Economic development's impact on CO2 emissions: An application of the kuznets environmental curve for mato grosso do sul

Abstract

Productive activities are recurrent causes of externalities, and the literature is controversial as to the real impact that these activities generate on the environment, sometimes informing about negative externalities, or reporting on positive externalities. The present study analyzes the impact of economic development on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), covering the period between 2002 and 2016. In order to carry out the analyzes, five sectors were investigated: agriculture, energy, land use change and use, industrial processes and residues, all related to GDP per capita of linear and quadratic format, according to Kuznets theory, as sources of economic development. The research was exploratory, unpublished and based on econometric models. The empirical results indicate that, during the period evaluated, the impacts of economic development were negative in the total carbon dioxide emissions for Mato Grosso do Sul. The econometric model of residues presented the best significance, being controversial about the results in countries developed; for the other models, the sectors presented the "U" format; and the land use and change sector introduced the Kuznets' ("U"inverted) environmental curve theory. When compared to the industrialized Brazilian states, Mato Grosso do Sul is incipient in its economic performance; However, when analyzing the environmental sustainability trajectory, as measured by CO2 emissions, the MS presents better empirically verified numbers.