Abstract
Rising carbon dioxide emissions in South Asia are a long-run challenge. Over the last two decades, population aging, and urbanization have also been rising, further stimulating carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, institutions are increasingly involved in efforts to mitigate environmental degradation. The extent to which these factors affect carbon emissions is not fully understood, particularly within South Asia. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of population aging, urbanization, and the institutional quality on per capita carbon emissions in South Asia from 1996 to 2019 based on theoretical background and empirical analysis. The results of the study come through CS-ARDL uncovered that population aging and urbanization have both induced carbon emissions in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Institutional quality, however, has reduced carbon emissions across the region. Furthermore, we applied CCE-MG as a robust panel estimation technique to verify our results.