The Role of Disaggregated Level Natural Resources Rents in Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation of BRICS Economies

This study investigates the pollution halo and natural resources blessing phenomenon in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies at the disaggregated level over 1995–2018. The study applies panel techniques useful in endogeneity, autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity, and crossectional dependence. Our study's results partially supported the natural resources curse phenomena and resource blessing for BRICS countries. The empirical results further substantiated that total natural resource rents help decrease CO 2 emissions, while the mineral, forest, and oil rents substantially increase CO 2 emissions of the BRICS economies. The causality results further indicated that fossil fuels, economic growth, and CO 2 emissions have feedback effects. Similarly, mineral resources have bidirectional causal impacts on CO 2 emissions and fossil fuel consumption. The unilateral causal linkages are also found to forest resources from all the chosen variables. Finally, a significant causal relationship originates from GDP, fossil fuel to natural resource rents, and the BRICS economies' oil rents. Since the study outcomes are unique, it has reliable policies for the theory and practice of the BRICS economies. Graphical Abstract