Research on World Agricultural Economy

The Role of Agricultural Development in the Relationship between Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from RCEP Countries

Shasha Wu

Asia‑Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Yang Liu

Asia‑Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Hengxin Xie

Asia‑Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Yifan Wang

Asia‑Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Elayaraja Aruchunan

Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Fumitaka Furuoka

Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v7i3.3054

Received: 1 January 2026 | Revised: 28 January 2026 | Accepted: 5 February 2026 | Published Online: 29 June 2026

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Abstract

This paper investigates how agricultural development contributes to the association between economic growth and carbon emissions among the member states of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The analysis uses updated panel data for 15 RCEP economies covering the period 2000–2023, employing a fixed-effects regression framework to examine how agricultural expansion, production intensity, and sustainable agricultural practices interact with economic growth to influence agricultural carbon emissions. Through the empirical findings, a positive relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions is statistically significant with one-billion-USD change in gross domestic product (GDP) being related to the rise in CO₂ by about 0.038 MtCO₂. The effects of agricultural land development and crop yield are positive but signal the problems of land-use transformation and intensification of production, having a positive but slightly significant implication on the environmental problem of emissions. Conversely, sustainable agricultural practices show a negative correlation with carbon emission, but this correlation is not statistically significant, which implies that the present level of implementation in RCEP countries is not high enough to produce a significant aggregate mitigation impact. On the whole, the results indicate a duality in the effect of agricultural development on carbon emission, being a source of this effect, as well as a possible mitigation measure. Although economic growth has continued to be the major cause of emissions in the area, there are specific policies aimed at encouraging sustainable farming practices that can be used to balance environmental demands in the long term.

Keywords: Agricultural Development; Economic Growth; Carbon Emission; RCEP Countries; Environmental Sus‑ tainability; Panel Data Analysis

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