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Does biomass material footprint converge? Evidence from club convergence analysis

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Abstract

Although several studies explored the issue of CO2/Ecological footprint convergence across the countries, study on biomass material footprint (BMF) convergence is scant. This study bridges this research gap by examining the “BMF convergence hypothesis” across 172 countries for the period from 1990 to 2017. To attain our objective, we use the novel Phillips and Sul (J Appl Econom 24(7):1153–1185, 2007a; Econometrica 75:1771–1855, 2007b) approach. We find that there is no evidence of convergence, while 172 countries are taken together. This implies that all the countries together are having different transition paths. Thus, Phillips and Sul test implements the clustering algorithms to identify the club convergence. Our results show the existence of six different steady-state (or club convergence) equilibriums for BMF. Thus, our findings show that climate change policies are required to be designed as per the existing clubs of the sample countries.

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Notes

  1. Net carbon emissions from biomass are zero over its lifecycles, as it absorbs equal quantity of carbon emission from atmosphere what it emit during consumption. Hence it considered as carbon-neutral sources.

  2. Material footprint refers to “the total amount of raw materials extracted to meet final consumption demands. It is one indication of the pressures placed on the environment to support economic growth and to satisfy the material needs of people” (see, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-12/)

  3. Trend of BMF club wise is represented in Figure 3.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the valuable suggestions received from the editor and anonymous referees in the earlier draft of this paper. All remaining errors are our own.

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Salman Haider prepares the final draft of the paper, Vaseem Akram conducted data analysis, and Jabir Ali has done a literature survey.

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Correspondence to Salman Haider.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Ilhan Ozturk

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Haider, S., Akram, V. & Ali, J. Does biomass material footprint converge? Evidence from club convergence analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 27362–27375 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12464-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12464-1

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