Amin Pujiati, Dyah Maya Nihayah, Fauzul Adzim, Nurjannah Rahayu Kistanti, Abdul Rahim Ridzuan
Environmental degradation has become one of the most pressing global challenges as economic expansion, demographic pressure, and land-use transformation continue to intensify across regions. Understanding the structural determinants of environmental performance across different stages of economic development has therefore become increasingly important for designing effective environmental policy frameworks. Based on this motivation, this study aims to analyze the determinants of environmental performance in developed and developing Asian economies using the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) as a comprehensive indicator of environmental quality. The analysis uses annual panel data for 20 Asian countries (10 developed and 10 developing economies) over the period 2000–2024 and applies a dynamic Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (Panel ARDL) model estimated using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) approach. The analysis confirms a long-run cointegrating relationship between environmental performance and its drivers. In particular, the forest area and public environmental spending boosts environmental performance in developing economies. In both groups of countries, CO2 emissions per capita consistently have a negative effect. Per capita GDP positively influences environmental performance more in developed economies, while in developing economies, population density negatively affects environmental performance more. The results show that the stages of development require a change in the prioritization of environmental policies. In developing economies more emphasis should be placed on forest conservation and greater efficiency in the utilization of environmental expenditure. In developed economies the priority should be on policies targeting decarbonization and innovation that will improve the environment. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2026.
Economics Development Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia; Komplex Al-Khawarizmi, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Selangor, Shah Alam, 40450, Malaysia
