Caring for the environment: How human capital, natural resources, and economic growth interact with environmental degradation in Pakistan? A dynamic ARDL approach

Unleashing sustainability in uncertain times: Can we leverage economic complexity, uncertainty, and remittances to combat environmental degradation?

Rapid economic growth and human activities have seriously damaged the environment and hindered the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hence, this study aims to explore the impact of economic complexity, uncertainty, and remittance on environmental degradation in 134 countries from 2000 to 2022. In addition, it examines whether uncertainty moderates the relationship between remittance and environmental degradation. Two proxies (ecological footprint and CO2) were used to measure environmental degradation. The analysis was conducted using a cross-sectional dependency test, second-generation unit root test, and panel quantile regression. The results revealed that economic complexity significantly and positively impacted environmental degradation, while uncertainty and remittance significantly and negatively impacted environmental degradation. Furthermore, uncertainty weakened the negative relationship between remittance and environmental degradation. Accordingly, this paper discusses various recommendations and policy implications regarding economic complexity, uncertainty, remittance, and environmental degradation.

Labor market segmentation and the gender wage gap: Evidence from China

Although the Chinese government has implemented a variety of measures, the gender wage gap in 21st century China has not decreased. A significant body of literature has studied this phenomenon using sector segmentation theory, but these studies have overlooked the importance of the collective economy beyond the public and private sectors. Moreover, they have lacked assessment of the gender wage gap across different wage groups, hindering an accurate estimation of the gender wage gap in China, and the formulation of appropriate recommendations. Utilizing micro-level data from 2004, 2008, and 2013, this paper examines trends in the gender wage gap within the public sector, private sector, and collective economy. Employing a selection bias correction based on the multinomial logit model, this study finds that the gender wage gap is smallest and most stable within the public sector. Furthermore, the private sector surpasses the collective economy in this period, becoming the sector with the largest gender wage gap. Meanwhile, a recentered influence function regression reveals a substantial gender wage gap among the low-wage population in all three sectors, as well as among the high-wage population in the private sector. Additionally, employing Brown wage decomposition, this study concludes that inter-sector, rather than intra-sector, differences account for the largest share of the gender wage gap, with gender discrimination in certain sectors identified as the primary cause. Finally, this paper provides policy recommendations aimed at addressing the gender wage gap among low-wage groups and within the private sector.

Sustainable development of environmental protection talents training: Research on the behavior decision of government, university and enterprise under the background of evolutionary game

Environmental protection talents training (EPTT) is recognized as a key prerequisite for maintaining environmental sustainability, and in order to study the influence of each player on EPTT. This paper innovatively constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model of government, university and enterprise. The equilibrium points and evolutionary stabilization strategies of each participant are solved by replicating the dynamic equations, and the behaviors of each subject in EPTT are analyzed so as to clarify the behavioral characteristics and optimal strategies of the government's participation in EPTT. The results show that enterprises occupy a more important position in influencing government decisions. The government should reduce the financial incentives for enterprises and replace them with greater policy support. Meanwhile, the government should actively promote the cultivation mechanism that integrates universities and enterprises. The results of the study can provide a decision-making basis for the government to promote the sustainable development of EPTT.

Examination of the factors contributing to environmental degradation: does LPG consumption still matter?

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is one of the energy resources that deserve to be qualified as a transition fuel for developing countries that cannot abandon their dependence on non-renewable energy use and adopt renewable alternatives. The current study examines how environmental degradation is affected by financial development, LPG use, and economic growth in the BRICS-T countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Turkiye) in the period of 1993-2018. For this purpose, four models were tested with Pedroni, Kao, PMG Panel ARDL cointegration and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality methods. The results show that LPG consumption has a positive effect on the ecological footprint and an adverse influence on the CO2 emission of BRICS - T countries. The financial institutions exhibited to have a positive and significant impact on ecology. Economic growth displayed negative effects on environmental degradation and a positive influence on CO2. Additionally, there is significant evidence for the validity of the EKC hypothesis. Unidirectional causality exists between ecological footprint, LPG, financial market, and economic growth. The financial institution index shows bidirectional causality with the ecological footprint. There is also unidirectional causality between ecological footprint, LPG, financial market, and economic growth. Furthermore, the financial institutions' index shows a bidirectional causality with the ecological footprint. Also, economic development and financial institution index have a bidirectional relationship with CO2 emissions. On the other hand, the financial market index showed unidirectional causality with CO2 emissions. In short, our study highlights the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to sustainable development in BRICS - T countries. Policymakers must balance economic growth with environmental protection and consider the potential trade-offs between policy options to promote sustainable and inclusive development.

Effectiveness of energy depletion, green growth, and technological cooperation grants on CO2 emissions in Pakistan's perspective

According to Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Pakistan proposed to set a very ambitious conditional objective of an overall 50 % reduction in anticipated emissions by 2030, with 15 % coming from domestic resources and 35 % contingent on international grant financing, which would entail USD 101 billion just for the energy transition. Due to this consideration, the current study examines the impact of energy depletion, green growth, technological cooperation grants, and labor force on CO2 emissions in Pakistan for 1990 to 2020. This research used the STIRPAT framework and novel dynamic ARDL techniques. Additionally, a robustness check is also carried out using Kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) and the Granger causality approach is utilized to establish cause-effect relationships. The findings indicate that energy depletion leads to environmental contamination in the long run. In contrast, Green growth is reducing environmental contaminations in the long run. Furthermore, we found that technological cooperation grants also decline environmental contamination in the short run. Likewise, the Labor force dwindles CO2 emissions in the long run. According to Granger causality, there is bidirectional causality between GG↔CO2, and TCG ↔CO2, while there is one-way causality between END→CO2 and CO → LF. The findings show that policymakers should emphasize on the transition to green growth with extensive investment in technological innovations, so the country can achieve its CO2 reduction targets.

Evaluating the impact of technological innovation and energy efficiency on load capacity factor: empirical analysis of India

The determinants of environmental degradation have been investigated many times by utilizing carbon dioxide emissions and/or ecological footprint. However, these traditional environmental degradation indicators do not consider the supply side of environmental problems. Therefore, this study focuses on the dynamic influence of financial development, energy efficiency, economic growth, and technological innovation on environmental degradation in India through the load capacity factor, including both the supply and demand sides of environmental problems. For that purpose, the recently developed dynamically simulated autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method is employed using the annual time-series data extending from 1980-2020. The dynamically simulated ARDL results demonstrate that financial development, economic growth, and technological innovation have a dynamic adverse impact on the load capacity factor, whereas energy efficiency has a positive dynamic influence on environmental quality. In addition, the results support the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis as the negative effect of economic growth on environmental quality decreases over time. Based on the study findings, policy recommendations are provided for India. Finally, this study utilizing load capacity factor as an indicator for environmental quality will provide new topics in exploring the determinants of environmental degradation.

The effect of financial development on environmental quality: a developing country evidence

Financial development is vital to enhance the inclusive growth of a country in the modern world, and environmental quality, affected by financial development, is also a highly debated topic. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the role of financial development in determining environmental quality in Sri Lanka considering other variables namely economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, and foreign direct investments. The key econometric tool used for the purpose is the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach with the data from 1992 to 2021. As per the findings, financial development, economic growth, energy consumption, and foreign direct investments adversely impact environmental quality both in the long-run and short-run. Additionally, trade openness established a negative impact in the short-run only. Importantly, the Environmental Kuznets' Curve (EKC) hypothesis and Pollution Haven Hypothesis are established. Finally, all variables except trade openness confirmed a unidirectional causal relationship with environmental quality. This study recommends that all the modelled variables are vital to enrich the environmental quality in Sri Lanka.

COVID-19 resilience index in European Union countries based on their risk and readiness scale

Addressing risks and pandemics at a country level is a complex task that requires transdisciplinary approaches. The paper aims to identify groups of the European Union countries characterized by a similar COVID-19 Resilience Index (CRI). Developed in the paper CRI index reflects the countries' COVID-19 risk and their readiness for a crisis situation, including a pandemic. Moreover, the study detects the factors that significantly differentiate the distinguished groups. According to our research, Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta, and Poland have the lowest COVID-19 Resilience Index score, with Croatia, Greece, Czechia, and Slovakia following close. At the same time, Ireland and Scandinavian countries occupy the top of the leader board, followed by Luxemburg. The Kruskal-Wallis test results indicate four COVID-19 risk indicators that significantly differentiate the countries in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the significant factors are not only COVID-19-related factors, i.e., the changes in residential human mobility, the stringency of anti-COVID-19 policy, but also strictly environmental factors, namely pollution and material footprint. It indicates that the most critical global environmental issues might be crucial in the phase of a future pandemic. Moreover, we detect eight readiness factors that significantly differentiate the analysed country groups. Among the significant factors are the economic indicators such as GDP per capita and labour markets, the governance indicators such as Rule of Law, Access to Information, Implementation and Adaptability measures, and social indicators such as Tertiary Attainment and Research, Innovation, and Infrastructure.

Exploring the nonlinear relationship among financial development, human capital and CO2 emissions: a comparative study of South and East Asian emerging economies

Despite worldwide commitments to reduce fossil fuel consumption in favour of alternative energies, several countries still rely on carbon-intensive sources to meet their energy demands. The previous studies show inconsistent results on the association between financial development and CO2 emissions. As a result, the impact of financial development, human capital, economic growth and energy efficiency on CO2 emission is evaluated here. Empirical research on a panel of 13 South and East Asian (SEA) nations between 1995 and 2021 using the CS-ARDL. Estimates from the empirical analysis considering energy efficiency, human capital, economic growth and overall energy use yield different findings. Financial development has a negative effect on CO2 emission, while economic growth positively impacts CO2 emission. The data also show that improving human capital and energy efficiency has a positive, though statistically insignificant, impact on CO2 emission. According to the causes and effects analysis, CO2 emission will be influenced by policies that aim to improve financial development, human capital, and energy efficiency, but not vice versa. Policy considerations that can be implemented in light of these findings and sustainable development goals can be accomplished by promoting financial resources and human capital.

Exploring the impact of natural resources and energy transition on CO2 intensity in China

As reported at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), worsening climate situation has led to frequent extreme weather events around the world. The main cause of climate change is carbon emissions from human activities. While realizing rapid economic development, China has become the world's largest energy consumer and carbon emitter. To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, it should reasonably use natural resources (NR) and promote energy transition (ET). In this study based on panel data on 30 Chinese provinces from 2004 to 2020, second generation panel unit root tests were performed after validating slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependency. Mean group (MG) estimation and error correction model were used to empirically test the impact of natural resources and energy transition on CO2 intensity (CI). The results show that natural resources exerted adverse effects on CI, whereas ET, economic growth and technological innovation were beneficial to CI. Analysis of heterogeneity indicates that natural resources exerted the greatest impact on CI in central China, followed by west China. Its impact in east China was positive but did not pass significance test. West China achieved the best result in carbon reduction through ET, followed by central China and east China. The robustness of the results was checked with augmented mean group (AMG) estimation. Our policy suggestions are to urge reasonable development and utilization of natural resources, accelerate ET to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, and implement differentiated policies on natural resources and ET based on regional characteristics.

Exploring the effect of human capital on carbon emissions: evidences from 125 countries

Human capital (HC) plays a crucial role in economic growth, and also has a considerable effect on environmental performance, including carbon emissions (CEs). Existing studies have drawn inconsistent conclusions on whether and how HC affects CEs, and most of them conduct case studies of a certain country or several countries with similar economic backgrounds. In order to accurately determine the effect and the influence mechanism of HC on CEs, this research conducted an empirical study by applying econometric method and the panel data of 125 countries over the period 2000-2019. The empirical results indicate that there is an inverted U-shaped nexus between HC and CEs of full sample countries, revealing that HC will increase CEs before turning point and decrease CEs after turning point. From a heterogeneity perspective, this inverted U-shaped nexus only exists in high and upper-middle income countries, while is not supported in low and lower-middle income countries. This study further disclosed that HC can affect CEs by the mediating effects of labor productivity, energy intensity, and industrial structure from a macro perspective. Specifically, HC will increase CEs by promoting labor productivity, while decrease CEs by reducing energy intensity and the proportion of secondary industry. These results can provide important references for governments of different countries to make tailored carbon reduction policies according to the mitigation effect of HC on CEs.

Beyond the Arena: How sports economics is advancing China's sustainable development goals

In recent years, China has made tremendous progress. The general quality of living of the population has risen. As the China economy grows, so too will the middle class, laying the groundwork for the expansion of the sports business. At the same time, reaching a certain level of success in the sports sector would benefit the economy. In some Western developed nations, for instance, the sports industry's economic impact has already surpassed that of the traditional economy. The economy has reached a new plateau because of it. The sports business in China has matured to a certain extent, but it is still in its infancy. The growth of the sports business has not been without its share of challenges. In this paper, we focus on how the sports sector in China contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. To begin, the foreign sports industry's growth process, development status, influencing factors, and existing issues were compared and analyzed in order to gain insight into its conditions, characteristics, and contribution to economic growth. This research also explores the role of the sports industry from 1990 to 2020. This study considers the determinants of carbon emission (CO2): GDP per capita, technological development, social globalization, energy consumption, and the sports industry. The study employs the unit root test, ARDL bound test, AARDL estimation, NARDL test, and MTNARDL test to check the outcomes of variables in this analysis. The effect of GDP per capita, technological development, social globalization, energy consumption, and the sports industry has a positive and negative impact on carbon emission (CO2) in China. In terms of outcomes, this study suggests how a country can maximize green economic growth.

Role of environmentally related technologies and revenue taxes in environmental degradation in OECD countries

The purpose of this study is to validate the impact of foreign direct investment inflows (FDI inflows), trade openness (TO), environmentally related technologies (ERTs), environmentally related tax revenues (ERTRs), and economic growth (EG) on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by employing a PMG (pooled mean group) estimator with a dataset of 36 OECD countries spanning from 1990 to 2020. Im-Pesaran-Shin, Fisher-type, and cross-sectional augmented Dicky-Fuller tests indicate that study variables are stationary at I (0) and I (I). Kao and Pedroni cointegration test results show that cointegration exists across regressors and regressands throughout the sample of OECD countries. The results of the Hausman test confirm that the PMG panel ARDL method can be employed. Empirical results of PMG demonstrate that ERTRs help to reduce CO₂ emissions, while FDI inflows, TO, ERTs, and EG are significant and positively related to environmental degradation. This study is an effort to fill the gap by exploring the role of ERTs and ERTRs in environmental degradation in selected OECD countries. The study findings support the relationship between CO₂ emissions, ERTs, and ERTRs. It has been determined that environmental technologies and revenue taxes are also drivers of environmental sustainability. The study provides policymakers with pertinent implications for promoting the development and adoption of green technologies. The findings suggest that imposing environmental taxes expedites the development of environmentally related technologies for reducing CO₂ emissions and promoting sustainable development in OECD countries, with potential applications in a wide range of countries, particularly as a basis for emerging countries to boost their energy transition timelines.

The impact of hydro-biofuel-wind-solar energy consumption and coal consumption on carbon emission in G20 countries

Globally, as a renewable source of energy, biofuel, wind, solar, and hydro energy have been increasingly valued by a range of businesses. There is no denying the advantages of using renewable energy in terms of preventing climate change and protecting the environment. Therefore, this article investigates the relationship among hydro, solar, biofuel, wind, coal consumption, and CO₂ emissions in 19 G20 member countries between 2000 and 2019. The results of dynamic fixed effects and the system-generalized method of moments suggest that solar energy and biofuel usage have a negative and statistically significant influence on carbon emissions. On the other hand, the impact of wind energy consumption on carbon dioxide emissions is positive and statistically significant. However, hydro energy consumption is statistically insignificant. The significance of this study is to include wind energy, solar energy, and hydro energy as new indicators for a group of 19 G20 member countries. Furthermore, this research paper also includes coal consumption in the existing model to confirm that CO2 emissions may rise if more coal is consumed. Growing the solar-hydro-biofuel-wind industry can reduce nonrenewable energy consumption and has tremendous potential to diminish carbon dioxide emissions.

Impact of green technological innovations on environmental quality for Turkey: evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulation model

The contribution of this research is to provide empirical evidence that investing in green technology innovation (GTI) can reduce the ecological footprint in Turkey, which can lead to sustainable economic growth and environmental quality. The research also highlights the importance of controlling energy consumption, GDP, trade openness, and urbanization, as these variables have a positive or negative effect on ecological footprint. The findings of this research can be useful for the Turkish government, policymakers, and environmentalists to promote the implementation of GTI and eco-friendly resources, which can reduce the impact of climate change and contribute to economic prosperity. Overall, this research provides important information for decision-makers to adopt policies that prioritize green innovation and environmental protection in Turkey.

How institutional quality and renewable energy interact with ecological footprints: do the human capital and economic complexity matter in the Next Eleven nations?

Changes in the economy and human conduct have contributed to one of today's most urgent challenges: environmental pollution. This study's overarching objective is to evaluate the following Next Eleven nations (N-11) ecological footprints (EF) with their natural resources (NR), economic complexity (EC), renewable energy (RE), and foreign direct investment (FDI). The data from 1995 to 2018 are used with the panel data estimations. The complexity of an economy is found to influence the EF. For this purpose, the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag method is appropriate. The analysis shows that a higher degree of economic complexity was associated with a larger ecological impact. Moreover, this correlation was the highest among all the variables considered. However, the consumption of natural resources and the economies' complexity enhance environmental conditions. The key recommendation from the study's conclusions is to improve R&D activities to build environmentally friendly technology and clean energy infrastructures and to change to a clean industry pattern. Meanwhile, strategic initiatives are offered to legislators depending on the stability of institutional quality.

Ecological footprint in a global perspective: the role of domestic investment, FDI, democracy and institutional quality

Purpose

The continuous increase in the negative gap between biocapacity and ecological footprint has remained globally persistent since early 1970. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of foreign capital, domestic capital formation, institutional quality and democracy on ecological footprint within a global panel of 101 countries from 1995 to 2017.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical procedure is based on data mix. To this end, this study uses a battery of testing and estimation approaches both conventional (no cross-sectional dependence [CD]) and novel approaches (accounting for CD). Among the battery of estimation techniques used, there are the dynamic ordinary least square, the mean group, the common correlation effect mean group technique, the augmented mean group technique, the Pooled mean group and the dynamic common correlation effect technique with the desire to obtain outcomes robust to heteroskedasticity, endogeneity, cross-correlation and CD among others.

Findings

The estimated outcomes indicate that using different estimators’ domestic capital formation consistently degrades the environment through an increase in ecological footprint, while institutional quality consistently enhances the quality of the environment. Further, the outcome reveals that, though foreign capital inflow degrades the environment, the time period is essential, as it shows a short-run environmental improvement and a long-run environmental degradation. Democratic activities show a mixed outcome with short-run degrading effect and a long-run enhancement effect on environmental quality.

Practical implications

Green investment should be the policy target of all economies, and these policies should be adopted to target both domestic capital and foreign capital alike. Second, the adoption of democratic practices will produce good leaders that will not just design short-term policies to blindfold the populace temporary but those that will produce long-term-oriented practices that will better and enhance the quality of the environment through the reduction of the global footprint. Equally, enhancing the institutional framework like respect for the rule of law in matters of abatement should be encouraged.

Originality/value

Although much research on the role of macroeconomic indicators on environmental quality has been done this far, democratic practices, intuitional quality and domestic capital have been given little attention. This research fills this gap by considering robust empirical techniques.

The nexus between natural resources, renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emission in BRI countries

This study investigates the nexus between natural resources, renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emission in 35 belt and road initiative (BRI) countries from 1985 to 2019. By employing OLS, fixed effect, generalized method of moments, and seemingly unrelated regression models, the results show that carbon dioxide and renewable energy are the driver factors of economic growth while natural resources reduce economic growth. The effect of economic growth and natural resources on carbon dioxide is positive; however, renewable energy consumption significantly reduces carbon emission. Economic growth rise renewable energy consumption while carbon dioxide and natural resources reduce it. The findings of this study have considerable policy implications for the belt and road countries that how natural resources and income inequality influence the interlinkage of renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emission.

The impact of foreign direct investment, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, and natural resources on ecological footprint: an Indian perspective

Purpose

Globally, India ranks third in greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. Decarbonizing India's economy would necessitate significant changes in how the country generates energy, manufactures things, delivers services and manages natural resources. Recently, scholars from different parts of the world have used various indicators like carbon and methane emissions to investigate potential solutions to the global warming problem that has resulted in climate change. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, in addition to economic growth, trade openness, and natural resources on ecological footprint.

Design/methodology/approach

Using India's yearly data from 1990 to 2016, this research investigates the impact of direct foreign investment (FDI), trade (TA) and natural resources (NR) on the ecological footprint (EF) within the framework of economic growth (GDP), renewable (RE) and non-renewable (NRE) energy consumption. The Zivot–Andrews unit root approach was used to examine the structural breaks in data series and the presence of stationary. An auto regressive distributive lag model was used to investigate the presence of long-run and short-run dynamic relationships among the variables.

Findings

The empirical findings demonstrate that FDI, RE and GDP have a negative and substantial impact on EF in the long term; in contrast, NRE and TA are significant and positive. The Granger causality test indicates that feedback transmission was observed between NR and EF and TA and EF. One-way causation passed from GDP to FDI and NR; TA to FDI and RE.

Originality/value

Indian Government and authorities should push for an eco-friendly manufacturing process and technology adaptation to improve environmental quality.

The ecological impact assessment of globalization dimensions and human capital: a dynamic approach in the case of selected fossil fuel-rich countries

The aggravation of climatic damage, the rise in pollution, and global warming have prompted investigation of factors leading to the increase in human demand on natural resources. Numerous studies have dealt with the connections linking human action with the environmental impact, but this research field remains insufficiently documented. Human resources constitute the center of decision to reduce the ecological footprint, but studies on the impact of human capital and the social and human dimension of globalization on environmental sustainability have been insufficiently analyzed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to verify the capacity of human capital and the social dimension of globalization in addition to its political and economic ones to mitigate environmental degradation. The study referred to the FMOLS, DOLS, and PMG-ARDL methods applied to 13 fossil fuel-rich countries spanning the period 1992-2017 and applied a set of robustness tests based on the cross-section dependence test, unit root tests, and Johansen combined test. The findings, based on FMOLS and DOLS techniques, demonstrate that human capital exerts positive long-term influence upon ecological footprint in the case of fossil fuel-rich countries. Globalization does not significantly impact ecological footprint: only political globalization is able to decrease deterioration in the environment, and neither economic nor social globalizations have an effect. When applying the PMG-ARDL approach, the results supported those derived from FMOLS and DOLS methods and revealed that human capital positively affects ecological footprint in the long term but without significant short-term effects. Our results also showed that globalization is beneficial for high-income countries and harmful for middle-income countries in terms of mitigating environmental degradation. So, the reduction of the ecological footprint in the fossil fuel-rich economies remains dependent on the actions taken by political decision-makers at the international level and on the awareness of human capital of the urgency of mitigating environmental degradation. A set of recommendations in favor of environmental sustainability, in particular those relating to human action and which can serve decision-makers, were formulated in this study.

Analysing associations between digitalization and the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainability is a very complex concept made up of a multitude of interacting aspects that do not necessarily work synergistically with each other. The consequential outcome of cross-cutting drivers, such as digitalisation, is often difficult to assess, as the achievement of certain targets may also inadvertently hinder progress towards others. This investigation describes a comprehensive and systematic country-based analysis of statistical associations between digitalization and sustainability indicators operating at three different levels (i.e., index, goal and indicators). Results showed strong correlations between the composite indices for digitalization (IDI Development Index), sustainability (SDG Index from) and economic growth (GCI and GDP). However, the analysis of lower-level indicators provides a more ambiguous picture, with 2 of the sustainability goals and 22 % of the sustainability indicators included in the SDG Index showing negative associations with digitalisation. It appears that while synergies are generated in aspects related to economic and social sustainability, trade-offs occur in areas related to environmental protection such as climate change, depletion of natural resources and waste generation due to their negative associations with existing economic development models. These structural obstacles need to be acknowledged and adequately managed in order to ensuring harmonious and integral progress towards effective sustainability.

How ICT and globalization interact with the environment: a case of the Chinese economy

An era of rapid changes in the technological and economic aspects of developing and developed countries can have detrimental extortions on the environment around the world. From the perspective of globalization, the rapid development and growth can reroute to enhance the interaction between people, organizations, and countries across the globe including China through the usage of information and communication technology which in turn contributes to the economic growth of one side, whereas on the other side, it affects the environmental quality. Referring to this aspect, this study is focused to inspect the link between information and communication technology, and globalization with the facets of degradation in the environment that as CO₂ emission and ecological footprint by keeping the view of economic growth prospects as well via using the EKC hypothesis. In our study, time-series data was employed from 1987 to 2020 for China using the Dynamic ARDL approach. Grounded on the findings of the study, economic growth from the sight of GDP fallouts in rising the emission of CO₂ and EFP in the short and long run whereas GDP sqr cause decrease in the CO₂ emission and EFP. Thus, this authorizes the presence of inverted U-shaped existence among GDP sqr, CO₂ emission, and EFP. Therefore, this provides provision for the EKC hypothesis in China. Furthermore, ICT and globalization cause a decline in the emission of CO₂ and EFP in the short and long run respectively. In combatting challenges linked to the environment, globalization, as well as ICT, is seen as a crucial factor based on the pieces of evidence in our study while the policy implications are also proposed in the paper.

An empirical investigation of the relationships between nuclear energy, economic growth, trade openness, fossil fuels, and carbon emissions in France: fresh evidence using asymmetric cointegration

The intention behind the current analysis is to join the debate over the main factors to consider in the global fight against climate change. Thereby, the Non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) approach is applied to assess the impacts of nuclear energy, fossil fuels, income, and trade on carbon emissions in France from 1980 to 2020. In addition, the relevance of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) presumption is tested. The main results stipulate that nuclear energy lessens CO₂ emissions in France. However, fossil fuels and trade openness enhance these emissions. On the other hand, the current analysis confirms the presence of an inverted U-shaped curve relating economic growth to carbon emissions. Therefore, the EKC hypothesis is supported in our case. Indeed, by calculating the turning point, it is possible to extract the turning year corresponding to 2008. Furthermore, an asymmetric causality test is performed in order to identify the possible non-linear causal links between the potential drivers of carbon emissions. First, the causal linkage between CO₂ emissions and GDP is bidirectional. Furthermore, a unidirectional causal link between CO₂ emissions and non-renewable energies and a dual directional causal link between pollutant emissions and trade are identified. These empirical results are intended to guide the French government in the implementation of relevant energy and trade-related strategies in order to attain the ambitious targets of carbon emissions reduction. In fact, France should reduce imports of fossil fuels to curtail the positive effect of trade on carbon emissions. In addition, it is recommended to substitute fossil energies with renewable energies gradually by using adequate instruments and boosting research and innovation to mitigate the adverse influences of non-renewable energies on environmental quality. Finally, our findings confirm the positive role played by nuclear energy in the fight against climate change.

Does political risk undermine environment and economic development in Pakistan? Empirical evidence from China–Pakistan economic corridor

China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) invests \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\text{US}}\$ 62$$\end{document}US$62 billion in Pakistan’s energy, infrastructure, and other development projects to step toward Eurasia’s economic integration. However, CPEC may exacerbate climate change vulnerabilities for Pakistan’s struggling economy due to potential environmental hazards and consequences. In this context, the current study seeks to examine the impact of political risk on carbon emissions and economic growth in Pakistan while also considering the relevance of trade openness, Chinese outward Foreign Direct Investment \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\text{FDI})$$\end{document}(FDI), and One Belt One Road \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\left( \text{OBOR} \right)$$\end{document}OBOR policy. To investigate this impact, we use the autoregressive distributed lag technique to cointegration and the fully modified ordinary least squares estimator for robustness results, using data spanning \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$2000\,\, {\text{to }}\,\,2020$$\end{document}2000to2020. Our empirical findings reveal that trade openness, FDI, and OBOR policy contribute to pollution and economic growth, but political stability slows the rate of environmental deterioration and increases economic growth. Furthermore, the existence of robust political stability mitigates the negative impacts of FDI and trade openness on the environment, while strong political stability aids the positive effects of FDI and trade openness on economic growth. Also, the findings confirmed that a better political environment promotes economic development while simultaneously lowering carbon emissions. Our results may assist the Government of Pakistan in transforming \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\text{CPEC}$$\end{document}CPEC into a model green \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\text{OBOR}$$\end{document}OBOR initiative in the region.

Impact of urban innovation ability on industrial pollution governance in Chinese cities: taking the Yangtze River Economic Belt as an example

This paper uses spatial measurement method, by selecting panel data from a total of 106 cities in 11 provinces and municipalities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2018, to conduct an empirical study on the impact mechanism of urban innovation ability on industrial pollution governance. The results show that there is a significant negative correlation between urban innovation ability and the degree of industrial pollution, and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt have a significant spatial connection. Specifically, this paper finds that urban innovation ability can have a positive impact on urban industrial pollution governance through industrial selection, production technology innovation, pollution discharge technology innovation, and environmental pollution treatment, which will help cities reduce industrial pollution; The industrial pollution governance level of individual cities is not only affected by the innovation ability of the city, but also by the innovation spillover of the surrounding cities. Area surrounded by cities with high urban innovation ability will benefit from the spillover of the surrounding cities. The industrial pollution governance level of individual cities is not only affected by the innovation ability of the city, but also by the innovation spillover of the surrounding cities. Areas surrounded by cities with high urban innovation ability will benefit from the spillover of the surrounding cities, thus improving the industrial pollution control and regional ecological environment. Based on this, this paper proposes relevant policy recommendations for urban industrial pollution governance from the perspective of improving urban innovation ability.

Transition to a low-CO2 emissions economy: China government policy for early-stage green finance

The popularity of green economy as an innovative technique and financial mechanism has soared as a result of this exchange, the gross domestic product (GDP); transition economy (TE); CO₂ emissions; human capital (HC); Government Fund Strategy (GFS); green finance (GF) play a very important role. When it comes to advancing genetic civilization, China's achievements in the field of green money have become firm proof of the country's progress. China has come to terms with the fact that it cannot continue on its current path of promoting monetary development at the expense of the environment, both for its own people and for the sake of the global community. The country has prioritized environmental concerns over equality with others through economic, political, social, and other factors. Furthermore, in order to accomplish the enormous goal, China's cross-country coal use must be covered to allow it to peak before 2020, and fossil fuel byproducts must peak before 2030. This article argues that China's "green drive" is a cause for optimism and concludes by arguing that the top 2030 goal for fossil fuel byproducts is ambitious but doable.

Measuring the macroeconomic determinants of agricultural price volatility: Implications for natural resource commodity prices for green recovery

With rapid growth, green economic recovery has been a key agenda for the globe. However, the price volatility for natural resources plays a significant role in reshaping the green recovery. Therefore, the current study investigates the impact of green recovery, hum, a capital index, GDP growth, foreign direct investment and inflation on natural resource volatility in China from 1995 to 2020. In order to investigate the long-term association among selected variables, this study employs the Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model. In addition, the current research uses the Aikaik information (AIC) criteria for the model selections. Obtained outcomes show the significant contribution of green recovery, human capital, GDP growth, FDI and inflation increase the natural resource price volatility level. However, to validate the results of ARDL, this study also used the ECM approach and validated the prior findings. On behalf of outcomes, the current study implies some imperative policies to attain the desired objective for green growth.

Assessing environmental quality through natural resources, energy resources, and tax revenues

Developing countries have depleted their natural resources in economic interest to achieve high economic growth. Current urbanization patterns and energy consumption and natural resource extraction are largely unsustainable. In this background, this paper investigates the impact of natural resources rent, energy resources consumption, and tax revenue on carbon emissions for developing countries. The study employed data for 48 developing countries from 1990 to 2020. We used second-generation methods for empirical analysis that control heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence in the data. The advanced panel data estimates of CS-ARDL provide reliable outcomes by addressing these panel data econometric issues. The study results revealed that natural resources or natural resources rent in their exploitation accelerates carbon emission. Similarly, energy resources excessive consumption and economic growth are highly carbon-intensive for these countries and lead to environmental degradation. In contrast, tax revenue and education stabilized the environmental quality of the study interest. Besides this, to analyze the directional association among variables, the study applied DH causality test, which indicates a bidirectional link between tax revenues and emissions, energy resources and emissions, and income and CO₂ emissions. Based on the finding, the study suggests some policy implications to limit the extraction of natural resources and abate carbon emissions by establishing appropriate strategies and imposing environmental charges.

Digital Economy and Environmental Quality: Insights from the Spatial Durbin Model

Recent developments in attaining carbon peaks and achieving carbon neutrality have had enormous effects on the world economy. Digitalization has been considered a viable way to curtail carbon emissions (CE) and promote sustainable economic development, but scant empirical studies investigate the link between digitalization and CE. In this context, this study constructs the digitalization index using the entropy value method and spatial Markov chain, and the spatial Durbin model is employed to analyze its impact mechanism and influence on urban CE in 265 prefecture-level cities and municipalities in China from 2011 to 2017. The results indicate that: (1) The overall development level of the digital economy (DE) posed a significant spatial effect on urban environmental pollution. However, the effect varies according to the different neighborhood backgrounds. (2) The DE impedes urban environmental deterioration directly and indirectly through the channels of industrial structure, inclusive finance, and urbanization. (3) The development of the DE significantly reduces pollution in cities belonging to urban agglomerations, while the development of the DE escalates emissions in nonurban agglomeration cities. Finally, based on the results, important policy implications are put forward to improve the environmental quality of cities.

Natural resources, human capital, and CO2 emissions: Missing evidence from the Central Asian States

There are papers on association about natural resources, economic expansion, and their effect on the quality of the environment in Central Asia. However, no study has investigated the effect of human capital in this nexus concerning the Central Asian states. Thus this study investigates the link between natural resources, economic expansion, human capital, and CO2 in Central Asian states by employing Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality tests from 1995 to 2018. The outcomes from the PMG model showed that human capital has an opposite and significant association with CO2 in the short and long run. Therefore, it is stated that local human capital with higher environmental awareness through education and training makes a positive impact on environmental quality. With the growth of the natural resources index and expansion of the economy, Central Asian emissions will rise. With a positive and substantial coefficient of the natural resources, the finding suggests that, even though Central Asian states have plenty of natural resources, they are unable to exploit them efficiently to reap good rent advantages to reduce the emissions. The outcomes of the causality test stated that the index of natural resources, economic expansion, and human capital have one-way causality with emissions. The important policies and recommendations for maintaining the economic and environmental sustainability of this country are provided at the end of this paper.

The nexus between remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability in Pakistan

Globally, the issues about sustainable development are on the increase. Moreover, these issues are rising every day in Pakistan, as remittances are increasing, technology innovation is ambiguous, natural resources are degraded, and economic expansion might pose serious challenges to the environment. Thus, this research looks at how remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, and economic growth affect carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ emissions in Pakistan by controlling energy consumption and urbanization from 1990 to 2019. The Bayer and Hanck test of combined cointegration discloses a cointegration between remittances, natural resources, technological innovations, economic growth, and CO₂ emissions. Moreover, the autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) proposes a significant positive association between remittances and CO₂ emissions in the long run, indicating that the increase in remittances distresses the environmental performance of Pakistan. Our study confirms that natural resources decrease CO₂ emissions while technological advancement, economic progress, energy use, and urbanization increase CO₂ emissions. In addition, the results of robustness checks by employing fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares are parallel to the conclusions of ARDL estimations. Furthermore, the frequency causality test results show that remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, economic growth, energy use, and urbanization cause CO₂ emissions at different frequencies. Therefore, to achieve the sustainable development goals, appropriate policy repercussions can be developed toward advanced and environmentally sustainable sources of energy.

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.

Natural resources, population aging, and environmental quality: analyzing the role of green technologies

Depletion of natural resources and population aging are the two most critical challenges for environmental sustainability. However, the research that integrates natural resources and population aging in the same environmental policy framework is still scant. Therefore, this study investigates the linkage between natural resources, population aging, green technologies, and ecological footprint (EF) of G7 countries. In addition, this study also explores the moderating effects of green technologies on the relationship between natural resources and EF. Drawing on the panel times series data from 1970 to 2017, we employ a cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) model for short- and long-run empirical estimation. Our empirical analysis indicates that natural resource use exacerbates ecological degradation by increasing EF. By contrast, population aging and green technologies present positive ameliorative effects on EF. Interestingly, the interaction effect of green technologies and natural resources indicates that the damage to ecological quality from natural resources can be effectively improved by means of green technologies, thus maintaining environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the results of panel quantile regression show that the effects of population aging and green technologies on the overall ecological footprint distribution in G7 countries are heterogeneous, while the effects of natural resources on the distribution of all conditions of the ecological footprint are positive. In addition, this paper verifies the causal relationship between the variables using the Dumitrescu and Hurlin test. The findings reveal that the relevant changes in all explanatory variables are bilaterally causally associated with EF. Based on these results, this paper provides some feasible policy recommendations.

Mix-method modelling of actors' capacity for environmental sustainability and climate compatible development in energy sector

The development of the energy sector has played a major role in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and pollution. The situation thus necessitates rigorous actions for climate compatible development (CCD). The energy sector is context-dependent, due to which response strategies for CCD are quite challenging particularly in the context of energy crises and the actors' capacity issue in developing countries. This study was aimed at exploring the role of government actors involved in governing the energy sector, with the objective to assess their capacity using a set of principles, criteria, and indicators (PCIs). The study attempted to answer the question: is the capacity of the line departments involved in energy governance adequate to achieve the targets set under SDG-7 and SDG-13? For this purpose, the study employed a combination of "Rules-based" and "Rights-based" governance approaches at all tiers of governance, i.e., federal, provincial, and district levels. Actors' capacity was assessed by developing a governance index based on the scoring of PCIs. Three hundred forty key informant interviews (KIIs) and 17 focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted at federal, provincial, and district levels where respondents were asked to score each of the indicators. Responses were then statistically analyzed and validated. The findings revealed that departments at the federal level are playing an effective role and are adequately equipped to align SDG-7 and SDG-13 with energy sector development. However, departments at the provincial and district levels are still lagging behind to achieve the desired objectives, which demonstrate the need to enhance the capacities of provincial and district line departments.

The nexus between access to energy, poverty reduction and PM2.5 in Sub-Saharan Africa: New evidence from the generalized method of moments estimators

Poverty reduction and environmental quality are the two main agendas of sustainable development goals. However, recent research suggests that there may be a dilemma between efforts to achieve these two goals. This paper aims to explore the existence of a dilemma between poverty and air pollution (PM_2.5) in Sub-Saharan African countries using dynamic estimation methods. We also try to reveal the socio-economic dynamics that affect poverty and air pollution. Our findings are evaluated in four ways. First, there is strong evidence of a trade-off between poverty and PM_2.5 emissions in African countries. Second, while economic growth and access to energy reduce poverty, they increase air pollution and thus confirm the dilemma. Third, population and trade do not significantly affect poverty, while population increases air pollution and trade decreases it. Fourth, and most notably, human development, property rights and economic freedom reduce both poverty and air pollution. Ultimately, this research supports the poverty-environment dilemma and provides empirical evidence for a solution.

Turning points for environmental sustainability: the potential role of income inequality, human capital, and globalization

Recently, the potential role of social indicators in environmental degradation gets immense attention. Environmental degradation and income inequality are two of the hot topics of debate that anticipate urgent solution. However, income inequality-CO₂ emissions nexus has been little investigated in the literature. This study explores the relationship between income inequality and carbon dioxide emission by incorporating globalization and human capital as the determinants of this relationship. The study deploys an innovative technique of dynamic auto-regressive distributive lag simulation to evaluate data covering the period 1980-2015. Findings indicate that unequal distribution of wealth negatively affects carbon emissions. Likewise, the results show that globalization and human capital contribute to environmental degradation. The inclusion of transmission variables validates findings of the study. Policy strategies toward better income distribution and positive externalities of globalization are suggested for sustainability transitions.

The impact of foreign direct investment, tourism, electricity consumption, and economic development on CO2 emissions in Bangladesh

The study's goal is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI), tourism, electricity consumption, and economic development on CO₂ emissions in Bangladesh between 1990 and 2019. Empirical results reveal that FDI, electricity consumption, and economic development variables have significant and positive long-term effects on CO₂ emissions. Tourism, on the other hand, has a long-term negative effect. The square of the GDP variable has a substantial negative coefficient. This indicates that in Bangladesh, the nexus between CO₂ emissions and economic development is U-shaped inverted. As a result, the EKC postulate is proven to be correct. In the short term, electricity consumption, economic development, GDP², and tourism have no substantial effect on CO₂ emissions. Only the coefficients of FDI are negative and significant. The expected ECM coefficients are also negative and statistically significant. According to these data, the system as a whole adjusts at a rate of 60%. The Granger causality study reveals one direction of causation between electricity consumption and CO₂ emissions, CO₂ emissions and economic development, electricity consumption and economic development, FDI, and CO₂ emissions.

What causes environmental degradation in Pakistan? Embossing the role of fossil fuel energy consumption in the view of ecological footprint

For decades, environmental degradation has become a universal challenge, and for sustainable environment quality, a true and broader proxy is vital. Pakistan is an ecological deficient country in the world, being the sixth-largest economy (population-wise). This study investigates the prime sources of environmental degradation through ecological footprint in Pakistan. The yearly time-series data spanning 1972 to 2020 is utilized for a set of regressors as fossil fuel energy consumption, trade openness, arable land, industrial share to GDP, economic growth, and population growth. We use various econometric techniques, the bounds test, ARDL (short and long run) model, FMOLS, and Granger causality test. Bounds test confirms the existence of cointegration among variables included in our model. The ARDL estimates suggest that fossil fuel energy consumption, trade openness, and population growth are the leading factors affecting the environment. Fossil fuel consumption and population growth significantly damage the environment in the short and long run. Contrasting to that, trade openness is substantial to the environment quality. The FMOLS approves the robustness of the cointegrating findings. Moreover, a unidirectional causal relationship from economic growth to the ecological footprint (GDP → EFP). And also, the ecological footprint of arable land (EFP → AL) is witnessed. At the same time, bidirectional causality is found between growth rate and fossil energy consumption (GDP ↔ FEC). Lastly, we recommend some policy options to improve environmental quality in Pakistan.

Environmental degradation and financial development: do institutional quality and human capital make a difference in G11 nations?

Developing nations are rushing towards economic developments; however, this development is increasing the ecological footprints. In this regard, it has become important to identify the factors of environmental degradation. For sound economic growth, countries are enhancing their human resources with sound financial institutions. Therefore, this work examines the effects of human capital (HC), financial development (FD), and institutional quality (IQ) on ecological footprints (EF) in the group of 11 countries. This work also checks the interactional effect of FD, human capital, and IQ on ecological footprints. This work employs the annual data of 1984-2017 and utilizes the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag approach for panel data analysis (CS-ARDL). The findings show that FD is degrading the environmental quality by 0.04%. Furthermore, IQ and HC are improving environmental quality by 0.07% and 0.01%. The findings also reveal that FD is lowering ecological footprints through the channel of HC and IQ. Based on the findings, these countries need to extend human capital with an efficient institutional network for environmental sustainability. These countries need to allocate funds to the health and education sector to develop human capital. Moreover, human resource management tools should be strengthened to cope with the challenges of environmental problems.

Environmental impact of the shadow economy, globalisation, and human capital: Capturing spillovers effects using spatial panel data approach

Most of the environmental degradation literature evaluates the determinants of polluting gas emissions as a spatially static process. However, environmental pollution is a problem that is not limited to the borders of the countries. One way to capture temporal and spatial changes in pollutant emissions is by using the benefits of spatial panel data models. This research aims to empirically examine the environmental impact of the shadow economy, the globalisation index, and the human capital index in 101 countries during 1995-2018. We employ a set of spatial autoregressive models (SAR), Durbin spatial models (SDM), and spatial lag models (SLX) of panel data to estimate direct, indirect, and total impacts. The results are stable before changes in the econometric specification and different ways of calculating spatial weights matrix. The results show that polluting gas emissions have a high spatial dependence on all specifications. The interdependence between the countries explains the spillover effect of environmental pollution on the rest of the countries that are geographically close. The policy implications derived from our research point to achieving sustainable economic and environmental development, where coordinated actions among countries and greater regulation of the behaviors of economic agents related to the shadow economy are recommended.

The spillover of tourism development on CO2 emissions: a spatial econometric analysis

Climate change and tourism's interaction and vulnerability have been among the most hotly debated topics recently. In this context, the study focuses on how CO₂ emissions, the primary cause of global warming and climate change, respond to changes in tourism development. In order to do so, the impact of tourism development on CO₂ emissions in the most visited countries is investigated. A panel data from 2000 to 2017 for top 70 tourist countries are analysed using a spatial econometric method to investigate the spatial effect of tourism on environmental pollution. The direct, indirect, and overall impact of tourism on CO₂ emissions are estimated using the most appropriate generalized nested spatial econometric (GNS) method. The findings reveal that tourism has a positive direct effect and a negative indirect effect; both are significant at the 1% level. The negative indirect effect of tourism is greater than its direct positive effect, implying an overall significantly negative impact. Further, the outcome of financial development and CO₂ emissions have an inverted U-shaped and U-shaped relationship in direct and indirect impacts. Population density, trade openness, and economic growth significantly influence environmental pollution. In addition, education expenditure and infrastructure play a significant moderating role among tourism and environmental pollution. The results have important policy implications as they establish an inverted-U-shaped relationship among tourism and CO₂ emissions and indicate that while a country's emissions initially rise with the tourism industry's growth, it begins declining after a limit.

The nexus between human development and fishing footprint among mediterranean countries

The last decades have shown that human activities damaged environmental quality and biodiversity. As accepted the need of sustainable development, there should be balance between economic, social and environmental issues in the long term. Ecological footprint is an important indicator that shows how human activities reduce environmental quality among a specific region or country. In addition, human capital is mostly used indicator to estimate economic and environmental development level. In this study, it is aimed to explore the effect of human capital on fishing footprint for 10 Mediterranean Countries during the period 1995-2018. According to empirical evidences, it is concluded that for relatively low human capital level, human capital has negative effect on sustainability and in the relatively high level, it has positive effect on sustainability.

A study of energy investment and environmental sustainability nexus in China: a bootstrap replications analysis

Environmental sustainability is increasing emphasis on global environmental concerns at the forefront of public policy debate. This paper investigates the relationship between energy investments and environmental sustainability in China from 1980 to 2018 while considering the moderating effect of international trade and economic growth under the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. We apply advanced econometric modeling for empirical analysis. Our findings show that energy investment and economic growth are positive, while international trade is negatively associated with ecological footprints. Moreover, economic growth and energy investment deteriorate, while international trade improves environmental sustainability. This empirical evidence suggests the improvements in cleaner energy infrastructure with the participation of the private sector to promote clean energy investment. We argue that policymakers should ensure environmental provisions in the regional and bilateral trade agreements to harmonize the environmental regulations, and develop crucial trade and ecological policy indicators to monitor policy consistency.

The ecological footprint facing asymmetric natural resources challenges: evidence from the USA

One of the most critical problems of today is the environmental policies with the focus on economy. Despite the many efforts of global organizations, environmental pollution is the subject of human beings. For this, the most polluting countries attract the attention of researchers. Many studies produce economy-centered environmental policies for the USA. However, the asymmetric effect of natural resources on environmental pollution has been neglected in the literature. In this paper, the effects of economic growth, renewable energy, biocapacity, and natural resources on the ecological footprint are addressed within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis over the period 1980-2017. Empirical findings confirm that economic growth and biocapacity increase environmental degradation, while renewable energy consumption helps reduce environmental damage. More specifically, when the results are analyzed in terms of natural resources, positive shocks in natural resources contribute to reducing environmental damage, while negative shocks in it negatively affect the environmental quality. The paper presents important policy implications for economy-centered environmental issues.

Exploring the Road toward Environmental Sustainability: Natural Resources, Renewable Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Despite the fact that China’s economy has grown swiftly since the reform and opening up, the problem of environmental degradation in China has become increasingly significant. Therefore, this paper uses China as an example to examine the dynamic relationship between the highlighted variables (renewable energy consumption, economic growth, oil rent, and natural resources) and greenhouse gas emissions (a proxy for environmental sustainability). Using annual data over the period 1971–2018 and employing the auto-regressive distributed lag bounds approach to perform an empirical analysis, the results suggest that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between the highlighted variables and greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, renewable energy consumption and oil rent contribute to environmental sustainability because of their negative effects on greenhouse gas emissions. On the contrary, economic growth and natural resources hinder environmental sustainability due to their positive effects on greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, using the fully modified ordinary least squares approach and dynamic ordinary least squares approach to conduct a robustness test, the results also support the previous findings. To conclude, the findings of this paper may provide some solutions for China’s environmental sustainability.

Role of financial development, environmental-related technologies, research and development, energy intensity, natural resource depletion, and temperature in sustainable environment in Canada

Environmental sustainability concerns are increasing worldwide; both developing and developed countries face environmental degradation. Literature has highlighted the environment-growth nexus; however, the impact of environmental-related technologies on the environment is ignored in early studies. This study aims to explore the implications of financial development, environmental-related technologies, research and development, energy intensity, renewable energy production, natural resource depletion, and temperature in a sustainable environment in Canada by using a time series model, i.e., dynamic ARDL simulations (Jordan and Philips 2018) with data from 1989 to 2020. The examined findings of the dynamic ARDL simulations indicate that environmental-related technologies in Canada help to reduce environmental degradation both in the short run and in the long run. At the same time, financial development, energy intensity, renewable energy production, research and development, natural resource depletion, and temperature causes boost the environmental degradation in Canada. To achieve sustainable environment, Canada needs to improve innovations in the environmental-related technologies for achieving sustainable growth and environment.

How precious metal and energy resources interact with clean energy stocks? Fresh insight from the novel ARDL technique

To boost the stability of economic and financial aspects along with the apprehensions for sustainability, it is important to promote the development of clean energy stocks around the globe. In the current research, the researchers have examined the impact of oil prices, coal prices, natural gas prices, and gold prices on clean energy stock using the autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) approach from the year 2011 to the year 2020. The result of daily data analysis specifies that in the long as well as in the short run, gold prices, oil prices, and coal prices have a positive and significant effect on clean energy stock. On the other side, natural gas prices in the long as well as in the short run have a negative and significant effect on clean energy stock. So, the empirical analysis of our study is of interest to investors at an institutional level who aim at detecting the risk associated with the clean energy market through proper financial modeling. Besides, this study opens up a new domain to sustain financial as well as economic prospects by protecting the environment through clean energy stock as the investment in clean energy stocks results in producing a substantial effect on the economy and the environment as well.

Sustainable economic activities, climate change, and carbon risk: an international evidence

The employment of renewable resources and their association with the real economy's growth in mitigating the problem of carbon emission risk has been debated in the literature in a specific group of countries and regions. However, their relations and effects for a better sustainable energy transmission would need further research works in an international context. Motivated by that reason, this study contributes to the ongoing literature by revisiting the effects of renewable energy consumption, electricity output, and economic activities on carbon risk using a global sample of 219 countries over the period of 1990-2020. Using GMM estimation, simultaneous quantile, and panel quantile estimations; the study finds supportive findings showing that the higher the countries with renewable energy consumption and electricity output the better the capacity those countries can mitigate the environmental degradation by reducing the amount of total carbon emission over time. However, those relations are changed when using system GMM approaches, implying the role of FDI inflows and the difference in income groups in the selected sample countries. This can be intuitively explained that emerging countries might give more priority to the economic growth receiving FDI inflows from more advanced economies and balancing the trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection, while the developed economies with their advantages in green technologies and financial flexibility might have higher advantages in acquiring a sustainable transition and maintaining the real economy's growth without significant trade-off concerns. Finally, the study provides important policy implications and avenues for further research.