article · PLoS ONE
This research investigates the relationship between economic growth, agricultural sector development, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions per capita in Saudi Arabia. It tests the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis by evaluating symmetrical, asymmetrical, and quadratic effects of agricultural activity on emissions. The analysis confirms an inverted U-shaped relationship between gross domestic product per capita and per capita carbon dioxide emissions, validating the hypothesis with an identified economic turning point. Additionally, the agricultural sector demonstrates a statistically significant negative effect on emissions per capita across analytical models. The impact of an expanding agricultural share in gross domestic product is larger than that of a shrinking share. Finally, an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between agricultural share and emissions per capita, reaching a turning point when agriculture accounts for 3.22 percent of gross domestic product.
Understanding how agricultural growth interacts with carbon emissions helps national planners balance economic expansion with environmental targets. By demonstrating that agricultural activity can reduce per capita emissions up to a specific national income threshold, this research provides empirical benchmarks for policymakers seeking to align sector-specific economic planning with broader carbon reduction objectives.
The abstract focuses on macroeconomic modelling and econometric testing, so it does not indicate a direct commercial application pathway. The findings are primarily relevant as decision-support evidence for government economic planners, environmental policy analysts, and institutional advisors assessing agricultural development strategies. Being macro-level empirical research, this work remains at an early policy-informing stage rather than a deployable technology or commercial service.
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The agriculture sector may help to improve the environment of any country. The purpose of this research is to test the existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis while keeping the energy consumption and agriculture share in income into account and analyze their effects on the CO2 emissions per capita of Saudi Arabia. We test both symmetrical, asymmetrical and quadratic effects of agriculture sector on the CO2 emissions. An inverted U-shaped relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and CO2 emissions per capita is found. Hence, EKC hypothesis is validated with a turning point at GDP per capita of 77,068 constant Saudi Riyal. Further, a negative and significant effect of agriculture sector on the CO2 emissions per capita has been found both in symmetrical and asymmetrical analyses. The magnitudes of effects of increasing and decreasing agriculture share are found statistically different on the CO2 emissions, and rising agriculture share in GDP has larger effect than that of decreasing agriculture share. An inverted U-shaped relationship is also found between agriculture share in GDP and CO2 emissions per capita with a turning point at 3.22% agriculture share in GDP.
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DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225865
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