Citation

Shouket B, Zaman K, Nassani AA, Aldakhil AM, Abro MMQ. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 2019; 26(12): 12574-12589.

Affiliation

Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11356-019-04748-4

PMID

30852754

Abstract

The objective of the study is to examine the impact of air-railways transportation on environmental degradation in the form of high mass carbon emission, natural resource depletion and forest depletion in the context of Pakistan by using an annual time series data from 1975 to 2016. The results show that railway passengers carried increases carbon emissions while air-railways transportation and travel services degrade environment in the form of natural resource depletion. The study verified "pollution haven hypothesis" where trade liberalization policies increases carbon emissions; however, "population genius" principle is hold where population growth conserve natural resources and environment through affluence and technology. The study concluded that government should take serious action to re-define transportation infrastructure in order to promote environmental sustainability agenda by introducing green vehicles and green transportation system, which is imperative for country's long-term sustainable development.

Language: en

Keywords

Air transportation; Carbon dioxide emissions; Forest depletion; GDP per capita; Natural resource depletion; Pakistan; Railways transportation; Trade openness; Travel services