Does Adulthood Obesity Promote Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Africa? Evidence from Panel Corrected Standard Error Models
Abstract
Obesity is one of the major public health epidemics that the world currently faces. The environmental implication of obesity is reflected in its impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to increased pressure on food production system, oxidative metabolism, and combustion of fossil fuels during transportation. However, few studies exist on the linkage between GHG emissions and obesity. This seeks to fill this gap by analyzing the effect obesity total GHG emission, carbon dioxides emissions, per capita carbon emissions, and emissions of carbon dioxide from liquid fuel. The data were from 45 African countries for the period 1990-2016. The data were analyzed with panel corrected standard error (PCSE) after positive feedbacks from cross-section dependence, and cointegration tests. The results showed that obesity, urban population, and GDP per capita were generally positively related to GHG emissions, while renewable energy, livestock production index and utilization had negative association. It was recommended that initiatives to reduce obesity promise some environmental benefits. Also, there is the need to promote renewable energy utilization and facilitate sustainable agricultural production, to reduce environmental damages.
References
Adeleye BN, Akam D, Inuwa N, Olarinde M, Okafor V, Ogunrinola I et al (2021a) Investigating growth-energy-emissions trilemma in South Asia. Int J Energy Econ Policy 11(5):112–120. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11054
Adeleye BN, Nketiah E, Adjei M (2021b) Causal examination of carbon emissions and economic growth for sustainable environment: evidence from Ghana. Estudios De Economia Aplicada 39(8):1–18. https://doi.org/10.25115/eea.v39i8.4347
Adeleye, B.N., Akam, D., Inuwa, N., James, H.T. and Basila, D., 2023. Does globalization and energy usage influence carbon emissions in South Asia? An empirical revisit of the debate. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(13), pp.36190-36207.
Agudelo-Vera, C.M., Mels, A.R., Keesman, K.J. and Rijnaarts, H.H., 2011. Resource management as a key factor for sustainable urban planning. Journal of environmental management, 92(10), pp.2295-2303.
Akil L, Ahmad HA. Relationships between obesity and cardiovascular diseases in four southern states and Colorado. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2011;22(4 Suppl):61-72. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2011.0166.
Albu, L.L. Spatial econometrics-applications to investigate- Distribution of CO2 emission in Europe. Roman. J. Econ. Forecast. 2007, 8, 45–56.
Amponsah, N.Y., Troldborg, M., Kington, B., Aalders, I. and Hough, R.L., 2014. Greenhouse gas emissions from renewable energy sources: A review of lifecycle considerations. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 39, pp.461-475.
An R, Ji M, Zhang S. Global warming and obesity: a systematic review. Obes Rev 2018; 19: 150–163
Ansuategi, A. and Escapa, M., 2002. Economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions. Ecological Economics, 40(1), pp.23-37.
Anwar, S.; Sun, S. Heterogeneity and curvilinearity of FDI-related productivity spillovers in China’s manufacturing sector. Econ. Model. 2014, 41, 23–32.
Appiah, K., Du, J. and Poku, J., 2018. Causal relationship between agricultural production and carbon dioxide emissions in selected emerging economies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25, pp.24764-24777.
Ayyildiz, M. and Erdal, G., 2021. The relationship between carbon dioxide emission and crop and livestock production indexes: a dynamic common correlated effects approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(1), pp.597-610.
Chuai, X.W.; Huang, X.J.; Wang, W.J.; Wen, J.Q.; Chen, Q.; Peng, J.W. Spatial econometric analysis of carbon emissions from energy consumption in China. J. Geogr. Sci. 2012, 22, 630–642.
De Hoyos, R.E. and Sarafidis, V., 2006. Testing for cross-sectional dependence in panel-data models. The stata journal, 6(4), pp.482-496.
Dietz, W.H. and Pryor, S., 2022. How can we act to mitigate the global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change?. Current Obesity Reports, 11(3), pp.61-69.
Dong, L.; Liang, H.W. Spatial analysis on China’s regional air pollutants and CO2 emissions: Emission pattern and regional disparity. Atmos. Environ. 2014, 92, 280–291.
El-Khoury AE, Sánchez M, Fukagawa NK, Gleason RE, Young VR. Similar 24-h pattern and rate of carbon dioxide production, by indirect calorimetry vs. stable isotope dilution, in healthy adults under standardized metabolic conditions. J Nutr 1994;124:1615-1627.
Fan, J., Zhou, L., Zhang, Y., Shao, S. and Ma, M., 2021. How does population aging affect household carbon emissions? Evidence from Chinese urban and rural areas. Energy Economics, 100, p.105356.
Frank LD, Andresen MA, Schmid TL. Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars. Am J Prev Med. 2004;27(2):87–96.
Hale, G.; Long, C. Did foreign direct investment put an upward pressure on wages in China? IMF Econ. Rev. 2011, 59, 404–430.
Huang, W.M., Lee, G.W. and Wu, C.C., 2008. GHG emissions, GDP growth and the Kyoto Protocol: A revisit of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. Energy Policy, 36(1), pp.239-247.
Huang, Y., Chen, F., Wei, H., Xiang, J., Xu, Z. and Akram, R., 2022. The impacts of FDI inflows on carbon emissions: Economic development and regulatory quality as moderators. Frontiers in Energy Research, 9, p.820596.
Koch CA, Sharda P, Patel J, Gubbi S, Bansal R, Bartel MJ. Climate Change and Obesity. Horm Metab Res. 2021 Sep;53(9):575-587. doi: 10.1055/a-1533-2861.
Koengkan, M. and Fuinhas, J.A., 2021. Does the overweight epidemic cause energy consumption? A piece of empirical evidence from the European region. Energy, 216, p.119297.
Koengkan, Matheus, and José Alberto Fuinhas. 2021b. Does the overweight epidemic cause energy consumption? A piece of empirical evidence from the European region. Energy, 1–19.
Koengkan, Matheus, and JoséAlbertoFuinhas. 2021a. Is gender inequality an essential driver in explaining environmental degradation? Some empirical answers from the CO2 emissions in European Union countries. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 90: 106619.
Leitão, N.C. and Balogh, J.M., 2020. The impact of energy consumption and agricultural production on carbon dioxide emissions in Portugal. AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, 12(1), pp.49-59.
Li, L., Hong, X., Tang, D. and Na, M., 2016. GHG emissions, economic growth and urbanization: a spatial approach. Sustainability, 8(5), p.462.
Lima, M.A., Mendes, L.F.R., Mothé, G.A., Linhares, F.G., De Castro, M.P.P., Da Silva, M.G. and Sthel, M.S., 2020. Renewable energy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions: Reaching the goals of the Paris agreement in Brazil. Environmental Development, 33, p.100504.
Liu, J., Li, M. and Ding, Y., 2021. Econometric analysis of the impact of the urban population size on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in China. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 23(12), pp.18186-18203.
Liu, Y., Gao, C. and Lu, Y., 2017. The impact of urbanization on GHG emissions in China: The role of population density. Journal of Cleaner Production, 157, pp.299-309.
Ma,J.J.; Liu, X.; You, J.X.; Zhang, M.L. Spatial econometric analysis of china’s provincial CO2 emissions. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Joint Conference on Computational Sciences and Optimization, Sanya, China, 24–26 April 2009; pp. 452–456.
Magkos, F., Tetens, I., Bügel, S.G., Felby, C., Schacht, S.R., Hill, J.O., Ravussin, E. and Astrup, A., 2020. The environmental foodprint of obesity. Obesity, 28(1), pp.73-79.
Malley, C.S., Hicks, W.K., Kulyenstierna, J.C., Michalopoulou, E., Molotoks, A., Slater, J., Heaps, C.G., Ulloa, S., Veysey, J., Shindell, D.T. and Henze, D.K., 2021. Integrated assessment of global climate, air pollution, and dietary, malnutrition and obesity health impacts of food production and consumption between 2014 and 2018. Environmental Research Communications, 3(7), p.075001.
Meyer, W.B. and Turner, B.L., 1992. Human population growth and global land-use/cover change. Annual review of ecology and systematics, 23(1), pp.39-61.
Michaelowa, A. and Dransfeld, B., 2008. Greenhouse gas benefits of fighting obesity. Ecological Economics, 66(2-3), pp.298-308.
Myers SS, Smith MR, Guth S, Golden CD, Vaitla B, Mueller ND, et al. Climate change and global food systems: potential impacts on food security and undernutrition. Annu Rev Public Health. 2017;38:259–77
O’Mara, F.P. The significance of livestock as a con tributor to global greenhouse gas emissions today and in the near future. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2011, 166-167: 7-15.
O'Neill, B.C., Liddle, B., Jiang, L., Smith, K.R., Pachauri, S., Dalton, M. and Fuchs, R., 2012. Demographic change and carbon dioxide emissions. The Lancet, 380(9837), pp.157-164.
Paisley A. (2023). Why the climate crisis is a health crisis. Available online: https://www.one.org/stories/climate-global-health-crisis/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwkuqvBhAQEiwA65XxQLFddR9Y9Nja5fCUhm6tVJYWuTHKPkO2zJSxmLA1RSExrVeaGzTXMRoCA8AQAvD_BwE (accessed on 20th March 2024).
Phillips, P., and D. Sul. 2003. Dynamic panel estimation and homogeneity testing undercross section dependence.Econometrics Journal6: 217–259.
Ravussin E, Burnand B, Schutz Y, Jequier E. Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate in obese, moderately obese, and control subjects. Am J Clin Nutr 1982;35:566-573.
Roberts, J.T.; Grimes, P.E. Carbon intensity and economic development 1962–1991: A brief exploration of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Dev. 1997, 25, 191–198.
Sakadevan, K. and Nguyen, M.L., 2017. Livestock production and its impact on nutrient pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Advances in agronomy, 141, pp.147-184.
Sarkodie, S. and Owusu, P., 2017. The relationship between carbon dioxide, crop and food production index in Ghana: By estimating the long-run elasticities and variance decomposition. Environmental Engineering Research, 22(2).
Selden, T.M.; Song, D.Q. Neoclassical growth, the J-curve for abatement, and the inverted U-curve for pollution. J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 1995, 29, 162–168.
Shah, S.A.A., Shah, S.Q.A. & Tahir, M. Determinants of CO2 emissions: exploring the unexplored in low-income countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 48276–48284 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19319-3
Sharma, S.S., 2011. Determinants of carbon dioxide emissions: empirical evidence from 69 countries. Applied energy, 88(1), pp.376-382.
Springmann M, Wiebe K, Mason-D’Croz D, Sulser TB, Rayner M and Scarborough P 2018 Health and nutritional aspects of sustainable diet strategies and their association with environmental impacts: a global modelling analysis with country-level detail Lancet Planet. Heal. 2e451-e461
Squalli, J., 2014. Is obesity associated with global warming?. Public health, 128(12), pp.1087-1093.
Steinegger R. Fuel economy as function of weight and distance. Winterthur, Switzerland: Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften); 2017. https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/1896. Accessed November 26, 2019.
Sun, W. and Huang, C., 2020. How does urbanization affect carbon emission efficiency? Evidence from China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 272, p.122828.
Swinburn BA, Kraak VI, Allender S et al. The global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change: The Lancet commission report. Lancet 2019; 393: 791–846
Swinburn BA, Kraak VI, Allender S, et al. The global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change: The Lancet Commission report. Lancet 2019; published online Jan 27. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140 6736(18)32822-8.
The integrated African Health Observatory (iAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) (2024). Displaying Indicators for AFRO Region. Available online: https://aho.afro.who.int/ind/af?ind=439&cc=af&ci=1&dim=100&dom=Cardiovascular%20disease%20across%20NCDs (Accessed 12 February, 2024).
Tilman D and Clark M 2014 Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health Nature 515, 518–22
Toti, E., Di Mattia, C. and Serafini, M., 2019. Metabolic food waste and ecological impact of obesity in FAO World's region. Frontiers in Nutrition, 6, p.460769.
Trentinaglia, M.T., Parolini, M., Donzelli, F. and Olper, A., 2021. Climate change and obesity: A global analysis. Global Food Security, 29, p.100539.
Trentinaglia, M.T., Parolini, M., Donzelli, F. and Olper, A., 2021. Climate change and obesity: A global analysis. Global Food Security, 29, p.100539.
Tucker, M., 1995. Carbon dioxide emissions and global GDP. Ecological Economics, 15(3), pp.215-223.
United Nations (2023). Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Available online:
United States Environmental Protection Agency. Global greenhouse gas emissions data Available online: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data (accessed on 20th March, 2024).
Vasylieva, T., Lyulyov, O., Bilan, Y. and Streimikiene, D., 2019. Sustainable economic development and greenhouse gas emissions: The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption, GDP, and corruption. Energies, 12(17), p.3289.
Walpole SC, Prieto-Merino D, Edwards P, Cleland J, Stevens G, Roberts I. The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass. BMC Public Health 2012;12:439. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-439.
Wang, Q. and Li, L., 2021. The effects of population aging, life expectancy, unemployment rate, population density, per capita GDP, urbanization on per capita carbon emissions. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 28, pp.760-774.
Wang, S., Tarroja, B., Schell, L.S., Shaffer, B. and Samuelsen, S., 2019. Prioritizing among the end uses of excess renewable energy for cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. Applied Energy, 235, pp.284-298.
Wang, Y., Liao, M., Xu, L. and Malik, A., 2021. The impact of foreign direct investment on China's carbon emissions through energy intensity and emissions trading system. Energy Economics, 97, p.105212.
Webb, G.J. and Egger, G., 2014. Obesity and climate change: can we link the two and can we deal with both together?. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 8(3), pp.200-204.
Wei, Y.D. and Ye, X., 2014. Urbanization, urban land expansion and environmental change in China. Stochastic environmental research and risk assessment, 28, pp.757-765.
Willett W et al. 2019 Food in the anthropocene: the EAT–lancet commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems Lancet 393 447–92
World Health Organization (WHO) (2023). WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity. Available online https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/370281/9789240075634-eng.pdf?sequence=1 (accessed on 18th March 2024).
World Health Organization, 2024. Obesity and Overweight. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight#:~:text=In%202022%2C%201%20in%208,million%20were%20living%20with%20obesity (accessed on 18th March 2024).
Yang, T. and Wang, Q., 2020. The nonlinear effect of population aging on carbon emission-Empirical analysis of ten selected provinces in China. Science of the Total Environment, 740, p.140057.
Yang, Y., Zhao, T., Wang, Y. and Shi, Z., 2015. Research on impacts of population-related factors on carbon emissions in Beijing from 1984 to 2012. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 55, pp.45-53.
Yu, Y.Y., Liang, Q.M. and Liu, L.J., 2023. Impact of population ageing on carbon emissions: a case of China's urban households. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 64, pp.86-100.
Zhang, C. and Tan, Z., 2016. The relationships between population factors and China's carbon emissions: does population aging matter?. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 65, pp.1018-1025.
Zheutlin, A.R., Adar, S.D. and Park, S.K., 2014. Carbon dioxide emissions and change in prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the United States: an ecological study. Environment international, 73, pp.111-116.
Zhou Y, Liu Y. Does population have a larger impact on carbon dioxide emissions than income? Evidence from a cross-regional panel analysis in China. Applied Energy. 2016 Oct 15;180:800-9.
Zhou, Y., Fu, J., Kong, Y. and Wu, R., 2018. How foreign direct investment influences carbon emissions, based on the empirical analysis of Chinese urban data. Sustainability, 10(7), p.2163.
Zhou, Y., Wang, H. and Qiu, H., 2023. Population aging reduces carbon emissions: Evidence from China's latest three censuses. Applied Energy, 351, p.121799.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Abayomi Oyekale
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The author fully assumes the content originality and the holograph signature makes him responsible in case of trial.
