Socioeconomic and resource efficiency impacts of digital public services

Dynamic impact of demographic features, FDI, and technological innovations on ecological footprint: evidence from European emerging economies

Climate change effect mitigation is a critical priority for top leaders and communities around the globe. Human-induced environmental issues are affecting humankind's standard of living and development potential and the planetary boundaries. Sustainability objectives aim to enhance environmental quality and ensure sustainable development for all by eliminating social inequalities. This study examines the complex relationships between demographic features, foreign direct investment, technological innovation, and ecological footprint, emphasizing the relevance of population aging, population density, and urbanization in this context. The research uses a selection of emerging European economies during 1995-2018. The reasons for countries' selection are related to the increasing rate of population aging in European countries, the attractiveness for foreign direct investment, the economic growth, and the technological advancement potential these emerging countries possess. In order to investigate the long-run relationship between the selected variables, the study tests the cross-section dependence, homogeneity, and cointegration and uses Konya tests to determine panel causality. Based on Konya methodology, differences between countries in the panel are evidenced and discussed accordingly. Our findings confirm the long-run relationship between environment, technological innovation, population aging, and FDI. The results of this research are highly relevant for policymakers in selected countries for identifying the set of correlations and the relevance of various variables in such national economies. Demographic features such as population aging and population density are critical for Europe, and the results show the impact on the ecological footprint.

Achieving a blue economy through the circular initiatives: a path towards sustainable marine living resources

This paper empirically examines the role of circularity performance on the performance of marine living resources to prove its role in promoting a sustainable blue economy. We use five different metrics to quantify the marine living resources of nations in the European regions, including the value added at the factor costs of small-scale capture fisheries, shellfish aquaculture, freshwater aquaculture, marine aquaculture, and large-scale capture fisheries. By using various econometric techniques, we provide evidence of the importance of circularity performance in improving the sustainability of the blue economy in the European region during the 2009-2020 period. However, it is more likely that this effect is only positive in the long term. In the long run, circularity performance affects many marine living resource components in a statistically meaningful way.

Scrutinizing the nexus between green innovations and the sustainability of environmental system: novel insights from European database

A study is presented in this paper that examines the effect of environmental innovation (EI) on environmental performance (EP). Six measures are used to reflect environmental innovation, including the percentage of enterprises that invest in environmental innovation, the percentage of enterprises implementing environmental innovation activities, the number of ISO 14001 certificates, patents related to environmental innovation, the total R&D personnel and researchers, and the amount of green early-stage investments. The estimation results show that EI positively impacts EP in 21 European countries using different econometric techniques during the 2011-2019 period. By using various econometric techniques (namely a panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) model, a feasible generalized least square estimates (FGLS) model, and the two-step general method of moment (the two-step GMM), our research demonstrates how environmental innovation impacts on environmental quality. The short- and long-term effects of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methods were also investigated using pooled mean groups (PMGs) to distinguish the short-run and long-run influences of EI. The relationship between EI and EP is explored by demonstrating how EI affects EP short- and long-term and comparing its influence on EP across many component measures of EI: air quality, sanitation, drinking water, heavy metals, waste management, biodiversity, habitat, ecosystem services, water resources, and agriculture. Notably, we find that the influences of EI become more pronounced in a country characterized by a well-developed institutional system. Our findings suggest policy implications to help countries invest in research and development with concerns about environmental damage mitigations more effectively. These findings are critical to suggest a way to help countries pursue ecological sustainability.

What are the impacts of economic complexity and product proximity on nations' circularity? An empirical approach using statistical analysis

The topic of whether economic complexity or close proximity to a product produces favorable conditions to aid nations in transitioning to the circular economy is addressed in this article. Six distinct indicators are used to assess the performance of circularity. The amount of municipal garbage, the amount of circular materials utilized, the number of circularity patents, the rate of recycling waste, the rate of recycling biowaste, and the rate of recycling electronic waste are some examples of these metrics. By using various econometric techniques (namely, a panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) model, a feasible generalized least square estimate (FGLS) model, and the two-step general method of moment (the two-step GMM), our research demonstrates how economic complexity and close proximity to a product have varied nonlinear impacts on circularity. We do, however, offer empirical proof that, particularly over the long term, a country's closeness to its products may significantly improve its performance in terms of circularity. Although economic complexity is a crucial enabler of circularity, it may also become too complicated, which could impede the process.

Is environmental tax an enabler of circularity: new insights from the unique database

This paper provides answers to the question that the environmental tax enables the circular economy. By employing six diverse measures to reflect circularity (namely the amount of municipal waste, the number of circularity patents, the amount of circular material used, the rate of recycling waste, the rate of recycling biowaste, and the rate of recycling e-waste) and four measures of environmental tax (namely total environmental tax revenue, energy tax revenue, pollution and resource tax revenue, and transportation tax revenue) of European countries, our article provided a comprehensive analysis of the nexus between environmental tax and circularity performance. A panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) model and a feasible generalized least square estimates (FGLS) model are employed to study this association, while the dynamic fixed effects (DFE) estimator is applied to the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method to measure both the short-run and long-run effects. Our study reveals the heterogeneous effects of an environmental tax on circularity. Taxing on the energy sector, the polluted sector, and transportation stimulate the process of circularity. Notably, our estimation results reveal that environmental tax can enable European countries to transit to a circular economy, especially in the long term. Our findings are critical for economists and policymakers in using the tax as an effective tool to promote a country's circularity performance.

Impacts of digitalization on energy security: evidence from European countries

We are the first to empirically analyze the nexus of digital transformation and energy security (ES). This paper utilizes six indicators to reflect three aspects of ES, including acceptability, develop-ability, and sustainability. Applying the panel-corrected standard errors (PCSEs) and the feasible generalized least square estimates (FGLS) model to the international sample of 27 European countries over 2015 to 2019, this research reveals exciting findings. First, a promotion in digital transformation causes a significantly positive effect on the acceptability and sustainability of ES but a negative impact on develop-ability of ES. Second, the ES positively affects the digital transformation, especially the digital transformation in the business and public sectors. Third, results obtained from the dynamic fixed effects (DFEs) estimator for the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method suggest that setting ES goals toward reducing energy consumption and pollution emission promotes the digital transformation process in the business sector of countries in the short run, while the promotion of renewable energy consumption helps countries enhance the digitalization process in the long run. Notably, digitalization is beneficial for sustainable economic development, reflected by a rise in non-fossil and renewable energy consumption and a diminish in CO2 emission, especially in the long run. Fourth, there is a nonlinear effect of the online transaction and digital public services on the acceptability, develop-ability, and sustainability of ES. In a similar spirit, the digital transformation is also accelerated more quickly if the efficiency of the energy system reaches a certain point.