Globalization, financial development, and environmental sustainability: evidence from heterogenous income groups of Asia

Spatial effect of biomass energy consumption on carbon emissions reduction: the role of globalization

As globalization proceeds, increasing biomass energy consumption is an important pathway to replace fossil fuels for tackling climate change by reducing emissions. This study explores the spatial spillover effect in biomass energy carbon reduction, which is frequently ignored when investigating environmental factors. It uncovers whether globalization and its dimensions can strengthen the spatial effect of biomass energy carbon reduction. Besides, we reveal whether biomass energy consumption can promote CO2 emissions reduction while ensuring economic progress. Results show that (1) owing to the spillover effect, biomass energy consumption plays a significant role in direct and indirect enhancing carbon emissions reduction, with their feedback effects of - 0.003 or 3.3% of the direct effect. (2) Increasing overall, social and political globalization enhances biomass energy consumption's carbon reduction effect. (3) In countries with higher economic development, overall, economic and political globalization has a better promotion in the spatial effect of biomass energy carbon reduction. (4) Developing biomass energy can support the environment quality while enhancing economic growth.

Financial development and environmental quality in developed countries: a systematic literature review

Studying the effect of financial development on environmental quality has become imperative in the modern world due to the climate change challenges. Hence, this systematic literature review provides a comprehensive overview of the existing body of knowledge on the nexus of financial development and environmental quality in developed countries. Three databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used to search the relevant articles in this domain. Finally, 20 journal articles qualified for the systematic literature review based on the pre-defined article inclusion criteria as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) framework. We found that a range of econometric approaches were used in all examined papers, employing a diverse range of proxy variables to model the relationship between financial development and environmental quality. Overall, the findings of the examined papers imply mixed evidence of this nexus in developed countries. We highlight the knowledge gap in this research domain examining the financial development and environmental quality link from different proxies.

Green innovation, globalization, financial development, and CO2 emissions: the role of governance as a moderator in South Asian countries

The current study is designed to analyze the relationship between, environmental innovations, globalization, financial development, and CO₂ emissions in the South Asian region over the period of 1996 to 2019. In this regard, the role of governance is also incorporated as a moderator along with Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The sample size includes Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The results of the robust least square show the validity of EKC in the sample countries. Environmental innovations show desirable results on CO₂ emissions, while globalization, financial development, and governance are increasing environmental degradation. The role of governance as a moderator is only effective and favorable with environmental innovation. However, in the case of globalization and financial development, governance appeared to be ineffective in lessening the rate of emissions; rather, it contributes to emissions. It clearly shows the missing link in formulating coherent policy to achieve sustainability targets. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the role of governance with respect to environmental policies not only to handle directly environmental issues but also indirectly while promoting the process of globalization and financial development.

The determinants of life expectancy and environmental degradation in Pakistan: evidence from ARDL bounds test approach

The current study aims to investigate factors affecting life expectancy in Pakistan with a special focus on environmental degradation measured by carbon emissions (CO₂ emissions) on life expectancy from 1975 to 2020. The unit root test results show mixed order integration in the series. The bound F-test and Johansen cointegration test confirm the long-run association between the variables. The long-run estimates of autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) reveal that CO₂ emissions, inflation rate, food production index, and death rate have negative effects on the life expectancy, implying that life expectancy shorten when CO₂ increases, while per capita income, urbanization, population growth, birth rate, health expenditure, and education have positive effects on life expectancy, indicating that these factors prolong life expectancy. Moreover, the short-run estimates of ARDL reveal that food production index, urbanization, birth rate, infant mortality rate, and education have positive effects on the life expectancy, while inflation, per capita income, population growth rate, death rate, health expenditure, and CO₂ emissions have negative effects on the life expectancy. The findings of the study suggest that the management authorities need to regulate carbon emissions in order to prolong life expectancy which is a key determinant of the economic growth.

Global Evolution of Research on Sustainable Finance from 2000 to 2021: A Bibliometric Analysis on WoS Database

The expanding international influence of sustainable finance has made it one of the most cutting-edge development trends in the financial field. Learning about the global evolution of research on sustainable finance can improve the understanding and evaluation of sustainable finance by scholars and practitioners. Based on the ISI Web of Science database, this paper used bibliometric methods to analyze 3786 articles related to sustainable finance published between 2000 and 2021, mastering their discipline co-occurrence, publication characteristics, partnership, influence, keyword co-occurrence, co-citations, and structural variation. The highlights of the results: socially responsible investment, climate change, corporate social responsibility, green finance, carbon credits, and renewable energy were the hotspots between 2000 and 2021; responsible investment, green bond, low-carbon transition, vulnerable countries, low-carbon investment, business model, financial development, supply chain, conventional investment dilemma, sustainable financing, environmental investment, and green credit policy were the hot research topics between 2016 and 2021; papers related to socially responsible investment were an important knowledge base for sustainable financial research between 2000 and 2021; the research topics of the articles with the strongest transformative potentials between 2016 and 2021 mainly involved green bonds, socially responsible mutual funds, ESG investors’ preferences, and the impact of COVID-19.

Trade, energy consumption, economic growth, and environmental quality: an empirical evidence from D-8 and G-7 countries

Since both developed and developing economies are experiencing economic and environmental problems, exploring the linkages between economic and environmental parameters in a comparative setting is desirable. This study investigates the effects of energy consumption along with economic growth and trade on environmental quality for D-8 and G-7 countries over the period 1980-2019. Further, unlike prior studies which focus on only aggregate energy consumption, this study employs disaggregate forms of energy consumption using extended environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework and employing second-generation panel time series analysis. The models are estimated using fully modified least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and heterogeneous panel estimators. Finally, to verify the causality among the study variables, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) causality test is applied. The findings reveal that economic growth, aggregate and disaggregate energy consumptions (oil, coal, gas), and trade exacerbate environmental quality in D-8 countries, while income and trade improve it in G-7 economies. However, oil, coal, and gas usage are detrimental to environmental quality in G-7 economies. Further, this study extends the literature on the EKC by validating it for D-8 economies while rejecting it for G-7 countries. Both groups of countries need to adopt green technology and sustainable development patterns. The D-8 economies need to reform their trade policy to support environmental-friendly trade while G-7 economies need to control emissions associated with further growth by limiting the use of non-renewable energy sources.