The Challenge of Economic Growth and Environmental Protection in Developing Economies

T he main objective of the present study is to find out a clear answer to the question raised in developing countries, that whether such developing economies could be able to achieve economic growth as well as protect their environment simultaneously or these economies still suffer from a severe conflict between environmental protection and economic growth. So, different categories of developing countries were selected and distinguished as oil-based and non-oil based countries for the period 2001-2012. The panel data regression analysis of the information collected from countries showed that the variables such as renewable energy, population growth and the size of internet users have negative and significant effects on the CO2 emission per unit of GDP, while the share of industrial sector value added has a positive effect on CO2 emission per unit of GDP in all categories. Moreover, the rate of urbanization has a negative effect on CO2 emission per unit of GDP in developing but major oil importer countries.