The role of gender life expectancy in environmental degradation: new insights for the BRICS economies

The data show that females live longer than males in BRICS economies. In light of this, one question arises of whether females' life expectancy degrades the environmental quality more than its counterpart in BRICS economies. This research question is not yet well established. In this context, our study attempts to examine the role of gender life expectancy in environmental degradation in the BRICS economies. Economic growth, environmental technology and population size are control factors while modelling the CO2 emissions function in a balanced panel data over the period 1999–2016. Panel co-integration and the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) Panel Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (PARDL) are applied for the empirical analysis, and Panel Correlated Standard Errors (PCSEs) and Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) techniques are also used for checking results robustness. The long-run result reveals that total life expectancy, male life expectancy and economic growth improve the environmental quality. In contrast, we deduce that population size, environmental technology and female life expectancy significantly degrade it. These findings have policy implications for the government of BRICS economies. However, the novelty of this study lies in modelling environmental degradation function within social-economic-demographic-technological frameworks that offer comprehensive inferences. Empirically strengthening the compatibility of healthy and long life with environmental quality also enriches this study.