Economic effects of environmental degradation: Turkey example

Turkey has faced environmental degradation in the process of rapid economic growth and industrialisation. This study analyses the relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation in Turkey between 1990 and 2022. The main variables used in the study using Turkey's economic and environmental data between 1990-2022 are GDP (2015 base year) representing economic growth, CO2 emissions (2015 base year) indicating environmental degradation and population growth rate. In the time series analysis used in the study, firstly, the stationarity test (ADF test) of the variables was performed and then the ARDL model was applied. According to the ARDL model results, a significant relationship was found between CO2 emissions and economic growth. Then, FMOLS coefficient test was applied to determine the level of this relationship. The coefficient of CO2 emissions on GDP was found to be negative and significant, which supports the EKC hypothesis. The population growth rate (NFS) variable did not show a significant relationship.