The role of environmental technologies, institutional quality, and globalization on environmental sustainability in European Union countries: new evidence from advanced panel data estimations

Environmental risk assessment for sustainable industrial urban development: The case of northern industrial zone of Pavlodar, Kazakhstan

This study assesses heavy metal (HM) contamination in soils of an urban industrial zone using statistical and spatial analysis methods. Concentrations of 12 key HMs, including Zn, Pb, Cu, and Ni, were measured using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), with values exceeding background levels several times in certain areas. Pollution indices such as the Pollution Load Index (PLI) and Total Pollution Indicator (Zc) revealed moderate to high contamination levels, with PLI values ranging from 1.05 to 3.38 and Zc values between 0.67 and 51.34. Health risk assessments indicated that the hazard quotients (HQ) exceeded safe thresholds in hotspots, highlighting potential risks. Spatial distribution maps identified industrial activities as the primary source of contamination. Specifically, according to the PLI, approximately 93.757% of the studied area is classified as moderately contaminated, while 0.702% is considered significantly contaminated. These findings provide a baseline for monitoring and mitigating soil pollution in industrial regions while offering insights for sustainable land management.

The key challenges and best alternatives to environmental sustainability: a comprehensive study

In the modern world, the globe has been trapped by severe challenges, and an abrupt increase in environmental deterioration (ED) is one of these. The practitioners have recently tried to suggest several green initiatives to combat rising environmental concerns, but the problem remains intact. Most economies have priorities to meet their socio-economic target, and practitioners are unaware of true challenges and best alternatives. This study makes an effort to introduce the true challenges (income, urbanization, and natural resources) and best alternative (renewable energy, information & communication technology (ICT), and circular economy) for carbon footprint in the top 28 waste re-cycled economies (WRE) throughout 2000-2021. In order to obtain robust outcomes, the present study uses the most reliable estimators, and the Q-GMM is the most prominent. The outcomes describe a positive role of income, urbanization, and natural resources in carbon footprint. On the other hand, ICT, renewable energy, and the circular economy decline ED. The renewable energy and circular economy mediating role on urbanization shows supportive behavior in sustainability but finds only a significant role of circular economy in sustainable urbanization. Using a quadratic income form, this study validates the EKC & LCC hypotheses for specified economies. On behalf of outcomes, this study suggests imperative implications to become clean & green shortly.

Spatio-temporal investigation of economic growth and environmental quality nexus in EU countries: New guidelines regarding green goods and eco-tax

The issue of environmental degradation has become pertinent and the call for carbon neutrality has intensified in recent years. Achieving this target will require countries to meet the conditions of the sustainable development goals. To do this, the study applied spatiotemporal modelling and the generalized method of moments (GMM) to examine the nexus between economic growth (EG) and the load capacity factor (LCF) through environmental goods (ENG) and environmental tax (ENT) among European Union (EU) nations from 1995 to 2018. The findings demonstrate that spatial dependence leads to a change in EG and LCF that impacts the EG and LCF of the neighbouring countries. The study also found that there is a significant positive and bidirectional relationship between economic growth and load capacity factor. Moreover, the study revealed that a positive effect of ENG, ENT, REN and Human Capital Index (HCI) on EG, with a reducing effect from natural resource rents (NRR). Finally, HCI improves environmental quality, while ENG, ENT, REN and NRR degrade the environment. Our findings justify the need for EU countries and other developed nations to implement policies that will help achieve a green economic transformation.

Asymmetric impact of patents on green technologies on Algeria's Ecological Future

This study examines how patents on green technologies impact Algeria's ecological footprint from 1990 to 2022 while controlling for economic growth and energy consumption. The objectives are to analyze the asymmetric effects of positive and negative shocks in these drivers on ecological footprint and provide policy insights on leveraging innovations and growth while minimizing environmental harm. Given recent major structural shifts in Algeria's economy, time series data exhibits nonlinear dynamics. To accommodate this nonlinearity, the study employs an innovative nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach. The findings indicate that an upsurge in green technologies (termed as a positive shock) significantly reduces the ecological footprint, thereby enhancing ecological sustainability. Interestingly, a decline in green technologies (termed as a negative shock) also contributes to reducing the ecological footprint. This highlights the crucial role of clean technologies in mitigating ecological damage in both scenarios. Conversely, a positive shock in economic growth increases ecological footprint, underscoring the imperative for environmentally friendly policies in tandem with economic expansion. Negative shocks, however, have minimal impact. In a similar vein, positive shock in energy consumption increases ecological footprint, underlining the importance of transitioning towards cleaner energy sources. Negative shock has a smaller but still noticeable effect. The results confirm asymmetric impacts, with positive and negative changes in the drivers affecting Algeria's ecological footprint differently. To ensure long-term economic and ecological stability, Algeria should prioritize eco-innovation and green technology development. This will reduce dependence on fossil fuels and create new, sustainable industries.