Open AccessEnergy Consumption and Greening: Strategic Directionsfor Pakistan
Author(s) -
Rajah Rasiah,
Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the lahore journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1811-5446
pISSN - 1811-5438
DOI - 10.35536/lje.2020.v25.i1.a3
Subject(s) - greenhouse gas , renewable energy , per capita , natural resource economics , economics , fossil fuel , energy consumption , greening , consumption (sociology) , gross domestic product , granger causality , development economics , agricultural economics , economy , economic growth , political science , population , ecology , social science , demography , sociology , law , electrical engineering , econometrics , biology , engineering
WecomparePakistan's energy consumption structures toselected East Asian economies with a view towards ensuringan adequate supply ofpowerforeconomic catch-up and,at the same time,meeting the greening goalsenvisioned by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change. The evidence shows that Pakistan relies significantly lesson non-renewable energy to meet its energy demandscompared to China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand,while itsdependence on fossil fuels has been rising rapidly.Usingdata forPakistan from 1960 to 2015, we deployed panel co-integration and Granger causality teststo analyse selected East and Southeast Asian countriesbefore exploring what it will takefor Pakistan to develop itsrenewable energy(RE)sector. The evidence showsthat catching up economically with these countriesthrough rapid GDP per capita growthwill exacerbate Pakistan’scurrent energy imbalance,thereby aggravating greenhouse gas (GHG) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.We argue that Pakistan enjoys strong endowments to avert this problem, and hence, it should strategicallyfocus on the development of RE resources, especially solar and windenergy,but only after taking account the relevant costs.