Energy Intensity, Transmission Losses, and the Ecological Footprint: A Panel Study of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan

Abstract

The developing South Asian countries like Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan need to grow their economies and provide energy to millions of people, but at the same time they also need to protect the environment from pollution and climate change effect. This study uses data of these three countries from 1990 to 2024 collected from the World Bank website to compare the green energy transitions. Statistical methods including correlation analysis, panel unit root tests, Pedroni cointegration, and panel regression are used to find out what factors affect the ecological footprint. The results show that renewable energy consumption significantly decreases the ecological footprint (coefficient = -0.017, p < 0.001), while energy intensity (coefficient = 0.269, p < 0.001) and GDP per capita (coefficient = 0.204, p < 0.001) increase it. Exports and electricity line losses also have positive effects on the footprint, but industry share unexpectedly has a negative effect. Unit root tests performed to check the stationarity of variables, most variables are stationary at first difference (I(1)), except electricity losses which is stationary at level I(0). A long-run relationship between the variables is confirmed by the Pedroni cointegration test. The regression model is very good fit as it explains 91% of the variation in ecological footprint. Based on these findings, it is recommended that India continue investing in renewables and energy efficiency, Pakistan reduce transmission losses and energy sector circular debt, Bangladesh expand off-grid and fluctuating solar projects. The main limitation is the small number of countries in the panel, so future research should include more South Asian nations.

Keywords: Ecological Footprint, Renewable Energy, Energy Intensity, South Asia, Panel Data, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan