Environmental problem is a great concern world-wide which has been researched from various angles, including via the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. EKC shows a hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. As the severity of problem grows with industrial activities, this paper explores the impacts of economic growth, energy use, exports and human capital on the environmental quality of newly industrialised countries (NICs) over the period of 1979−2017. We have considered the cross-sectional dependence (CSD) issue, often ignored by most of the panel data studies. Using panel cointegration estimation technique, we have applied Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimation methods that address the CSD problem. Our findings exhibit the existence of CSD and long-run nexus among the variables used. In the long run, economic growth and human capital improved, and energy consumption and exports deteriorated environmental quality. The long-run elasticity for the energy variable is around one. DOLS and PMG methods provide similar results exhibiting that the effect of economic growth on CO₂ emissions is the highest followed by energy use, human capital, and exports. The study found no evidence of the presence of the EKC hypothesis in NICs. Policy suggestions are made based on the findings.

环境问题是世界范围内非常关注的一个问题，已通过各种角度进行了研究，包括通过环境库兹涅茨曲线（EKC）假设进行了研究。EKC显示了经济增长与环境质量之间的假想倒U形关系。随着问题的严重性随着工业活动的增长而增加，本文探讨了1979-2017年期间经济增长，能源使用，出口和人力资本对新兴工业化国家（NIC）的环境质量的影响。我们已经考虑了横截面依赖性（CSD）问题，大多数面板数据研究通常忽略了这一问题。使用面板协整估计技术，我们应用了动态普通最小二乘（DOLS），完全修正普通最小二乘（FMOLS）和合并均值组（PMG）估计方法来解决CSD问题。我们的发现表明，使用的变量之间存在CSD和长期联系。从长远来看，经济增长和人力资本得到改善，能源消耗和出口使环境质量恶化。能量变量的长期弹性约为1。DOLS和PMG方法提供相似的结果，表明经济增长对CO的影响₂排放量最高，其次是能源使用，人力资本和出口。该研究没有发现NIC中存在EKC假设的证据。根据调查结果提出政策建议。