Exploring the energy-climate-agriculture (ECA) nexus: a roadmap toward agricultural sustainability in Asian countries

Climate change and agriculture are closely related and have an impact on each other. Although a number of research have been conducted on the subject, none have specifically studied the ECA connection in Asian developing economies. The aim of this study is to examine how agricultural productivity in emerging Asian economies—China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—is affected by temperature changes brought by climate change and the use of renewable energy sources. This study used the FMOLS and DOLS methods to analyze data from Asian developing economies from 1990 to 2018. The long-run estimates reveal that renewable energy positively enhances agricultural production, while climate change negatively affects agricultural production. Furthermore, the input factors such as agricultural land, fertilizer use, and rural labor force play an essential role and increase agricultural production. Additionally, the causality tests confirm that all studied variables significantly influenced agricultural production in the selected Asian-12 economies. Finally, based on these outcomes, several implications for sustainable agricultural production and better environmental quality are suggested for Asian economies.