The impact of information and communication technology, financial development, and energy consumption on carbon dioxide emission: evidence from the Belt and Road countries

Implications of circular economy, digitalization and technological innovation to achieve sustainable environmental goal: Pre and post-vision 2030

The current study contributes to the existing literature by constructing a digitalization index to investigate the significance of digitalization in controlling the environmental footprint. Moreover, the dataset is divided into pre-Vision 2030 and post-Vision 2030 implementation to scrutinize the progress of Saudi Vision 2030 to counter the environmental challenges. Vision 2030 is a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism. The findings have documented the negative coefficients for post-Vision 2030 and post-COVID-19 estimations, reflecting that a significant digitalization increase is useful for controlling the environmental externalities in Saudi Arabia. In the case of post-Vision 2030, the role of environmental technology turns out to be significant and negative, but with a lower magnitude. The study results are useful for drawing significant environmental policies through enhancing the digitalization parameters and advancement of technology.

The crucial roles of ICT, renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality in achieving environmental sustainability in BRICS

The BRICS countries-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-are committed to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13, which focuses on mitigating climate change. To attain this goal, it is crucial to emphasize the significance of ICT, renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality. This study contributes to the literature by examining the potential role of these factors in environmental sustainability in the BRICS economies from 2000 to 2021, utilizing cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) estimation and other novel econometric techniques. Accordingly, the study suggests that BRICS governments and policymakers prioritize the use of ICT in the industrial and institutional sectors to achieve faster environmental sustainability in the short-run, as per the CS-ARDL results. However, the study advises caution in the long-term as the interaction between ICT and renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality may not favour environmental quality. Although the renewable energy sources interaction with ICT may not yield immediate progress, strong measures need to be taken to ensure that short-term gains are not nullified. In conclusion, the study highlights the potential of ICT, renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality in achieving environmental sustainability in the BRICS countries, while recommending cautious measures in the long run to safeguard the progress made.

The Impact of Economic Corridor and Tourism on Local Community's Quality of Life under One Belt One Road Context

Economic corridors unlock new economic opportunities and tourism development in the region to achieve sustainable development goals. Green economic growth is conducive to environmental sustainability. Economic mega-projects of CPEC promote tourism that leads to communities' well-being and better quality of life. Modern infrastructure development contributes significantly to economic growth and tourism activities. This study's objectives emphasize exploring tourism and sustainable development pursuits under OBOR economic projects that open doors to improving residents' quality of life. The growing world is an eyewitness to a continuous rise in emissions and its severe consequences for humankind. It is necessary to show off the leading factors that result in tourism and economic activities causing environmental pollution rather than blame policymakers. Undoubtedly, many studies previously focused on demonstrating the influence of socio-economic factors that lead to better environmental quality. However, the empirical literature on tourism, social well-being, foreign direct investment, and the Environment in Belt and Road developed economies needed improvement. This research applied a series of advanced estimators that help demonstrate the study's probable results. This study explores the role of Social well-being (HDI), tourism development, FDI, renewable energy, information & communication technology (ICT), and urbanization on CO2 emissions in Belt and Road (BRI) developed economies.Estimated results exhibited the significant contribution of ICT and renewable energy to sustainability. Besides, FDI contributes to emissions reduction after its threshold level. Conversely, urbanization and tourism activities contribute to environmental pollution. The study outcomes stated inverted/EKC U-shaped hypotheses related to specified economies. Finally, the analysis based on the D-H panel causality test constructs exciting results.The present study concludes that economic corridor plays a vital role in tourism development, the community's well-being, and SDGs goals (sustainable development) impact on environmental safety. The findings suggest essential and applicable policies to attain the desired sustainability level. Findings contribute to the literature on tourism, well-being, and sustainability. Further studies can use insights using this methodology.

How do information and communication technology, human capital and renewable energy affect CO2 emission; New insights from BRI countries

If nations want to attain sustainable development with the exponential growth of information and communication technology (ICT) around the world, they must understand the connection between ICT and carbon emissions. Therefore, this study has used panel data from 64 ''Belt and Road Initiative economies between 2000 and 2021 while finding the impact of ICT, renewable energy consumption (REC), human capital (HC) and economic growth (EG) on CO2 emissions. This study employs the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator, Mean Group (MG) estimator and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality. The findings indicate that the use of ICT, HC and the REC are inversely related to CO2 emissions, whereas EG is positively associated to CO2 emissions and hence poses a danger to environmental sustainability. In addition, the interaction term of EG with ICT, REC and HC has negative impact on CO2 emissions in BRI economies. Intriguingly, the results reveal that ICT and CO2 emissions has inverted U-shape relationship in BRI economies. Furthermore, the causality results show that ICT, REC, and human capital are all cause and effect linkages that affect CO2 emissions in both directions. In order to reduce energy utilization and boost economic growth, the findings stress the importance of implementing cutting-edge ICT and REC in the industrial sector.

Technology transfer for green investments: exploring how technology transfer through foreign direct investments can contribute to sustainable practices and reduced environmental impact in OIC economies

Estimating the asymmetrical influence of foreign direct investment is the primary goal of the current study. In addition, further controlled variables affect environmental degradation in OIC nations. Due to this, current research employs the asymmetric (NPARDL) approach and the data period from 1980 to 2021 to estimate about viability of the EKC (environmental Kuznets curve) theory. The study utilized greenhouse gas (GHG) including emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ecological footprint as substantial parameters of environmental quality. A nonlinear link between foreign direct investments, trade openness, economic growth, urbanization, energy consumption, and environmental pollution with CO2, N2O, CH4, and ecological footprint in the OIC nations is confirmed by the study's outcomes, which however reveals inconsistent results. Furthermore, the results also show that wrong conclusions might result from disregarding intrinsic nonlinearities. The study's conclusions provide the most important recommendations for decision-makers.

Does ICT influence carbon emissions in the context of universal connectivity: a global perspective?

The Connect 2030 initiative, launched by the International Telecommunication Union, is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030. Its main objective is to achieve universal connectivity, a goal that is closely related to environmental issues. This topic currently receives attention from researchers and policymakers. Given these considerations, our study investigates the impact of information and communication technologies on carbon dioxide emissions for a panel of 84 countries spanning the years 2009 to 2020. Using principal component analysis, we construct an ICT index that encompasses international bandwidth, reflecting the universal connectivity, and participation in international data exchanges. The empirical analysis applies the pooled mean group-panel autoregressive distributive lag (PMG-ARDL) approach to estimate both the long-run and short-run coefficients of CO2 emissions' determinants. Our findings show that ICT and renewable energy mitigate CO2 emissions, unlike financial development, GDP, and non-renewable energy, which contribute significantly to emissions for the full sample. These outcomes suggest that promoting ICTs in general and international bandwidth in particular, as part of universal connectivity, improves the quality of the global environment.

Financial inclusion, environmental degradation, and the moderating role of ICT: a global perspective

This study aims to investigate the global perspective on the relationship between financial inclusion and environmental degradation, taking into account the potential moderating role of information and communication technology (ICT). The research utilizes panel data from 131 countries, covering the period of 1995 to 2019. The findings show that financial inclusion has significant and positive impact on carbon emissions, implying that as financial inclusion increases, so do carbon emissions. Moreover, our findings reveal a significant negative moderating effect of the ICT on the relationship between financial inclusion and carbon emissions. This implies that the impact of financial inclusion on carbon emissions is contingent upon the level of ICT development. The robustness of these findings is confirmed through the use of alternative proxies for the explanatory and moderating variables, as well as alternative estimation methods. The outcomes of this study carry significant implications for both policy and practice.

Digitalized world and carbon footprints: does digitalization really matter for sustainable environment?

There is a growing demand for energy to support economic and social development. There will be many shifts in the energy sector as a result of digitization. Hence, we aim analyzing the linkage between digitalization and environment sustainability by incorporating energy consumption as a moderating factor using data of UK from 1990 to 2020. Different dimensions of digitalization are used as explanatory variables, ecological and carbon footprints are used as outcomes and energy consumption is used as moderator. The findings of autoregressive distributed lag model show that internet users and technological advancement (fixed telephone subscription and mobile cellular) are negatively (positively) linked with ecological and carbon footprints. Energy consumption causes to enhance ecological and carbon footprints and plays an antagonistic role in the nexus of internet users, technological advancement, and ecological and carbon footprints. The effects of mobile cellular and fixed telephone subscription have increased in the presence of energy consumption as moderator which exhibits that energy consumption plays an enhancing role in the links between mobile cellular, fixed telephone subscription and ecological and carbon footprints. The results underscore the importance of taking a holistic approach to addressing the environmental impact of digital technologies. By promoting sustainable communication practices and investing in the development of more energy-efficient technologies, practitioners, managers, and society as a whole can work together to reduce the carbon and ecological footprints of digital technologies and create a more sustainable future for all.

Revisiting the impact of trade openness on environmental sustainability in Belt and Road countries: a heterogeneous panel approach

The nations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are particularly vulnerable to the challenges posed by climate change due to their extensive trading activities. The need to protect the environment and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change in these countries is of utmost importance. Therefore, this study contributes to the scientific understanding of this issue by examining the relationship between trade openness and environmental sustainability in 89 BRI countries from 1990 to 2020. Additionally, control variables, including economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, industrialization, and foreign direct investment, are considered to address omitted variable bias issues. The study utilizes the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) regression estimators, and the findings reveal that trade openness improves environmental sustainability. However, economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, and industrialization degrade environmental sustainability. Interestingly, the results affirm foreign direct investment as a trivial determinant of environmental sustainability. Regarding causal relationships, reciprocal causalities are observed between trade openness and carbon emissions, energy consumption and carbon emissions, and urbanization and carbon emissions. Furthermore, one-way causalities exist from economic growth to carbon emissions and from carbon emissions to foreign direct investment. Nevertheless, no causal relationship is identified between industrialization and carbon emissions. Based on these significant findings, it is recommended that China, as a prominent player in the BRI, takes further steps to enhance and promote energy-efficient practices in BRI countries. One practical approach is the establishment of energy efficiency standards for the goods and services traded with these countries.

How can environmental degradation and income disparities influence national health: an eye bird view on China's provinces

Growing socio-economic disparity is a global issue that could disturb community health. Numerous case studies have examined the health influences of income disparities as well as the patterns that implicate those disparities. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the core determinants of mortality rate, which are environmental degradation, green energy, health expenditures, and technology (ICT) for the 25 provinces of China over the period of 2005-2020. This study uses a series of estimators to investigate the preferred objectives in which CS-ARDL and common correlated effect mean group (CCE-MG). Estimated results show the significant contribution of environmental deterioration and income inequality to the mortality rate. Furthermore, health expenditures, ICT, and green energy significantly reduce the mortality rate. Similarly, the moderate effect of income inequality on health expenditure, green energy, and ICT significantly reduces the mortality rate in selected provinces of China. More interestingly, the current study suggests policy implications to reduce the rising trend of mortality rate.

Realizing the 2050 Paris climate agreement in West Africa: the role of financial inclusion and green investments

International organizations have emphasized the importance of global economies supporting efforts to combat climate change. The Paris Agreement or Agenda 2050 urges nations to ensure that the increase in global temperature is limited to 1.5 °C. Studies have analyzed the factors that contribute to harmful emissions, particularly carbon dioxide emissions, in order to limit temperature rise. However, since there are other equally harmful pollutants, this study evaluates the impact of financial inclusion and green investment on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The study uses data from West Africa, where environmental pollution has significantly increased. The study employed regression analysis while controlling for economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), and energy consumption. The study's key findings reveal that financial inclusion and green investment have a monotonic effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the study confirms the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and the pollution haven effect for the region. Technological innovation reduces pollution, but green investment and financial inclusion reinforce this effect. Therefore, the study recommends that governments in the sub-region commit to supporting green investment and environmentally friendly technological innovations. It is also crucial to strictly enforce laws regulating the operations of multinational corporations in the region.

The effect of income inequality and economic growth on carbon dioxide emission

Most of the developing and emerging countries are focusing to increase economic growth, enhance the living standard of the people, and reduce income inequality. Increasing economic growth through the factors such as agriculture, energy use for production, and other related activities can harm the environment. Considering this situation, this study utilizes data from the Belt and Road Initiative countries for the period of 1999 and 2018 to explore the nexus between income inequality, agricultural value added, and carbon dioxide using two-step system GMM model. The findings of the study indicate that income inequality, economic growth, energy consumption, and agriculture significantly contribute to an increase in carbon emissions and a decrease in environmental quality. On the other hand, the findings also indicate that manufacturing and service industries significantly contribute to an improvement in environmental quality by reducing carbon emissions. The findings lend even more credence to the environmental Kuznets curve, but the results do not indicate that there is a strong relationship between income inequality and economic growth. The outcomes of this study have crucial policy implications for the sample countries to build environmental regulations.

Evaluating the symmetric and asymmetric effects of fossil fuel energy consumption and international capital flows on environmental sustainability: a case of South Asia

South Asia is primarily affected by environmental degradation. As a result, it is worthwhile to explore the impact of international capital flows on the ecological sustainability of the South Asian region. There are many studies in the literature on the CO₂-remittances nexus, CO₂-FDI nexus, and CO₂-economic growth; however, no study has yet taken remittances and FDI into account in the symmetric and asymmetric model for the South Asian region. To address the research gap, this study investigates the effect of international capital flows, fossil fuel energy consumption, and economic growth on South Asian carbon emissions. This study examines the effect of fossil fuel energy consumption, remittances, foreign direct investment, and economic growth on the environmental sustainability of the South Asian region from 1975 to 2020. Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and non-linear ARDL (NARDL) models are used to estimate the symmetrical and asymmetrical relationships among the variables. The findings of the ARDL models reveal that fossil fuel energy consumption and economic growth increase while remittances and FDI decrease carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the long run. According to the NARDL empirical findings, positive remittances and negative FDI shock reduce CO₂. Besides, the positive and negative fossil fuel energy consumption shock increases CO₂. Moreover, the positive (negative) economic growth shock increases (decreases) CO₂. The cumulative dynamic multipliers revealed the adjustment pattern to new long-run equilibria. The study recommends that policymakers regard remittances and FDI as policy instruments, particularly when developing long-term strategies and policies connected to environmental quality.

Environmental effects of ICT diffusion, energy consumption, financial development, and globalization: panel evidence from SAARC economies

The rising energy demand for information and communication technology (ICT) devices has piqued the interest of scholars and policymakers. Given that ICT devices are ubiquitous, any attempt to mitigate climate change should address the carbon footprint of the ICT sector. The present study examines the direct impact of ICT on the environment and the indirect impact through interaction with energy consumption, financial development, and globalization in SAARC economies from 2000 to 2020. Using econometric approaches robust to cross-sectional dependence, such as the Driscoll-Kraay estimator and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test, the study found that ICT, renewable energy consumption, and globalization significantly reduce CO₂ emission, whereas non-renewable energy consumption and financial development significantly increase emission. However, the interaction between financial development and ICT jointly reduces CO₂ emissions. Similarly, renewable energy and globalization reduce emissions from increased ICT usage. The study also confirms the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for ICT diffusion. The causality test indicates bidirectional causality between ICT and CO₂ emissions. Results suggest that SAARC economies can safely boost ICT and related applications to minimize emissions. They should also use renewable energy and green innovations in telecommunications to reduce their adverse environmental repercussions.

Exploring the nexus between energy consumption, income inequality and poverty, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emission: evidence from two step system generalized method of moments

The concern of environmental degradation, poverty, and income inequality remains a priority in achieving sustainable development goals. Countries are trying to reduce income inequality, alleviate poverty, and reduce environmental degradation which needs special attention. Consequently, this study explores the effect of income inequality, poverty, and energy consumption on carbon dioxide emission in the Belt and Road Initiative countries from 1996 to 2018. By employing the generalized method of moments, the findings show that income inequality, poverty, and energy consumption significantly increase carbon dioxide emission and lead to environmental degradation, while access to electricity significantly raises environmental quality. Economic growth positively affects carbon dioxide emission; however, the environmental Kuznets curve is valid. Income inequality exerts a moderating effect on carbon dioxide emission via per capita economic growth that reduces environmental degradation in the Belt and Road Initiative countries. The results of this study give important policy implications for the Belt and Road Initiative countries.

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 information and communication technology on carbon emissions in China: spatial effect and mechanism discussion

Information and communication technology (ICT) has exerted a great impact on the socio-economic development; however, this development has come with some potential influence on climate change. The academics are divided over this issue; some argue that ICT has contributed to carbon reduction, while others consider that ICT has increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Undoubtedly, the existing literature abounds in the relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions, but little attention has been paid to the spillover effect of ICT and CO2 emissions, especially in developing countries. Hence, with the panel data of 285 China's prefecture-level cities from 2004 to 2018, this study innovatively discusses the spatial and mechanism effects of ICT on CO2 emissions, further exploring the heterogeneous impact of ICT on CO2 emissions from multiple perspectives. The empirical results confirm the positive relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions and identify the spatial spillover effect in the relationship. Furthermore, notably, the intermediary effect of energy consumption on the impact of ICT on CO2 emissions is identified. Finally, due to the differences in the geographical position, population size, and urban agglomeration of prefecture-level cities in China, the impact of ICT on CO2 emissions varies in different cities. The findings not only contribute to advancing the existing literature but also have a significant and targeted policy guiding significance for the cities to maximize the favorable influences of ICT and promote the low-carbon transformation of the whole society.

Investigating global surface temperature from the perspectives of environmental, demographic, and economic indicators: current status and future temperature trend

Anthropogenic activities have increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions, which have observably increased global temperature. Recognizing it as one of the most critical issues caused by human activities, this study investigates the effects of environmental, demographic, and economic indicators on global and regional temperature. For this purpose, advanced and powerful machine learning techniques, such as ANN, CNN, SVM, and LSTM, are employed using the data from 1980 to 2018 of the aforementioned regions to predict and forecast global and regional temperatures in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. First, the predicted results were found very close to the actual surface temperature, confirming that environmental, economic, and demographic indicators are critical drivers of climate change. Second, this study forecasted global temperature from 2023 to 2050 and regional temperature from 2022 to 2050. The results also predicted a considerable increase in global temperature and regional temperature in the forthcoming years. Particularly, Asia and Africa may experience extreme weather in the future with an increase of more than 1.6 °C. Based on the findings of this study, the major implications have been that maintaining greenhouse gas emissions, balancing economic development, urbanization, and environmental quality while reducing fossil fuel energy consumption will ensure climate mitigation. The findings demand an alteration in human behavior regarding fossil fuel energy consumption to control greenhouse gas emissions, which is the most significant contributor to climate change.

The effect of transport services and ICTs on carbon dioxide emissions in South Africa

The rising trend in carbon dioxide emissions has implications on economic livelihoods through global warming and climate change. Attaining lower carbon dioxide emissions is therefore crucial for the realization of the sustainable development goals. South Africa happens to be one of the leading countries in ICT and transport infrastructure in the sub-Saharan African region. Oppossing arguments on how ICT and tranport services affect carbon dioxide emissions exist. However, their effects on the rising trend in carbon emissions in the country has not received much empirical attention. The study analyses the role ICTs and the transportation sector play in the carbon dioxide emissions of South Africa. Regression analysis of data for the 1989-2018 period shows mobile adoption, internet usage, and telephone usage increases carbon dioxide emissions while transportation services in the country helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Income positively affects carbon dioxide emissions while urbanization has negative effects. Implications from the findings include the urgent need to have electricity that power ICT devices and equipment be generated from renewable and sustainable sources rather than from heavy polluting sources.

Does green technology advancement and renewable electricity standard impact on carbon emissions in China: role of green finance

Renewable energy growth should be accelerated in order to meet our goal of carbon neutrality and peak carbon emissions. Laws like the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) are becoming increasingly important in producing renewable energy. Using green technology advancements is seen as balancing economic growth with environmental security. Though the connection between green technology advancements and CO₂ emissions is poorly understood, empirical research is lacking, especially in developing countries. Climate change action now falls under a single overarching contract, signed in Paris on November 4, 2016. Global warming mitigation aims to keep temperature increases to no more than 2 °C above preindustrial levels. By 2060, China intends to reach carbon neutrality by developing green technologies (GTI). Because of these interconnections, this research explores the relationship between green technology innovation (GI) and renewable energy investment (REI) in selected Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2019. GI, REI, urbanization, industrial value-added, and income per capita were all considered in the STIRPAT model. We used a panel of chosen regions to test two relatively new panel estimation methods empirically: "continuously updated fully modified" (Cup-FM) and "continuously updated bias-corrected" (Cup-BC). According to our findings, urbanization and green technological developments positively impact CO₂ emission reduction. The panel also finds that investments in renewable energy and the industrial sector fail to reduce pollution levels. A positive and negative coefficient of income per capita indicates that the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis is valid for the Chinese provinces. The results provide vital strategy insights and recommendations for the panel of experts and countries worldwide.

Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals through technological innovation: juxtaposing the economic and environmental effects of financial development and energy use

The BRICS comprise of group of emerging market economies which are committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals agenda of the United Nations by the end of the year 2030. In this regard, it is critically important for these nations to sustain their annual rise in their economic growth rates while simultaneously declining the rate of discharge of carbon dioxide emissions. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate how financial development, greater primary energy consumption, and technological innovation affect the prospects of the BRICS nations in achieving economic and environmental sustainability. Considering the period from 1990 to 2020 and utilizing methods that are robust to working with cross-sectionally dependent, heterogeneous, and endogenous panel data, the key analytical findings derived in this study reveal that higher levels of financial development, primary energy consumption, and technological innovation boost the per capita economic growth rates of the BRICS nations. Besides, technological innovation also moderates the financial development-economic growth and the primary energy consumption-economic growth nexuses by jointly boosting economic growth rates with these two macroeconomic variables. On the other hand, financial development and higher primary energy consumption are seen to boost the annual per capita carbon dioxide emission growth in these emerging nations, while technological innovation is observed to do the opposite. Furthermore, technological innovation is witnessed to moderate the nexus between energy use and economic growth to further reduce the emission growth rate in the BRICS nations. Accordingly, a set of policies are recommended to the concerned governments in order to enable the BRICS nations to attain the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

The relationship between renewable energy consumption, technological innovations, and carbon dioxide emission: evidence from two-step system GMM

Large amount of energy use for rising economic growth leads to high carbon dioxide discharge that worsens environmental quality which is a challenge for countries in achieving sustainable development. Improved level of technological innovations and renewable energy consumption might overcome the issue of environmental degradation and achieving sustainable development. This study examines the effect of technological innovations on renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in the belt and road initiative countries for the period of 1995 to 2019. Two-step difference and two-step system GMM models were employed for analysis where the results indicate that technological innovations increase renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission. The effect of renewable energy consumption and trademark applications on carbon dioxide is negatively significant that raises environmental quality. Furthermore, this study confirms the validity of Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the sample countries. The findings of this study have considerable policy implication for the sample countries on rising technological innovations and renewable energy consumption in achieving environmental sustainability.

Moving towards Environmental Sustainability: Can Digital Economy Reduce Environmental Degradation in China?

In the context of environmental sustainability and accelerated digital technology development, China attaches great importance to the prominent role of digital economy in addressing environmental degradation. Utilizing Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this study investigates whether the digital economy can improve China's environmental sustainability proxy by reducing carbon emission intensity. Based on the fixed effects model, the findings reveal that the digital economy has a significant negative effect on carbon emission intensity and the conclusion remains robust after conducting several robustness checks. However, this impact shows regional heterogeneity, which is more effective in resource-based eastern regions and the Belt and Road provinces. Moreover, mediating effect analyses indicate that the transmission mechanisms are energy consumption structure, total factor energy productivity, and green technology innovation. Furthermore, the results based on the spatial Durbin model (SDM) demonstrate that digital economy development has a significant spatial spillover effect. Finally, on the basis of results analysis and discussion, policy recommendations are provided for achieving environmental sustainability.

How does digital economy affect green total factor productivity at the industry level in China: from a perspective of global value chain

The digital economy is an important way to relieve current pressure on resources and the environment. Based on ecological modernization theory and global value chain theory, this paper adopts panel data of 17 manufacturing industries from 2000 to 2014, uses the non-radial directional distance function and the meta-frontier method to measure China's green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its sub-indices, and takes the embedding degree and embedding position as moderating variables and threshold variables to construct an econometric model to explore the relationship among the digital economy, global value chain, and GTFP. The results show that (1) the digital economy has a positive effect on GTFP in both time and space. And in terms of time, the digital economy mainly enhances GTFP by improving technical efficiency and narrowing the technology gap. (2) Global value chain embedding position positively moderates the relationship between the digital economy and GTFP; In terms of sub-samples, labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries show the same impact characteristics as the total sample. (3) Further, it is found that the digital economy and GTFP have nonlinear characteristics. There is a single threshold effect on the embedding position. When the embedding position is low, the digital economy is positively correlated with GTFP but not significant; when the threshold value is crossed, the digital economy can significantly promote GTFP. The conclusions of this paper are helpful to realize the digital economy to promote the green development of the manufacturing industry, and provide an effective reference for the realization mechanism of China's green economy transformation and ecological civilization construction in the post-pandemic era.

The role of financial development and institutional quality in environmental sustainability: panel data evidence from the BRI countries

The belt and road countries are mostly emerging and developing countries and heading to attain economic prosperity; however, this development process leads to ecological footprint. The factors of ecological footprint need to be identified and sound level of quality institutions might be helpful to overcome the issue of environmental degradation. Utilizing data from 1985 to 2019 of the belt and road initiative (BRI) countries, this study explores the effect of institutional quality indicators and financial development on carbon dioxide emission by including energy consumption and economic growth to the model. By using OLS, fixed effect, and two-step generalized method of moments, the results indicate that financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption increase carbon dioxide emission and degrade environmental quality. Three out of six institutional quality indicators that include government effectiveness, voice and accountability, and corruption control effect carbon dioxide emission positively, while the other three that include rule of law, regulatory quality, and political stability significantly rise environmental quality. The interaction terms of voice and accountability, government effectiveness, and political stability with financial development also give negative coefficients and reduce emission; however, the interaction of control of corruption with financial development is positive and the interaction of rule of law and regulatory quality with carbon dioxide is insignificant. The findings have considerable policy implication for the sample countries on each individual institutional quality indicator and financial institutions in rising environmental sustainability.

Does financial development and renewable energy consumption impact on environmental quality: A new look at China’s economy

Environmental problems such as climate change have brought to light the necessity of implementing more stringent environmental regulations and expanding the use of renewable energy sources in order to protect the environment and maintain a green ecosystem. As a result, this study aims to investigate the impact of China’s financial development and consumption of renewable energy on the country’s environmental quality from 2009 to 2019. Following the application of the ARDL method, this research begins by employing the NARDL (non-linear autoregressive distributive lag) model in order to analyze the asymmetry in the data that results from the presence of either positive or negative aspects of financial development. The results of the NARDL bound test indicate that the variables are long-term co-integrated. This enables the application of the ARDL methodology. The ARDL bound test findings show a positive relationship that exists over the long-term between financial development, trade openness, renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and CO₂ emissions. In addition, the error correction model (ECM) provides evidence that there is, at least in the short run, a connection between CO₂ emissions, financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption. Furthermore, according to a dynamic multiplier graph, the positive aspect of financial development has a greater influence on carbon emissions for a longer time than the shocks associated with a less favorable financial development. According to the findings, there does not appear to be any asymmetry between CO₂ emissions and financial development, which supports the idea that both the positive and negative aspects of financial development have an equally significant impact.

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.

Does the Moderating Role of Financial Development on Energy Utilization Contributes to Environmental Sustainability in GCC Economies?

This present research examined the association among carbon emissions, financial development, economic growth, natural resources, and energy usage in GCC nations within the environmental Kuznets curve framework by applying the datasets between 1995 and 2019. It used some empirical approaches, including second-generation unit roots and cointegration methods and method of moments quantile regression (MMQR). We detected a cointegrating interconnection between carbon emissions and financial development, energy usage, economic growth, natural resources, and squared of economic growth in the long term. Furthermore, the findings of the MMQR reveal that economic growth, financial development, energy usage, and natural resources degrade the environment, as well as proving the presence of the EKC hypothesis. Moreover, the results also demonstrated that financial development greatly moderates energy usage in order to attain environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the fixed-effect ordinary least squares, fully modified ordinary least squares, and dynamic ordinary least squares were also used in the study as a soundness check of the MMQR approach. The path of causality moves from financial development, economic growth, and squared of economic growth to CO2 emissions. Lastly, the causality direction runs from carbon emissions to energy usage. Based on these findings, the energy mix of the region must be revised by ensuring the promotion of sustainable energy sources and other energy-efficient technology in order to attain the quality of the environment.