Does foreign direct investment matter for environmental innovation in African economies?

From green finance to sustainable innovation: how to unleash the potential of China's high-tech industry

Green finance is acknowledged as a critical policy tool in China's sustainable development sector, with the goal of lowering the financial burden associated with ecological transformation for Chinese firms. This research examines the impact of green finance on the green innovation efficiency of the high-tech industry in China, within the context of carbon neutrality. Using a panel dataset covering 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China from 2013 to 2021, we analyze the effects of green finance on green innovation efficiency. Our findings indicate that green finance significantly improves the green innovation efficiency of the high-tech industry, even after robustness testing. Furthermore, this paper also explores the threshold effect of industrial agglomeration on the relationship between green finance and green innovation efficiency, specifically in terms of specialization, diversity, and competition. We verify that green finance reduces the costs of green transformation for enterprises, leading to a substantial improvement in the green innovation efficiency of the high-tech industry. These results shed light on the factors influencing green innovation efficiency and provide theoretical insights and implications for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and financial institutions to reconcile economic growth and sustainability goals.

Exploring the impact of formal and informal finance on green innovation under the lens of carbon neutrality

In order to reduce environmental deterioration and promote sustainable growth, green innovation-which includes ecologically friendly technology and practices-has become a top priority of policymakers worldwide. This research investigates how formal and informal finance affects green innovation in highly polluted high, middle-, and low-income economies, using data spanning from 2007 to 2021. For analyzing the empirical link between formal finance, informal finance, and green innovation, we have employed the 2SLS and GMM estimation techniques. The primary estimates of the analysis suggest that formal and informal funding methods significantly impact environment-related technologies in high-income and middle- and low-income nations. Moreover, the GDP, carbon emissions, trade openness, human capital, research and development, financial stability, and digital finance are essential factors in promoting environment-related technologies in high-, middle-, and low-income nations, respectively. The policymakers in both groups of countries should foster collaboration between the formal and informal sectors to promote green innovations, which is essential for achieving sustainable development goals.

Unlocking the potential of foreign direct investment to reduce energy intensity

This study examines the potential of foreign direct investment (FDI) to reduce energy intensity in developing countries between 1996 and 2019. Using a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, we investigated the linear and non-linear impact of FDI on energy intensity through the interaction effect of FDI and technological progress (TP). The results reveal that FDI has a positive and significant direct effect on energy intensity, whereas the energy-saving effect is evident through energy-efficient technology transfers. The strength of this effect depends on the level of technological progress in developing countries. The outcomes of the Hausman-Taylor and dynamic panel data estimations corroborated these research findings, and disaggregated data analysis by income groups also provided similar results, signifying the validity of the results. Based on the research findings, policy recommendations are formulated to improve the ability of FDI to reduce energy intensity in developing countries.