Department of Economics and Statistics, Dr. Hasan Murad School of Management (HSM), University of Management and Technology Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
The study attempts to examine various factors responsible for environmental degradation in Pakistan. Contributing towards economic growth, these factors added pollutants as a byproduct to the environment. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission rate is one of such pollutants and has been used as a dependent variable in the study. Numerous factors are responsible for environmental damage, but the study includes the major ones. These determinants are economic growth, population, energy consumption and industrialization, and time-series data of these variables from 1972 to 2018 are utilized for empirical analysis in the study. Long run relationship is computed using Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). Findings of the study revealed that three factors; population, energy consumption and industrialization are positively and significantly contributed to environmental degradation in Pakistan. While, economic growth is negatively contributing towards environmental degradation. The paper concluded with a finding that population growth needs to be controlled. Besides this, clean and green energy should be promoted. Lastly, EPAs must be strengthened for their effectiverole.