The effect of technological innovation, FDI, and financial development on CO2 emission: evidence from the G8 countries

Unravelling the moderating roles of environmental regulations on the impact of foreign direct investment on environmental sustainability

In the era of economic globalization, China attracts significant foreign direct investment (FDI) to accelerate economic prosperity. FDI inflows could have ramifications on environmental degradation (ED) despite the enactment of different environmental regulations (ERs) such as market-incentive, command-and-control as well as informal regulations. Though some studies have shown that FDI and ED have significant relationship, the moderating roles of different ERs on the environmental impact of FDI has not been empirically unraveled. This study fills this research gap by analyzing the direct impact of FDI on ED (i.e., carbon dioxide emissions, ecological footprint) using the provincial panel data. Second, it unravels the moderating roles of different ERs on the environmental impact of FDI in the provinces and regions. The results indicate that FDI directly mitigates ED, verifying the pollution halo hypothesis while ERs directly alleviate ED in China. However, the interaction between FDI and ERs do not alleviate ED in China albeit regional heterogeneity exist. The economic implication is that FDI is not a channel through which ERs enhance environmental sustainability in China. This study recommends some policy options arising from the findings.

Dynamic relationships between environment-related technologies, agricultural value added, transport infrastructure and environmental emissions in the five most populous countries

Densely populated countries have higher demand for agricultural products and greater use of fuel and vehicles, resulting in higher environmental emissions, so this study considers transportation infrastructure and the agricultural sector as the two major drivers of environmental degradation in the top five densely populated countries. In a baseline regression, this study first unveils the impact of investments in transportation infrastructure, agricultural value addition, and environment-related technologies on per capita CO2 emissions using CS-ARDL approach from 1990 to 2021 in the five most populous countries. Besides, this study also reveals the typical moderating effect of environment-related technologies in the link between transport infrastructure, agricultural value added and environmental hazards. The results of the baseline model indicate that transport infrastructure and agricultural value added can substantially contribute to per capita carbon emissions in both the short and long term. However, environment-related technologies significantly reduce environmental emissions in both the short and long term. Per capita GDP extensively promotes per capita carbon dioxide emissions, while per capita GDP2 substantially reduces per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the long term rather than the short term, thus authenticating the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis for the top five countries with the highest population density. The moderating effect of environment-related technologies shows that the application of environment-related technologies in both transportation and agriculture can alleviate environmental pollution. Finally, the threshold level of environment-related technologies shows that as environment-related technologies move from lower threshold levels (≤ - 1.05) to higher threshold levels (> -1.05), agricultural value added and transportation infrastructure investment significantly improve the reduction of environmental contamination. The goal of environmental sustainability can be ensured by the adoption of environment-related technologies in agriculture and transportation sectors.

Exploring the impact of industrialization and electricity use on carbon emissions: The role of green FinTech in Asian countries using an asymmetric panel quantile ARDL approach

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to investigate how industrialization, financial development, electricity consumption, trade openness, and green FinTech affect on carbon emissions asymmetrically in Asian countries.

DESIGN

Method/Approach: The study examined 29 years of panel data from 39 Asian countries from 1995 to 2022, sourced from World Development Indicators (WDI) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The study constructs a green financial technology index using principal component analysis (PCA). The study utilizes an Asymmetric Panel Quantile Autoregressive Distributive Lag (A-QARDL) model with pooled mean group (PMG) specifications to explore effects that exhibit cross-sectional homogeneous in the long-run, but heterogeneous in the short-run effects.

FINDINGS

Industrialization and financial development have a strongly asymmetric impact on carbon emissions. Industrialization causes an increase in carbon emissions at various quantiles, while green FinTech plays a crucial role in mitigating these carbon emissions. Trade openness and domestic credit to the private sector also help reduce carbon emissions.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The study emphasizes the significance of employing green FinTech techniques and using renewable energy sources to meet sustainable industrialization and sustainability goals in Asian countries. The policy consequences include promoting environmentally friendly industrial practices, encouraging green financial investments, and boosting government financing for private sector research and development to mitigate carbon emissions.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The study employs robust modeling to analyze the role of green FinTech to enhance industrial sustainability. Both Industrialization and deindustrialization have an impact on economic emissions, and the potential of green FinTech's to promote sustainability contributes to the environment protection strategy.

The role of renewable energy and total factor productivity in reducing carbon emissions: A case of top-ranked nations in the renewable energy country attractiveness index

On the one hand, economies, particularly developing ones, need to grow. On the other hand, climate change is the most pressing issue globally, and nations should take the necessary measures. Such a complex task requires new theoretical and empirical models to capture this complexity and provide new insights. Our study uses a newly developed theoretical framework that involves renewable energy consumption (REC) and total factor productivity (TFP) alongside traditional factors of CO2 emissions. It provides policymakers with border information compared to traditional models, such as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), being limited to income and population. Advanced panel time series methods are also employed, addressing panel data issues while producing not only pooled but also country-specific results. 20 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) nations are considered in this study. The results show that REC, TFP, and exports reduce CO2 emissions with elasticities of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.3, respectively. Oppositely, income and imports increase emissions with elasticities of 0.8 and 0.3. Additionally, we show that RECAI countries are commonly affected by global and regional factors. Moreover, we find that shocks can create permanent changes in the levels of the factors but only temporary changes in their growth rates. The main policy implication of the findings is that authorities should implement measures boosting TFP and REC. These factors are driven mainly by technological progress, innovation, and efficiency gains. Thus, they can simultaneously reduce emissions while promoting long-run green economic growth, which addresses the complexity mentioned above to some extent.

Unveiling the power of education, political stability and ICT in shaping technological innovation in BRI nations

Technological innovation is a critical element of economic and environmental sustainability; thus, the promotion of technological innovation in the economy has gained an apex among policy makers. The study's impetus is to measure the effect of investments in information and communication technology (ICT), education, and political stability on technical innovation in BRI countries for 2004-2020. In the process of documenting the empirical nexus through the implementation of novel panel techniques commonly known as Dynamic Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR), continuously updated fully modified" (Cup-FM) and continuously updated bias-corrected (Cup-BC). The results of the slope of heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependency test, and panel cointegration test have revealed the presence of heterogeneity, all the research variables possessed certain common dynamics, and, most importantly presence of long-run association. The study documented the coefficients of ICT, education and Political stability are positive and statistically significant, indicating a contributory effect in fostering technological innovation in BRI nations. The findings emphasize the importance of upholding political stability, directing resources toward education, and fostering an environment that encourages innovation through the integration of information and communication technology (ICT). The study also highlights how critical it is to bring in FDI and use it to your advantage in order to boost tech development and the economy.

Technical innovation, renewable energy consumption, and CO2 emissions in the USA: a cross-quantile approach

This study investigates whether technological innovation and the consumption of renewable energy tend to reduce the emissions of CO2 in the USA by analyzing datasets from January 2010 to May 2022. The main contribution to this study is that we applied a cross-quantile approach, which possesses several strengths compared to other methods used for directional predictability. The empirical results of this research can be concluded as three points: (1) both the consumption of renewable energy and technological innovation significantly and negatively impacted the emissions of CO2 in the short run (i.e., 1 month) across high quantiles, which gradually diminished over time (i.e., 3 months, 12 months, and 24 months), implying that technological innovation and the consumption of renewable energy possess a short-lived effect on CO2 emissions, respectively; (2) this relationship remains significant for causal links spanning 1 and 3 months and 1 and 2 years when the consumption of renewable energy and technological innovation are treated as control variables respectively; (3) a recursive cross-quantilogram was constructed to support further our findings, which showed that the consumption of renewable energy and technological innovation tend to negatively impact the emissions of CO2 across all quantiles. These results imply that an increase in the consumption of renewable energy and technological innovation can curb CO2 emissions in the USA; these effects tend to be more lasting when technological innovation and the consumption of renewable energy are combined. Therefore, future policies focused on curbing the emissions of CO2 should pay attention to the combined effect, which is the promotion of technological innovation and the exploitation of renewable energy sources in the USA.

Research landscape of energy transition and green finance: A bibliometric analysis

This study utilizes bibliometric analysis to examine historical and present research patterns in the area of energy transition and green finance and to forecast potential future domains. Using the bibliometric method, 328 scholarly articles from the Web of Science database were evaluated. This paper identifies influential publications, maps the research landscape, and forecasts emerging tendencies through co-citation and co-word analyses. Co-citation analysis found three main clusters, while co-word analysis revealed four main clusters. Despite the growing significance of research on energy transition and green finance research, further in-depth investigation is necessary to offer a thorough depiction of the research domain. This research represents a pioneering endeavour in the utilization of bibliometric analysis to investigate the interrelationship between two items. It offers valuable insights into the rapidly expanding field of energy transition and green finance, effectively highlighting its contours and indicating potential future developments.

Can technological progress, renewable and nuclear energy consumption be the remedy for global climate crises? An examination of leading OECD countries

Energy is the most critical input for production and consumption. The inputs of energy cause irreversible damage to the environment. The studies carried out to reduce the environmental impact of the methods used in energy production are extremely valuable. This study aims to reveal the effects of technological development, nuclear energy consumption, and renewable energy use on environmental degradation. The patent numbers, technological development, GDP, renewable energy, and nuclear energy consumption data of 16 OECD countries covering the years 1996-2019 were used in the empirical analysis. The findings of panel FMOLS and DOLS methods reveal that technological progress, nuclear, and renewable energy consumption significantly reduce CO2 emissions. In line with these findings, critical policy implications have been suggested.

Time-varying disaggregation of the income-emissions nexus: New evidence from the United Kingdom

This paper's objective is to investigate the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis utilizing three unique approaches in this era of accelerating climate change and economic volatility. The first step is to introduce and employ a new cointegration test which allows smooth and sharp structural changes through a dummy variable and a Fourier function. Using a time-varying causality approach, the second stage is to assess the EKC hypothesis's validity for each year of a given period, as opposed to the entire period. The third stage is to conduct time-varying analyses not only of the effect of Gross Domestic Product or aggregate income on environmental degradation but also of the effects of the four major economic units' incomes, namely those of the government, non-financial corporations, households, and the rest of the world. This research derives three conclusions using the United Kingdom as a case study from 1830 to 2016. The impacts of aggregate income and the incomes of the three economic units on carbon emissions are consistent with the EKC hypothesis. Second, each of these effects occurs at different times. Thirdly, the EKC hypothesis regarding the association between the nation's trade income and carbon emissions cannot be validated. To provide policymakers with a dynamic, unit-specific, and effective strategy for mitigating environmental degradation, the paper proposes testing the EKC hypothesis for each year over a specific time period, as well as for the effects of both aggregate income and the disaggregate income of four major economic units.

GVCs and environmental sustainability in MENA: Do digitalization and institutions make a difference?

The advent of digitalization has brought about profound changes in the global value chain, raising significant concerns about environmental sustainability. However, the environmental consequences resulting from the interplay between global value chain participation and digitalization have not been adequately explored, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). To address this gap, our research delves into the impact of global value chain participation on environmental sustainability in 15 MENA countries from 1996 to 2018. We also investigate the moderating effects of two critical policy variables: digitization and institutional quality, employing the SYS-GMM Panel method and Random Effects method. Empirical findings reveal that participating in the global value chain has positive environmental implications for MENA countries. These results hold true and remain consistent when considering forward value participation linkages and oil-importing nations. Furthermore, we observe that the proposed moderators play a significant role in shaping the environmental impact of the global value chain. Specifically, institutions and global value chains work in synergy to promote environmental sustainability in MENA, encompassing both oil-importing and oil-exporting groups. However, the interaction between the global value chain and digitalization generates a negative net effect, which diminishes beyond a specific digitalization threshold of 10.23%. Consequently, implementing complementary policies becomes crucial when digitization is below this threshold. Additionally, our study supports the resource curse hypothesis for the MENA region, suggesting that natural resources contribute to environmental degradation. These insights offer valuable guidance for enhancing global value chain integration while preserving a sustainable environment in MENA.

Do environmental taxes, environmental innovation, and energy resources matter for environmental sustainability: Evidence of five sustainable economies

This study explores the relationship between environmental taxation, environmental technologies, energy resources, and consumption-based carbon emissions in five leading green economies from 2000 to 2019. The study applied the Cross-Sectional Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) model to derive benchmark results, with Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG) techniques being utilized for conducting robustness analyses. The empirical findings suggest that environmental taxation, environmental innovations, and the consumption of renewable energy are associated with a reduction in consumption-based carbon emissions, thereby contributing to enhanced environmental sustainability. Conversely, the utilization of non-renewable energy is linked to an increase in consumption-based carbon emissions. These results align with the objectives outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals' 2030 agenda, particularly SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and SDG 13 (Climate Action), offering valuable policy implications.

Neutralizing the surging emissions amidst natural resource dependence, eco-innovation, and green energy in G7 countries: Insights for global environmental sustainability

The unrelenting surge in global warming in the current era suggests the inevitable need for governments across the globe to embark on policy measures that will help flatten the curve of the surging emissions. Consequently, the concept of carbon neutrality has become a vital policy approach for countries to achieve sustainable development. The present study extends the debates on carbon neutrality by examining the extent to which prominent factors such as natural resource dependence, eco-innovation, and green energy (biofuel and renewable energy) facilitate or hinder strides toward achieving carbon neutral environment in G7 economies. The study considers the additional roles of carbon tax, environmental policy stringency, and financial development in longitudinal data ranging from 1997 to 2019. The verification of the stated hypotheses hinges on a battery of estimators comprising cross-sectional ARDL, common correlated effects mean group, augmented mean group, and panel quantile regression. The empirical findings show that green energy, carbon tax, and environmental policy support the drive towards carbon neutrality by reducing the stock of CO2 emissions. On the other hand, natural resource dependence and financial development hinder the carbon neutrality agenda by escalating the surge in CO2 emissions. Robustness analyses are conducted from the angle of an additional outcome variable and estimation technique of which the results corroborate the empirical regularity of the main findings. Policy implications are derived from the empirical findings.

Elongating the role of renewable energy and sustainable foreign direct investment on environmental degradation

Climatic variations and GHG emissions are the most debated issues of the current age economically, socially, politically and environmentally. An internationally legally binding treaty on climate change, the "Paris Agreement" is followed by G-8 countries to maintain environmental sustainability with green development. The research investigates the relationship of GHG emissions with renewable energy (RE), foreign direct investment (FDI), total population (TP), and trade (TR). The time span of 22 years is used for analytical purposes covering the period from 2000 to 2021 b y addressing the literary gap. The analytical procession found total population and trade increase GHG emissions because of its modern fundamental layers toxic human activities and polluted trade practices. The decreasing behavior toward GHG emissions has been determined by FDI and RE. The findings of this research have confirmed the long-run relationship among variables. They are evidence that the eco-innovative steps by G-8 countries significantly reduce GHG emissions directly or indirectly. Furthermore, the analytical outcomes indicate that innovative green development in renewable energy sector can reduce the GHG emissions pressure from this sector and contribute to net zero emissions. The extracting results have suggested policies for environmental practitioners and economic developers.

Do financial development and renewable energy shocks matter for environmental quality: evidence from top 10 emitting emissions countries

Creating a reliable energy supply, ecological quality, and economic development has become a global effort. Finance is at the center stage ecological transition to low-carbon emission. Against this backdrop, the present work analyses the impact of the financial sector on CO₂ emissions using data from the top 10 emitting emissions economies from 1990 to 2018. Using the novel method of moments quantile regression, the findings illustrate that renewable energy usage enhances ecological quality while economic growth lowers it. The results also affirm that financial development is positively linked with carbon emission in the top 10 emitting emissions economies. These results can be explained by the fact that financial development facilities offer low borrowing rates with less restrictions for environmental sustainability projects. The empirical findings of this study highlight the necessity for policies that boost the proportion of clean energy consumption in the top 10 polluting nations' overall energy mix to reduce carbon emissions. It follows that the financial sectors in these nations must invest in cutting-edge energy-efficient technology and clean, green, and environmentally friendly initiatives. This trend will increase productivity, improve energy efficiency, and reduce pollution.

Modeling enablers of supply chain decarbonisation to achieve zero carbon emissions: an environment, social and governance (ESG) perspective

Climate change is the greatest threat to our planet and way of life. There is an immediate need of decarbonisation and a push for a smooth transition to a world with no net carbon emissions. To achieve sustainability, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms are increasing their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint across their supply chains. The firms and government undertake several initiatives towards achieving the zero carbon mission. Hence, there is a need to identify the prominent enablers that may enhance the decarbonisation in the FMCG sector and contribute towards a net-zero carbon economy. The current study has identified and assessed the enablers (6 main criteria, 19 sub-criteria), including green innovation, green supply chain, sustainable decision-making, organisation decisions and government control from environment, social and governance (ESG) perspective. Eco-friendly manufacturing techniques and eco-friendly goods may give businesses a competitive edge and sustainability. The six primary factors that can help to reduce decarbonisation are evaluated using the stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) technique. The criteria and sub-criteria are assessed by SWARA method. A total of 32 experts from the FMCG industry are undertaken to validate and assess the enablers. This study identified and evaluated the ESG-based decarbonisation enablers in FMCG. The study shows that green innovations are ranked first, followed by organisational decisions and government control. This is likely the first study to examine how the FMCG industry's enablers for decreasing carbon footprints connect. The study is helpful to the supply chain managers and the other decision makers to implement well-designed processes for creating new products and a supply chain from the point of purchase to the place of supply, all backed by advanced technology and the appropriate regulatory adjustments.

Financial innovation and environmental quality: Fresh empirical evidence from the EU Countries

Evidence shows that the European Union (EU) is a leader in using financial innovation to overcome environmental challenges and ensure sustainable development. This study explores the heterogeneous effects of financial innovations on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) due to their destructive effects in the context of the EU, by employing the novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MM-QR). The study also evaluates the environmental Kuznets hypothesis during the period of 2000-2020. We used four proxies for financial innovation; the ratio of the aggregate money supply to narrow money (M3/M1), the ratio of broad to narrow money (M2/M1), the percentage change in domestic credit to the private sector (% of GDP) and a composite index of these indices using the Principal Component Analysis technique. The findings indicate that raising three financial innovation proxies can effectively raise environmental quality. It should be noted that while M3/M1 has a stronger and negative effect on CO2 emissions in low quantiles, M2/M1 has a stronger and negative effect on CO2 emissions in high quantiles. Therefore, it is recommended that a larger amount of M2 and M3 resources be directed towards green projects for financing in countries with both high and low levels of CO2 emissions, respectively.

Sustainable development goals perspective: nexus between Christians' religious tourism, geopolitical risk, and CO2 pollution in Italy

Travel and tourism support a country's economy and improve its social outlook. The religious inclination is an important factor influencing tourism and constitutes a significant part of general tourism. Thus, assessing and evaluating its real impacts on a country is crucial. As the world continues to grapple with the effects of environmental degradation, numerous studies have delved into the research between tourism, energy consumption, and pollution emissions. However, the impact of religious tourism on the environment is often overlooked. To bridge this gap, this study explores the relationship between religious tourist arrivals, geopolitical risk, and environmental quality in Italy. By employing ARDL and wavelets coherence analysis on the Italian data from 1997 to 2019, the findings of this study reveal a mitigation effect of religious tourist arrivals and geopolitical risk on CO2 pollution levels. In contrast, it highlights the significance of foreign direct investment and transportation as significant contributors to CO2 pollution. In conclusion, the study highlights the crucial role that religious tourism and religious leaders can play in mitigating environmental pollution and the importance of considering this aspect in future environmental studies as well as emphasize the need for Italian authorities to pay close attention to the impact of foreign direct investment and transportation energy consumption on the environment to achieve sustainable development goals.

Do banking sector development, economic growth, and clean energy consumption scale up green finance investment for a sustainable environment in South Asia: evidence for newly developed RALS co-integration

Concern about climate change is spreading around the globe. The urge to comprehend the environmental effects and take action is sharply rising. Regarding this, the banking industry has a great chance to offer a solution in terms of green financial solutions and can meet the needs of carbon-conscious organizations to combat and defend our planet. Therefore, in light of this, according to the greatest understanding of the authors, this is the first study to investigate the role of banking sector development, economic growth, and clean energy consumption in scaling up green finance investment in South Asian nations, taking carbon emissions, foreign direct investment, remittances, inflation, and trade openness as control variables. This study uses a novel residual augmented least squares-Engle and Granger (RALS-EG) co-integration to test the long-term link and the quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) econometric approach to extract the association across the quantiles (q0.05-q0.95) for the period 2000-2020. The outcomes of QARDL show that banking sector development, economic growth, clean energy, carbon emissions, foreign direct investment, remittances, and trade openness play a positive role in attracting green finance in the long term. However, only inflation has a negative influence on scaling up finance in South Asian nations. Therefore, the concerned authorities (government, central banks, environmentalists, and policymakers) are urged to implement green finance policies and strategies as suggested and recommended by the results of this study.

Is export quality a viable option for sustainable development paths of Asian countries?

This paper investigates the role of export quality in climate action goal of the sustainable development goals in emerging Asian countries. For this purpose, the empirical model that observes the impact of real GDP, energy use and export quality index on carbon emissions is constructed and is analyzed by ARDL bounds testing approach for the period from 1970 to 2014. We also include the square of real GDP as independent variable to observe the existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis which implies the parabolic relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation. The findings show that increase in export quality leads to a fall in CO₂ emissions for China and India. In contrast, the effect of increasing export quality increases CO₂ emissions in Thailand and the Philippines. Lastly, our asymmetric causality results show that the positive shocks of export quality causes positive shocks of CO₂ emissions in Thailand and Indonesia. Furthermore, we found that positive export quality shocks cause negative CO₂ emissions shocks in India while negative export quality shocks cause positive CO₂ emissions shocks in China. We also confirm the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis in China and Thailand.

The role of renewable energy consumption on environmental degradation in EU countries: do institutional quality, technological innovation, and GDP matter?

In the face of climate change and environmental degradation, reducing emission of greenhouse gases has become a key factor for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the present research is intended to explore the roles of renewable energy consumption, institutional quality, technological innovation, and GDP on carbon dioxide emissions in the 14 EU countries. In doing so, this study employed novel method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) using annual data from 2000 to 2019. Also, a number of other estimators were applied for robustness check including the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and the fixed effect ordinary least square (FE-OLS). The empirical findings indicate that renewable energy consumption significantly reduces CO₂ emissions across all quantiles (0.1-0.9). Furthermore, institutional quality and technological innovation improve environmental quality in 0.1-0.7 quantiles, although GDP enhances carbon emissions significantly in all quantiles. In addition, the FMOLS, DOLS, and FE-OLS results confirmed the MMQR results. The outcomes of this study suggest insights for the policymakers to mitigate carbon emissions through promoting innovative technologies for environmental protection and investing more in the development of renewable energy.

Testing the impact of sustainable environmental regulations on firm performance with mediating effect of product market competition: empirical evidence from Turkey

Environmental challenges are increasingly becoming global issues due to the negatively induced effect of carbon dioxide on the natural climate and the well-being of human beings. Industrialisation has intensified the energy demand which brought the surge in the consumption of conventional non-renewable energy resources, including fossil fuels. Despite the overwhelming evidence of negative effects of utilising conventional energy on the atmosphere, there has been a steady rise in industrial production which has encouraged firms to adopt technological innovation. In this sense, many countries have developed various strategies, frameworks and regulations to reduce industrial-driven environmental degradation. Environmental-friendly compliant production technology can be an important substitute model to improve economic development. This study examines the relationship between environmental regulation and firm performance with mediating the impact of product market competition in Turkey. The study uses multi-sectoral firm-level Turkish data covering from 2004 to 2020 which was analysed via numerous methods that control for endogeneity bias. The results of generalised method of moment indicate a strong positive effect of sustainable environmental regulation (SER) on firm performance (FP). Moreover, after mediating the effect of product market competition by decomposing the firms into low product market competition (LPMC) and high product market competition (HPMC), finding reveals a negative effect of SER on FP of LMPC whereas a positive impact was found in the HPMC firms. This finding shows that HPMC compels managers to form a differentiated profit maximisation strategy. In this sense, competition can play a dedicated role in enhancing firm performance in the context of government deliberate strategies and regulations for control of the industrial negative effect on the environment. The industrial sector needs to switch from conventional energy practices to sourcing green and renewable energy that would not jeopardise the environmental quality.

The relationship between renewable energy consumption, technological innovations, and carbon dioxide emission: evidence from two-step system GMM

Large amount of energy use for rising economic growth leads to high carbon dioxide discharge that worsens environmental quality which is a challenge for countries in achieving sustainable development. Improved level of technological innovations and renewable energy consumption might overcome the issue of environmental degradation and achieving sustainable development. This study examines the effect of technological innovations on renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in the belt and road initiative countries for the period of 1995 to 2019. Two-step difference and two-step system GMM models were employed for analysis where the results indicate that technological innovations increase renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission. The effect of renewable energy consumption and trademark applications on carbon dioxide is negatively significant that raises environmental quality. Furthermore, this study confirms the validity of Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the sample countries. The findings of this study have considerable policy implication for the sample countries on rising technological innovations and renewable energy consumption in achieving environmental sustainability.

Differentiation Analysis on Carbon Emission Efficiency and Its Factors at Different Industrialization Stages: Evidence from Mainland China

Industrial production is currently the main source of global carbon emissions. There are obvious differences in regional carbon emission efficiencies (CEE) at different industrial stages. We investigate CEE and explore its factors in mainland China at different industrialization stages from 2008-2020 using the super-SBM model with an undesirable output and the STIRPAT model. There is significant spatial heterogeneity in regional CEE, with gaps gradually widening. CEE's spatial heterogeneity in mid-industrialized provinces is narrowing, while in late-industrialized and post-industrialized provinces, it is widening. CEE's factors also differ in provinces at different industrialization stages. At the mid-industrialization stage, the industrial structure (IS) is the dominant factor, while population urbanization (PU) is dominant at the late-industrialization stage, and both PU and IS are dominant at the post-industrialization stage. Based on CEE's characteristics at different industrialization stages, we propose suggestions for green development.

The nexus of financial development, natural resource rents, technological innovation, foreign direct investment, energy consumption, human capital, and trade on environmental degradation in the new BRICS economies

Early periods of history have demonstrated that enhanced economic development is fostered in instances where natural resources are abundant, hence averting the resource curse. In this vein, accelerated economic advancement is driven by a rigorous and proficient financial sector that efficiently utilises and allocates the economy's natural resources. A strong financial system that transforms resources into advantages rests on an advanced technological innovation base, superior human capital, distinct foreign direct investment, powerful trade, and sustainable energy consumption. While this paper investigates the nexus of these factors, the specific purpose of this research is to examine the interactive impact of financial development and natural resource rents on carbon emissions in the new BRICS economies for the duration of 1990 to 2019. The panel data generalised least squares (GLS) and the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) techniques are adopted. The Dumitrescu and Hurlin technique is used to establish causality. The study found a U-shaped association between economic growth and emissions. The findings prove that the financial development of financial institutions and the financial development of financial markets' relationships with emissions are significantly positive. Natural resource rents, energy consumption, and human capital create a significantly positive relationship with emissions (mostly just positive for technological innovation). Conversely, the connection involving trade and carbon emissions is significantly negative (but mostly just negative for FDI). The interaction (s) intervening financial development of financial institutions and financial development of financial markets with natural resource rent significantly lowers emissions, respectively. The interaction parameter (financial development of financial institutions, natural resource rent, and financial development of financial markets) mixed with trade significantly adds emissions (positively insignificant with energy consumption). Contrarily, this factor mixed with human capital and technological innovation, respectively, is significantly negative (just negative for FDI). The Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel Granger causality outcomes are also outlined.

Financial Institutional and Market Deepening, and Environmental Quality Nexus: A Case Study in G-11 Economies Using CS-ARDL

This study presents a new insight into the dynamic relationship between financial institutional deepening (FID), financial deepening, financial market deepening (FMD), foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth (GDP), population, and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) in the G-11 economies by employing a cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach during 1990-2019. The outcomes from the CS-ARDL and dynamic common correlated effects mean group (DCCEMG) models shows that financial deepening, GDP, FDI, and population degraded environmental quality both in the short run and the long run. Contrary to this, FID and FMD improves environmental quality in these countries. The government should work to maximize financial institutions (access, depth, efficiency) and financial markets (access, depth, efficiency) to reduce the CO2e. A strong positive and in-phase correlation of CO2e with economic growth and population is observed for G-11 countries. These results suggest policy makers should further improve financial institutions by creating opportunities for their populations. Moreover, the governments of G-11 countries should revise their foreign direct investment policies and attention should be given to import efficient means of energy production.

Exploring the moderating effect of globalization, financial development and environmental degradation nexus: a roadmap to sustainable development

Financial development is a multidimensional process that contributes to economic growth but sometimes it has a devastating effect on climate change. No country can achieve sustainable development goals without caring the environmental quality. The present study investigates the moderating role of globalization (KOF) in determining the financial development (FD) on environmental degradation in the SAARC countries from 1990 to 2020. The long-run coefficients are estimated using the panel quantile regression (PQR) approach at lower, middle and upper quantile groups. The study shows the U-shaped relationship across three quantile groups based on financial development and carbon emissions. The moderator globalization (KOF) brings up the change in the turning point and flattens before the maturity of the U-shaped curve at the middle quantile while flattens after the maturity of the U-shaped curve at the upper quantile. The study recommends that by using energy-efficient technologies, better financial sector interaction with globalization enhances the environmental quality in SAARC countries.

Environmental quality, healthcare and research and development in Saudi Arabia

While global warming and climate change associated with increasing carbon dioxide are widely seen to be one of the most serious worldwide dangers to population health, little is known regarding "how" country alters the linkage between increasing CO2 emissions and population health outcomes. Current literature on the health effects of CO2 emissions recommends various factors that may establish a more robust link, including health expenditure and research and development. Therefore, the purpose of this inquiry is to examine the effectiveness of health expenditure and R&D in improving health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions. Using data for Saudi Arabia over the period 2000-2018, the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) technique shows that (i) health and R&D expenditures decrease infant mortality and increase life expectancy; (ii) health and R&D expenditures reduce CO2 emissions in all the estimated models; (iii) health and R&D expenditures can improve health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions; and (iv) health and R&D expenditures have both direct and indirect effect on health outcomes. Policy implications and limitations are also discussed.

Does government intervention affect CO2 emission reduction effect of producer service agglomeration? Empirical analysis based on spatial Durbin model and dynamic threshold model

Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality is an inherent requirement for countries to promote green recovery and transformation of the global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. As "a smoke-free industry," producer services agglomeration (PSA) may have significant impacts on CO2 emission reduction. Therefore, based on the nightlight data to calculate the CO2 emissions of 268 cities in China from 2005 to 2017, this study deeply explores the impact and transmission mechanism of PSA on CO2 emissions by constructing dynamic spatial Durbin model and intermediary effect model. Furthermore, the dynamic threshold model is used to analyze the nonlinear characteristics between PSA and CO2 emissions under different degrees of government intervention. The results reveal that: (1) Generally, China's CO2 emissions are path-dependent in the time dimension, showing a "snowball effect." PSA significantly inhibits CO2 emissions, but heterogeneous influences exist in different regions, time nodes, and sub-industries; (2) PSA can indirectly curb CO2 emissions through economies of scale, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrading. (3) The impact of PSA on China's CO2 emissions has an obvious double threshold effect under different degree of government intervention. Accordingly, the Chinese government should increase the support for producer services, dynamically adjust industrial policies, take a moderate intervention, and strengthen market-oriented reform to reduce CO2 emissions. This study opens up a new path for the low-carbon economic development and environmental sustainability, and also fills in the theoretical gaps on these issues. The findings and implications will offer instructive guideline for early achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Have international remittance inflows degraded environmental quality? A carbon emission mitigation analysis for Ghana

Despite the considerable contributions of remittances to households and economic advancements, their environmental implications have received little attention in empirical research. This study was, therefore, conducted to help fill that gap, using Ghana as an evidence. In achieving the above goal, robust econometric methods that control for endogeneity, heteroscedasticity and serial correlation among others, were engaged for the analysis. From the results, the studied variables were first-differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long run. The elasticities of the predictors were explored via the FMOLS, DOLS and CCR estimators, and from the results, remittance inflows worsened the ecological quality in Ghana through high CO2 emissions. Also, population growth and energy utilization were not friendly to the country's environment; however, technological innovations improved environmental quality in the nation via low CO2 effusions. The VECM was employed to examine the path of causalities amidst the series, and from the results, there were bidirectional causalities between remittance inflows and CO2 emissions and between population growth and CO2 emanations. Also, a causation from energy utilization to CO2 effluents was discovered; however, there was no causality between technological innovations and CO2 exudates in the country. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that, authorities should enact regulations to control the activities of polluting industries that are being financed by remittances. Also, households and individuals should minimize their use of remittances to finance carbon-intensive items, like automobiles and air-conditioners among others, that add to environmental pollution in the country.

China's 2060 carbon-neutrality agenda: the nexus between energy consumption and environmental quality

This study examined the nexus between energy consumption and environmental quality in light of China's 2060 carbon-neutrality agenda utilizing annual frequency data from 1971 to 2018. In order to obtain valid and reliable outcomes, more robust econometric techniques were employed for the analysis. From the results, all the variables were first differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long-run. The elastic effects of the predictors on the explained variable were explored through the ARDL, FMOLS, and the DOLS techniques, and from the discoveries, energy utilization worsened environmental quality in the country via more CO2 emissions. Also, industrialization and urbanization deteriorated the country's environmental quality; however, technological innovations improved ecological quality in the nation. On the causal connections between the variables, a unidirectional causality from energy consumption to CO2 effluents was discovered. Also, feedback causalities between industrialization and CO2 secretions, and between urbanization and CO2 exudates were disclosed. However, there was no causality between technological innovations and CO2 emanations. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that, since energy consumption pollutes the environment, the country should transition to the utilization of renewable energies. Also, the government should allocate more resources to the renewable energy sector. This will help increase the portion of clean energy in the country's total energy mix. Furthermore, research and development that are linked to the utilization of green energies should be supported by the government. Data constraints were the main limitation of this exploration. Therefore, in the future, if more data become available, similar explorations could be conducted to check the robustness of our study's outcomes.

Revisiting the environmental impact of financial development on economic growth and carbon emissions: evidence from South Asian economies

It is a global challenge to achieve sustainable economic growth by improving the environment. The present study discussed the role of the financial development sector in achieving sustainable economic growth and environmental quality in South Asian countries from 1990 to 2020 by controlling labour force participation, globalization, industrialization, and the education sector. A feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) panel data econometric technique has been used to check the relationship among the variables. The results show that financial development has a U-shaped relationship with carbon emissions and economic growth. Furthermore, labour force participation, industrialization, globalization, and educational school enrolment significantly increase CO₂ and economic growth. This study suggests that the governments of South Asian countries should take steps to increase economic growth. For this purpose, effective supervisory mechanisms of financial development through financial innovation, improving financial efficiency, maintaining financial stability, and reducing the environmental pollution.

The role of innovations and renewable energy consumption in reducing environmental degradation in OECD countries: an investigation for Innovation Claudia Curve

Rising economic growth in recent ages is the primary concern of most of the countries to enhance the living standard, but the ever-increasing production of economic activities consumes a lot of energy, which leads to a sharp increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Innovation may be a remedy that can help improve energy efficiency, obtain renewable energy, and promote economic growth, thereby protecting the quality of the environment. Therefore, this paper examines the role of innovation and renewable energy consumption in CO2 reduction in OECD countries from 2004 to 2019. By using the two-step system generalized of moment estimator, the results show that economic growth and innovation significantly increase carbon emissions, however the innovation Claudia Curve (ICC) is verified, and the environmental Kuznets curve does not exist. Foreign direct investment has a negative impact on carbon emissions, thus verifying the Pollution Hao hypothesis, whereas renewable energy also improves environmental quality, but the interaction between innovation and renewable energy consumption still increases carbon emissions. Financial development, industrialization, trade, and energy consumption have also been found to be harmful factors of environmental quality. Our findings have considerable policy implications for OECD countries on the improvement of innovation indicators and investment in renewable energy sources to rise environmental quality.

Impact of Environmental Quality on Health Outcomes in Saudi Arabia: Does Research and Development Matter?

Recent literature on the health impacts of CO₂ emissions suggests a variety of factors that may establish a more robust link. However, no previous study has explored the role of research and development (R&D) in explaining the nexus between CO₂ emissions and health outcomes. Using data for Saudi Arabia over the period 2000–2018, this paper investigates the ability of R&D (expenditures and environmentally related R&D) to reduce the incidence of emissions on population health outcomes, particularly infant mortality and life expectancy. We find (i) negative impacts of CO₂ emissions on health outcomes; (ii) R&D expenditures have a weak positive impact on health outcomes; (iii) additionally to their direct effects on health outcomes, R&D expenditures remarkably enhanced health outcomes through reducing per capita CO₂ emissions; (iv) R&D expenditures interact with CO₂ from electricity and heat production and from electricity and heat production to negatively influence health outcomes. Similarly, environmentally related R&D, measured by patents environmental-related technologies, interacts with per capita CO₂ emissions to negatively influence health outcomes. To address these negative impacts, we calculated the corresponding R&D thresholds. Policymakers in Saudi Arabia are therefore called to give more and more incentives for R&D to reduce emissions and then improve population health outcomes.

Exploring the existence of environmental Phillips curve in South Asian countries

Considering the economic activities that trigger alarming situations for the global atmosphere and ecology, this work probes the associations of unemployment (UNE), GDP, population growth (POP), renewable (REN), non-renewable energy use (ENE), and ecological footprints (EF) for South Asian countries. The annual data of 1991-2019 is analyzed for empirical results. This is the first study that employs panel as well as country-specific estimations for South Asian countries by utilizing the Pool mean group (PMG) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methods, respectively. The study also validates the environmental Phillips curve (EPC) for selected counties. The empirical evidence in all models confirms the positive effects of GDP, ENE, and POP on environmental dilapidation whereas REN and UNE reduce environmental deprivation. The findings confirm the presence of the EPC in South Asian countries. This work presents some important policy instruments for south Asian countries to reduce environmental pollution. In the efforts to improve air quality, these countries have increased unemployment. These nations have to raise the share of renewable energy to the total energy consumption. This will sustain their economies with an increasing employment ratio. At the same time, there is a need to revise the urban policies because the increasing population is also a contributing factor towards environmental degradation.

Pathways to Argentina's 2050 carbon-neutrality agenda: the roles of renewable energy transition and trade globalization

The government of Argentina has recently declared its objective of turning the nation carbon-neutral by 2050. Thus, it is essential to identify the relevant factors which can facilitate the attainment of this environmental development target. Against this backdrop, this study aims to evaluate the impacts of renewable electricity output, trade globalization, economic growth, financial development, urbanization, and technological innovation on sectoral carbon dioxide emissions in Argentina during the 1971-2014 period. The findings, overall, suggest that enhancing renewable electricity output share in the total electricity output figure of the nation helps to curb carbon dioxide emissions generated from Argentina's energy, manufacturing and industry, residential and commercial buildings, and transportation sectors. Contrarily, greater trade globalization is evidenced to boost carbon dioxide emissions in almost all the aforementioned economic sectors. Besides, the findings also validate the existence of the carbon dioxide emission-induced environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for all four sectors. In addition, financial development and urbanization are also evidenced to exert carbon dioxide emission-stimulating impacts, while technological innovation is witnessed to be necessary for curbing sector-based carbon dioxide emissions in Argentina. Accordingly, to decarbonize the economy, this study recommends the government of Argentina to adopt necessary policies for fostering renewable energy transition within the electricity sector, greening the trade globalization strategies, achieving environmentally sustainable economic growth, developing the financial sector by introducing green financial schemes, planning sustainable urbanization, and financing technological development-oriented projects.

Evaluating the Influences of Natural Resources and Ageing People on CO2 Emissions in G-11 Nations: Application of CS-ARDL Approach

Globalization as well as the ratio of ageing people in the group of 11 (G-11) countries has seen a rapid increase in recent years. Therefore, this study aims to provide effective policy recommendations for sustainable development goals 13, 8, and 7, for the G-11 countries. This work estimates the impact of natural resources and the ageing population on the emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in G-11 countries using panel data from 1990–2020. For empirical results, second-generation methods were applied. The Westerlund co-integration test that assesses co-integration confirms the firm association among the parameters, and the values of coefficient of the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach show that a 1% increase in the ageing population will lower the emissions of CO₂ by 13.41% among G-11 countries. Moreover, the findings show that there exists an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) among natural resources, globalization, economic growth, ageing people, and the emission of CO₂. Based on the findings, this work presents some important policy implications for achieving sustainable growth in the G-11 countries. These countries need to lower the amount of energy obtained from fossil fuels to improve air quality.