Relationship Between Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth: Application of Environmental Kuznets Curve For Kazakhstan

Çevre Kirliliği ve Ekonomik Büyüme Arasındaki İlişki: Kazakistan İçin Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi Uygulaması

Abstract

After the Industrial Revolution, countries aiming for economic development experienced significant increases in energy demand as a result of developing new technologies and keeping up with existing technologies. The fact that this energy demand was largely met by fossil fuels created serious pressures on the environment. With economic development, countries became aware of environmental damage and started to adopt more sustainable and environmentally friendly policies. In this context, the relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation began to attract the attention of economists. Simon Kuznets' model, which examines the relationship between income distribution and economic growth, was adapted to examine the relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth. This model presented the Environmental Kuznets Curve, which predicts that environmental degradation will be at high levels in the early stages of economic development, but environmental pressures will decrease after a certain income level is reached. In this study, the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in Kazakhstan, which is among the developing countries, is investigated. For this purpose, the relationship between per capita income and CO2 emissions was analyzed using the panel data set of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. According to the panel ARDL analysis results, an N-shaped relationship was determined between environmental quality and economic growth, and the threshold values ​​were determined as 413 dollars and 822 dollars, respectively. Considering that the per capita income of the countries in the panel exceeds these two threshold values, it was concluded that increases in economic growth will also bring environmental degradation.