dissect the basic factors that can elucidate the efficiency and innovation in biomass utilization to control carbon dioxide (CO) emission and economic growth nexus particularly at the time that the worldwide CO emission is at an all-time high and COVID-19 is ravaging the word. We use data principally from the World Bank Indicators covering the period 1990-2016 to study the nexus among biomass utilization, economic growth, and CO emission based on the moderating role of biotechnology in China. On the basis of the results of our preliminary tests, we apply the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) for this analysis and employ the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) as a robust check and also deploy the vector error correction model (VECM) to determine the direction of causality. We find that long-run relationship exists among the factors in this study. We additionally find that biotechnology has a critical but negative relationship with CO emission in China. Through hierarchical multiple regression analysis and PROCESS macro for mediation, moderation, and conditional process, we establish that biotechnology significantly moderates the relationship between biomass utilization and CO emission in China. Again, we discover that biomass utilization significantly decreases CO emission in China. Through the ARDL, NARDL, and VECM, we find empirical support for the growth hypothesis in China. We conduct a series of diagnostic tests that prove the robustness of our estimates. Based on our empirical evidence, this study recommends that China seeks sustainable economic development and environmental sustainability simultaneously by prioritizing biomass utilization and biotechnological innovation in the country.
本研究旨在剖析基本因素，以阐明生物质利用在控制二氧化碳（CO）排放和经济增长关系方面的效率和创新，特别是在全球 CO 排放处于历史高位且 COVID-19 肆虐全球的时刻。我们主要使用世界银行指标数据，涵盖 1990-2016 年期间，基于生物技术在中国的调节作用，研究生物质利用、经济增长和 CO 排放之间的关系。根据我们初步测试的结果，我们在此分析中采用自回归分布滞后（ARDL），并使用非线性自回归分布滞后（NARDL）作为稳健检验，还采用向量误差修正模型（VECM）来确定因果关系的方向。我们发现研究因素之间存在长期关系。我们还发现，生物技术在中国与 CO 排放之间存在关键但负面的关系。通过层次多重回归分析和 PROCESS 宏进行中介、调节和条件过程分析，我们确定生物技术在中国显著调节了生物质利用与 CO 排放之间的关系。此外，我们发现生物质利用在中国显著降低了 CO 排放。通过 ARDL、NARDL 和 VECM，我们在中国发现了支持增长假说的经验证据。我们进行了一系列诊断测试，证明了我们估计的稳健性。根据我们的实证证据，本研究建议中国通过优先考虑国内生物质利用和生物技术创新，同时寻求可持续的经济发展和环境可持续性。
