Does interaction between technological innovation and natural resource rent impact environmental degradation in newly industrialized countries? New evidence from method of moments quantile regression

Trade openness, human capital, natural resource, and carbon emission nexus: a CS-ARDL assessment for Central Asian economies

There is a call for global efforts to preserve the ecological systems that can sustain economies and people's lives. However, carbon emission (CEM) threatens the sustainability of humanity and ecological systems. This analysis looked into the influence of energy use (ERU), human capital (HCI), trade openness (TOP), natural resource (NRR), population, and economic growth (ENG) on CEM. The paper gathered panel data from the Central Asia region from 1990 to 2020. The CS-ARDL was applied to establish the long-term interaction among the indicators. The paper's findings indicated the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the Central Asia regions. Also, the empirical evidence highlighted that energy use, natural resources, and trade openness cause higher levels of CEM. However, the research verified that CEM can be improved through human capital and urban population growth. The study also found that HCI moderates the interaction between NRR and CEM. The causality assessment indicated a one-way interplay between ENG, ERU, NRR, and CEM. The study proposes that to support ecological stability in these regions, policy-makers should concentrate on developing human capital, investing in renewable energy sources, and utilizing contemporary technologies to harness natural resources in the economies of Central Asia.

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

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

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

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

Resources curse hypothesis and COP26 target: Mineral and oil resources economies COVID-19 perspective

In recent times, industrialized economies have focused more on achieving a sustainable environment while maintaining economic prosperity. However, it is clear from the current research that natural resource exploitation and decentralization substantially affect environmental quality. To experimentally validate such data, the current study examines decentralized economies during the previous three decades (1990-2020). This study discovered the existence of long-term cointegration between carbon emissions, economic growth, revenue decentralization, spending decentralization, natural resources, and human capital using panel data econometric techniques. The findings are based on non-parametric techniques, indicating that economic growth and revenue decentralization are the primary barriers to meeting the COP26 objective. Human capital drives down carbon emissions and contributes to meeting the COP26 objective. On the contrary, decentralization of spending and natural resources has a mixed influence on carbon emissions across quantiles. This report recommends investing in human capital, education, and research & development to speed up COP26's target accomplishment.

Assessing industrialized countries' environmental sustainability performances using an integrated multi-criteria model and software

This study seeks to identify and highlight the differences in the environmental sustainability and environmental protection practices of industrialized countries. For this purpose, thirty industrialized countries were examined using a multi-criteria integrated decision model based on fourteen environmental sustainability performance criteria. An open-source software based on the Python that allows different multi-criteria decision-making methods to be used through a user-friendly interface was developed for evaluations. The results from the developed software rank Sweden first and India last in their environmental sustainability performances. Sweden stands out notably in terms of negative greenhouse gas emission technologies, afforestation, reforestation, environmental laws, carbon tax, bioenergy, and national consciousness. India, on the other hand, does not appear to handle environmental problems in a timely and appropriate manner considering its large population and development needs. Development, utilization, and expansion of renewable energy sources, waste recycling, waste reduction, proper waste disposal, and prioritization of the development of technologies with zero or negative greenhouse gas emissions have emerged as significant factors for environmentally friendly industrialization.

Modelling natural gas, renewables-sourced electricity, and ICT trade on economic growth and environment: evidence from top natural gas producers in Africa

Addressing extensive global goals including growing energy-sourced electricity and advancing sustainable development plans strongly depends on natural gas as a transition fuel to renewable forms of energy. Therefore, by using pooled, random, and fixed-effects models, the current study investigates the effects of electricity sourced from natural gas (ENG), renewable energy (RE), and trade in information and communication technologies (ICTs) on economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in Africa's top three natural gas producers, Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria, from 1990 to 2020. The findings indicate that CO₂, ENG, ICT trade, and urbanization (UP) are all strongly and positively correlated to economic progress, with the exception of RE, which has an insignificant influence. For the environment, data indicate that RE and GDP degrade the environment while ENG and ICT trade boost it. The causality results that ENG and RE cause both economic growth and CO₂ emissions. Based on these empirical results, it is recommended that policymakers should step up their efforts to usage natural gas as a transition fuel to renewable energy sources and acknowledge the advantages of the significant contribution that green ICT trade can make to economic advancement and a clean environment.

The role of economic production, energy consumption, and trade openness in urbanization-environment nexus: a heterogeneous analysis on developing economies along the Belt and Road route

In today's world, where urbanization is at its pinnacle, has created a significant economic gap between rural and urban populations in developing economies and substantially influenced environmental degradation. This study investigates the relationship between urbanization and environmental degradation via carbon emissions among developing countries along the Belt and Road route from 1990 to 2019 while using economic production, energy consumption, and trade openness as control variables. The study engages current econometric methodologies to uncover accurate and reliable findings, and the outcomes reveal that the panel under investigation is cross-sectionally dependent and heterogeneous. Therefore, the AMG, CCEMG, and DCCEMG estimators are employed to examine the effect connection between the variables. The outcomes unveil that urbanization, economic production, and energy consumption escalate environmental degradation, but trade openness is confirmed as a trivial determinant of environmental degradation. Furthermore, the causal connections between the variables disclose bi-directional causalities between urbanization and environmental degradation and between energy consumption and environmental degradation. Nevertheless, uni-directional causalities are affirmed, spanning from economic production to environmental degradation and from trade openness to environmental degradation. Finally, policy implications are discussed.

Endorsing sustainable development in BRICS: The role of technological innovation, renewable energy consumption, and natural resources in limiting carbon emission

This research aimed to examine the complex interaction between technological innovation, renewable energy consumption, natural resources, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions of BRICS (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries from 1990 to 2019, to accomplish the Paris Climate Conference (COP-21) objective of reducing CO₂ emissions to promote environmental sustainability. The long-run empirical estimations derived from the CS-ARDL technique, which considered other estimation issues like cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity, indicated that technological innovation, renewable energy consumption, and natural resources increase environmental sustainability by limiting CO₂ emissions, in the short-run and long-run. The technological innovation-related activities have a CO₂ mitigating effect as shown by the negative coefficients which ranges between -0.05 and -0.14. This shows that they increase environmental sustainability and aid in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13. Similarly, renewable energy and natural resources decrease CO₂ emissions as shown by the coefficient of renewable energy (-0.31 to -0.81) and natural resources (-0.01 to 0.95); thereby increasing ecological quality by limiting CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, the interaction of technological innovation with natural resource rent and renewable energy consumption also aids in mitigating CO₂ emissions and increases environmental health. Finally, panel causality analysis revealed a significant causality from all explanatory variables to CO₂ emissions. Based on the results, significant policy suggestions are provided, such as improving energy effectiveness, investing in energy technologies, and increasing renewable energy consumption to stimulate technological innovation to achieve the target of a net-zero‑carbon economy.

Economic policy uncertainty and environmental degradation: the moderating role of political stability

The sustainability of the natural environment has become a serious policy agenda across the world. In this essence, the literature has discerned many macroeconomic factors that are causing environmental degradation. Among others, the economic policy uncertainty (EPU) is another factor that can uplift CO₂ emissions but was ignored in contemporary literature. Given that, the current analysis tends to uncover the role of EPU in CO₂ emissions and how political stability moderates this relationship. The empirical analysis was arranged on 20 years of financial data (2000-2019) of BRICS economies, and fully modified least square (FMOLS) and dynamic least square (DOLS) models were utilized to establish the empirical relationship. The empirical results reveal the significant positive impact of EPU while the negative impact of political stability on CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, the moderating impact of political stability was observed in the relationship of EPU-CO₂ emissions. In long run, the higher economic policy uncertainty intensifies the emissions of CO₂ which can be reduced by promoting political stability. The empirical analysis further advocates the dynamic impact of financial development, foreign investment, economic growth, and resource rent on pollution emissions. The moderating role of political stability implies that policy officials should certainly improve the stability of political conditions within a country. Moreover, they should ensure the overall consistency in economic policies. This study allures existing literature by exploring the moderating role of political stability in EPU and CO₂ emissions nexus.

Impact of renewable energy on economic growth? Novel evidence from developing countries through MMQR estimations

This study aims to examine the association between economic growth and energy consumption (renewable and nonrenewable). The data was collected from 80 developing countries comprising countries from all income over the 1990 to 2020 period. On methodological aspects, this study identifies the diverse impact of variables at different quantiles through novel methods of movement quantile regression (MMQR) approach and long-run coefficient estimations through fully modified ordinary least squares, fixed effects ordinary least squares, and dynamic ordinary least squares. According to the primary findings, the growth hypothesis exists in developing countries as both nonrenewable energy and renewable energy impact economic growth positively in MMQR estimation (for renewable energy at all quintiles and nonrenewable energy at lower quantiles), whereas the feedback hypothesis exists in (Dumitrescu and Hurlin Econ Model 29(4):1450-1460, 2012) Granger causality approach. The findings exposed that the economic renewable and non-renewable energy consumption has a positive impact on economic growth in developing countries. Based on the results, we recommend that developing countries prioritize investments in renewable energy for their production and expansion. Moreover, the provision of tax exemptions, subsidies, and feed-in tariffs are the right policy options towards the encouragement of the renewable energy sector and ultimately for the growth of the developing countries.

The effect of mandatory environmental regulation on green development efficiency: evidence from China

The existing literature finds that mandatory environmental regulation (MER) can significantly reduce environmental pollution. However, much less is known about how the implementation of MER affects green development efficiency (GDE). Based on the Air Pollution Control Action Plan which was enforced in 2013 in China's most developed regions as an exogenous shock, we find that first, MER has a significant negative effect on the improvement of GDE by reducing regional scale efficiency. Second, MER mainly reduces the GDE of cities with stronger regulation intensities and with larger economic volumes. Third, MER also has a negative impact on regional green total factor productivity by changing technical progress. We suggest that when implementing MER, governments should enhance regional and global cooperation, promote green technology, and use comprehensive policy tools to stimulate firms' green innovation.

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.

The criticality of financial risk to environment sustainability in top carbon emitting countries

This research examines the linkage between financial risk and carbon emissions using a quarterly dataset spanning from 1991 to 2019 for top carbon emitting countries. To achieve the study objective, this study apply quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR), the quantile regression (QR) approach for robustness check, and the nonparametric predictive test that identifies causality in mean and variance. Empirical findings from the QQR technique disclose the following: (i) financial risk decreases carbon emissions in the USA, Russia, Germany, and Canada; (ii) in China, India, Japan, Brazil, and Indonesia, financial risk enhances carbon emissions (iii) while we find mixed reactions in the case of South Korea. The outcomes of the conventional quantile regression also confirm the QQR outcomes, while that of nonparametric causality discloses evidence of causality in majority of quantiles from financial risk to carbon emissions. Based on these empirical outcomes, policymakers in the financial risk-induced-environmental degradation regions should consider implementing policies or reforms that would keep financial systems sound, in order to prevent shocks to the environment, and its attendant multiplier impact on the environmental sustainability targets implemented to protect both the immediate and the future generations.

The effect of financial globalization and natural resource rent on load capacity factor in India: an analysis using the dual adjustment approach

Currently, the most crucial economic and ecological issues are related to environmental degradation and sustainability. On this backdrop, this paper examines the impact of financial globalization and natural resource rent on load capacity factor, using the novel dual adjustment approach and time-frequency domain causality approaches, in the case of India. This study contributes to the extant body of knowledge in the area of environmental economics. First, it is the first attempt to analyze the factors responsible for load capacity factor, specifically for India. As such, studies on environmental concerns on both the supply and demand sides are put into consideration. Empirical results show that only renewable energy consumption lessens the load capacity factor, while economic growth and financial globalization are positively correlated with the load capacity factor, and natural resource rent is insignificant in the short run. In the long run, only economic growth is negatively correlated with load capacity factor, while the other series positively influence load capacity factor. To reap greater ecological merits, policymakers should focus on transitioning from conventional non-renewable energy sources that contribute to rising carbon emissions to more cost-effective and dependable renewable sources of energy that support sustainable growth and a healthy environment.

Does political risk spur environmental issues in China?

China is one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the world. Therefore, it is essential to explore the determinants of CO₂ emissions in China. But previous studies so far have not examined how the political risk of this country can affect its CO₂ emissions due to the lack of a long-term dataset. Hence, this study aims to capture the effect of political risk on China's CO₂ emissions while controlling renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and the economy's economic growth. We employ Bayer and Hanck cointegration, FMOLS, DOLS, CCR, and frequency domain causality tests to establish the relationship among the variables mentioned above. The outcome of the study reveals that political stability is an important predictor of environmental degradation in China. Moreover, political stability is helpful to lower CO₂ emissions, while technological innovation and renewable energy consumption can reduce CO₂ emissions, economic growth further deteriorates environmental quality by increasing its carbon emissions. Therefore, the present study recommends that policymakers in China should control political tension in the country to control CO₂ emissions and, at the same time, promote technological innovation and renewable energy consumption.

Linking natural resources, innovations, and environment in the Belt and Road Initiative countries using dynamic panel techniques: the role of innovations and renewable energy consumption

The issue of natural resources and environment are a matter of clashing argument in recent studies. An increase in natural resources raises economic growth which in turn increases carbon emission, that is a challenge for environmental sustainability. There is a lack of research on weather innovations playing any important role by acquiring renewable energy sources, enhancing energy efficiency, and boosting economic growth by lowering the use of natural resources to raise environmental quality. Consequently, this study investigates the effect of natural resources, innovations, economic growth, and renewable energy consumption on carbon dioxide emission in 39 Belt and Road Initiative countries from 1981 to 2019. OLS, fixed effect, and generalized method of moments models were used for analysis, where the results indicate that natural resources, innovations, and economic growth significantly increase carbon dioxide emission, while renewable energy reduces emission and raises environmental quality. The square term of natural resources is negative; thus, it indicates that natural resource use reduces emission when it reaches a certain level. Likewise, our results validate the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in the Belt and Road initiative countries. The findings have considerable policy implications for the Belt and Road countries regarding natural resource use, innovations, and renewable energy consumption.

Renewable Energy Consumption and Environmental Sustainability in Canada: Does Political Stability Make a Difference?

Energy is unquestionably necessary for economic progress; nevertheless, it also produces CO₂ emissions, which are the primary cause of climate change and environmental degradation. Renewable energy, which consists of non-carbohydrate energy sources that do not or seldom emit emissions, can assist the accomplishment of both ecological sustainability and sustainable development in this respect. Against this background, this paper takes into account political risk and assesses the impact of renewable energy use on CO₂ emissions in Canada from 1990 to 2018 controlling economic growth and trade globalization. The present research utilized an innovative dynamic ARDL method that overcomes the limitations of the ARDL method. The results revealed significant evidence of cointegration. In the long run, we established that a surge in economic growth, political risk, renewable energy use, and trade globalization mitigates environmental degradation. Furthermore, the outcomes of the frequency domain causality disclosed that in the long term, economic growth, political risk, renewable energy use, and trade globalization can predict CO₂ emissions in Canada. Since the political stability in Canada has helped to attract foreign firms to invest. Therefore, ensuring political stability will bring in more foreign investment, forcing the Canadian government to take its climate crisis problem more seriously.

Toward a sustainable environment and economic growth in BRICS economies: do innovation and globalization matter?

Over the last few decades, environmental deterioration has accelerated significantly. Environmental degradation has been a subject of research across the world because of its impact on billions of people. However, there has been no international agreement on lowering the utilization of energy and CO₂ emissions (CO₂), while demand for fossil fuels grows in emerging economies. On the other hand, the recent COP26 summit brought all parties together to accelerate action toward reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Although previous research shows that international trade promotes positive socioeconomic outcomes, other experts argue that it contributes to natural resource shortages and ecological deterioration. Thus, the current research considers the effect of international trade, renewable energy use and technological innovation on consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO₂), coupled with the role of financial development and economic growth in the BRICS economies between 1990 and 2018. Moreover, this research utilizes the common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG), augmented mean group (AMG) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) causality methods to assess these interrelationships. The study findings reveal that renewable energy use, exports and technological innovation mitigate CCO₂, whereas economic growth and imports trigger CCO₂ in the BRICS economies. The panel causality outcomes also reveal that all the variables except financial development can predict CCO₂ emissions. Based on the study findings, we recommend the adoption of policies, regulations and the development of legislative frameworks that promote technological innovation and the shift toward sustainable energy.

Towards a sustainable consumption approach: the effect of trade flow and clean energy on consumption-based carbon emissions in the Sub-Saharan African countries

Environmental degradation has accelerated rapidly in recent decades. Researchers and policymakers around the world have concentrated their efforts on this phenomenon because of its effect on human beings. Because of the expanding desire for fossil fuels in developed and developing nations, there has been minimal worldwide agreement on how energy consumption and carbon emissions can be reduced in recent years. On the other hand, several nations are implementing steps to adhere to the Paris Climate Agreement, which was signed in 2015. Therefore, this research intends to examine the effect of trade, economic growth, natural resources, clean energy, and urbanization on consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO₂) for economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 1990 to 2018. The study employed second-generation techniques including CS-ARDL, which revealed that trade flow, income, natural resources, and urbanization exert a positive impact on CCO₂ emissions. Furthermore, the interaction between trade and income contribute to the increase in CCO₂ emissions. In addition, clean energy impacts CCO₂ emissions negatively. From the causality analysis, it is observed that there is a feedback causality between CCO₂ emissions and income, clean energy, and urbanization, while a one-way causality was detected running from natural resources rent to CCO₂ emission. These outcomes might help policymakers to adopt measures that are eco-friendly such as the utilization of clean energy in order for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to attain a green environment.

Insight into the Balancing Effect of a Digital Green Innovation (DGI) Network to Improve the Performance of DGI for Industry 5.0: Roles of Digital Empowerment and Green Organization Flexibility

Under the background of double carbon target and digital intelligence era, the innovation resources and innovation environment that manufacturing enterprises rely on have shown exponential growth. Digital green innovation (DGI) has gradually become the mainstream paradigm of innovation. How to achieve a balance between a local DGI network (LDGIN) and a remote DGI network (RDGIN) and how to use the role of digital empowerment and green organization flexibility to improve the performance of DGI are very important issues facing manufacturing enterprises at present. However, this problem has not been fully addressed in the existing research. In this study, the influence mechanism of LDGIN and RDGIN on the DGI performance of manufacturing enterprises was revealed, considering the moderating role of digital empowerment and green organization flexibility. The linear regression method was used to analyze the 562 valid data obtained by questionnaire survey. The results of this study are as follows. The effect of the DGI network on manufacturing enterprises’ DGI performance is heterogeneous because of LDGIN and RDGIN. The establishment of embedded links in a DGI network inevitably requires manufacturing enterprises to pay the corresponding costs. The over-embedding of manufacturing enterprises into RDGIN will have a negative impact on DGI performance. The balance between LDGIN and RDGIN has an important impact on manufacturing enterprises’ operation. The comprehensive balance and relative balance indexes constructed in this paper show that an appropriate balance can promote the improvement of the DGI performance of manufacturing enterprises. Digital transformation and organizational structure innovation are changing the business model of manufacturing enterprises and can regulate the relationship between the LDGIN and RDGIN and the DGI performance of manufacturing enterprises. The balance of DGI network embedding in practice shows the important role and enlightening significance of local and remote search in developing countries.

Towards Environmental Sustainability in China: Role of Globalization and Hydroelectricity Consumption

Countries encounter conflicting policy options in reaching fast development goals due to high resource use, rapid economic expansion, and environmental degradation. Thus, the present research examined the connection between CO2 emissions and urbanization, globalization, hydroelectricity, and economic expansion in China utilizing data spanning the period between 1985 and 2018. The novel quantile-on-quantile (QQ) and quantile regression (QR) approaches were applied to assess this interconnection. The QQ approach is characterized by its ability to incorporate quantile regression fundamentals and non-parametric estimation research. As a result, the method appears to transform the quantile of one parameter into another. The QQ outcomes revealed that in all quantiles (0.1–0.95), gross domestic product (GDP), urbanization, and globalization trigger CO2 emissions in China, while in each quantile (0.1–0.985), hydroelectricity consumption mitigates CO2 emissions. The QR outcomes also affirmed the outcomes of the QQ regression estimates. Policies are suggested based on these findings.