Carbone dioxide emissions from maricultural production: fresh evidence from European Union countries

The sustainable expansion of the mariculture industry and blue growth in the European Union (EU27) are being impeded by the rising pollution of the marine environment. So far only a few studies highlighted the relation between mariculture and air pollution, therefore, the motivation of this research is to examine how the mariculture industry affected carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in the developed and developing countries of the European Union (EU14 and EU13) between 1990 and 2023. The endogeneity issue was solved using robust least squares (RLS), two-stage least squares (2SLS), and ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators, yielding the major conclusions. The precise effect sizes demonstrate that the EU14 developed countries' carbon dioxide emissions are mostly derived from the mariculture industry, fossil fuels, and gross domestic product, compared to the EU13 developing countries. Conversely, the precise values of the three estimators indicate that institutional quality is more important in EU13 developing countries than in EU14 developed countries when it comes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Specifically in EU14 developed countries with low institutional quality, unplanned mariculture expansion, and inefficient mariculture industry outgrowth, the research recommends policymakers give priority to policies aimed at improving the efficiency and green development of the mariculture industry based on its conclusions.