Unveiling the global nexus: Pandemic fear, government responses, and climate change-an empirical study
Sabeeh Ullah,
Sajid Rahman Khattak,
Rezwan Ullah,
Mohammad Fayaz,
Heesup Han,
Sunghoon Yoo,
Antonio Ariza-Montes,
António Raposo
Affiliations
Sabeeh Ullah
Institute of Business and Management Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
Sajid Rahman Khattak
Institute of Business and Management Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
Rezwan Ullah
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Mohammad Fayaz
Institute of Business and Management Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
Heesup Han
College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, South Korea; Corresponding author.
Sunghoon Yoo
Audit Team, Hanmoo Convention (Oakwood Premier), 49, Teheran-ro 87-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06164, South Korea
Antonio Ariza-Montes
Social Matters Research Group, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, C/Escritor Castilla Aguayo, 4, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
António Raposo
CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal; Corresponding author.
This study examined the relationships between pandemic fear, government responses, and climate change using a time-series dataset from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. By employing an auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, the results revealed that pandemic fear significantly impacts climate change, while government responses to COVID-19 negatively influence climate change in the long run. Climate change and government responses significantly positively affect pandemic fear in the long run. Moreover, we found a bidirectional causality between government responses and climate change, unidirectional causality from government responses to pandemic fear, and no Granger causality between pandemic fear and climate change. Our findings have some important policy implications. Governments must encourage coordination, enhance crisis responses, and consider revising economic metrics to maintain environmental sustainability. The COVID-19 experience can inform strategies for reducing CO2 emissions and investing in green economies and healthcare to prepare for future challenges.
