Estimation for Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO₂ and SO₂ emissions in India during 1950–2000

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Gupta, Vijaya

Affiliations: Associate Professor (Economics), NITIE (National Institute of Industrial Engineering), Mumbai – 400 087, India

Note: [] E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: An empirical consensus is still to be formed amongst the researchers that some pollutants follow an EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve), depicting an inverted U-shaped relationship with economic growth, while others do not. This paper attempts to find out whether India has reached that level of economic development where it can have an inverted U-shaped EKC for CO2 (carbon dioxide) and SO2 (sulphur dioxide) emissions. Thus, to study the relationship between the economic growth and emissions, EKCs for CO2 and SO2 emissions during 1950–2000 have been statistically estimated and analysed. It was found that the Indian EKCs for CO2 and SO2 have recently started falling, and quadratic form of the EKC has provided the best fit to the observed data.

DOI: 10.3233/RED-120042

Journal: Journal of Resources, Energy and Development, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 99-114, 2007