Environmental concerns of financial inclusion and economic policy uncertainty in the era of globalization: evidence from low & high globalized OECD economies

Exploring the mediating role of financial inclusion in the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and CO2 emissions: A global perspective

This study examines the connection between economic policy uncertainty (EPU), CO2 emissions, and financial inclusion in developed and developing countries. Using the data from 2004 to 2021, advanced statistical techniques are employed, including Sobel test, to explore the mediating effect of financial inclusion on the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and CO2 emissions. There is a dearth of research examining these three variables together in a single study. Similarly, using financial inclusion as a mediator in the relation of EPU and CO2 emissions is a novel concept. This article employs a multi-indicator approach to measure key variables like CO2 emissions and financial inclusion. The results indicate that uncertainties in economic policies contribute in practices that lead to higher CO2 emissions in overall panel data of 44 countries. In addition, when considering the relationship between EPU and FI, the results indicate a significant and negative relationship between EPU and FI. If there is uncertainty in economic policies, it may lead toward challenges and hurdles in financial inclusion. When the mediating affect was checked, it was found financial inclusion acts as a significant mediator in the relationship between EPU and CO2 emissions, depicting that financial inclusion fosters the environmental quality and mitigates the potential harmful effects of environmental aspects of economic policy uncertainty. Therefore, policies that promote financial inclusion should be given top priority by governments, particularly in emerging nations. Financial literacy and bank service accessibility should be promoted. These measures would lessen the impact of staggering economic policies on CO2 emissions. It is necessary for policymakers to include environmental factors, specifically those relating to carbon emissions, into economic strategies. This requires encouraging industries to adopt eco-friendly practices and coordinating economic strategies with sustainability objectives.

Assessing the impact of geopolitical, economic, and institutional factors on China's environmental management in the Russian-Ukraine conflicting era

In contemporary times, geopolitical risk, and natural resources prices are susceptible due to the Russian-Ukraine conflict. In the meantime, emerging economies are struggling to explore the factors that could reduce ecological challenges and enhance environmental management. This research aims to analyze several economic, environmental, political, and institutional variables to ascertain their influence on greenhouse gas emissions in China. Covering the latest period from 1990 to 2022, various time series tests, including normality, stationarity, and cointegration tests. The results confirm that the variables studied have a stable pattern over time and are connected in the long run. The non-normal distribution of variables leads to opt novel moment quantile regression, where the results are tested for robustness via parametric approaches. The empirical results asserted that economic growth, natural resource prices, and trade significantly enhance ecological challenges (emissions). However, globalization, geopolitical risk, and institutional quality significantly reduce such environmental challenges. The results are robust, and both unidirectional and bidirectional causal associations confirm the importance of these variables in environmental management. Based on the results, this study recommends engagement in environmentally-friendly trading, investment in clean and green energy, and strengthening institutional quality for the region's environmental recovery.

Energy transition and environmental stability prospects for OECD economies: The prominence role of environmental governance, and economic complexity: Does the geopolitical risk matter?

The global increase in temperature and climate change signals the need for humanity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adopt eco-friendly lifestyles. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the UAE emphasized this, urging nations to commit to the Paris Agreement and pursue a greener, carbon-free future. In recent decades, climate change has become a critical issue, primarily because of the extensive use of fossil fuels and conventional energy resources. Economic growth has led to an increase in energy consumption and widespread environmental damage. The present study empirically explores whether any changes in environmental governance, economic complexity, geopolitical risk, and the interaction term influence energy transition and environmental stability in OECD economies over the period 1990-2021. Novel econometric methods, including Westerlund co-integration and the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), are employed to address complexities such as cross-sectional dependency and panel causality. The key findings from the MMQR technique showed a positive link between environmental governance and economic complexity in driving sustainable energy transitions, thus bolstering environmental resilience in OECD countries. However, economic complexity counterbalances environmental stability. Significantly, geopolitical risk acts as a moderating variable, enhancing the effects of governance and complexity on sustainable energy practices and environmental stability. Based on these insights, this study recommends strategic initiatives, including investment in eco-friendly technologies, to fast-track the shift to clean energy and strengthen environmental resilience in OECD countries. These strategies align with the broader objectives of global sustainable development, offering a path towards a greener and more sustainable future.

Analyzing the linkages of rural tourism, GDP, energy utilization, and environment: Exploring a sustainable path for China

Rural tourism spurs economic growth and jobs but harms the Environment due to energy demands. The study accounts for energy use, globalization, and economic growth to assess and mitigate rural tourism's environmental impact. For data covering 2001Q1 to 2019Q4, GMM approaches are utilized to analyze the environmental implications of rural tourist enterprises. The findings suggest that rural tourism-related catering services increased substantial and positive overall environmental quality, except N2O. However, food and beverage services negatively influence greenhouse gas emissions and only PM2.5 in air pollution. Sightseeing hurts greenhouse gas emissions while having a positive impact on air pollution. Furthermore, traveling has a considerable negative influence on CO emissions in air pollutants. Energy use only has a substantial influence on CO2 and CO, but GDP has a negative impact on N2O emissions. Globalization has a negative impact on CO2 and air pollutants other than PM2.5. Catering services associated with rural tourism positively affect overall environmental quality, excluding N2O emissions. Rural tourism's food and beverage services harm greenhouse gas emissions (including CO2) and air pollution (particularly PM2.5). Traveling has a significant negative impact on CO emissions, but sightseeing has a dual impact, both negative on greenhouse gas emissions and positive influence on air pollution. Furthermore, shopping and leisure have little impact on overall environmental quality in China. The crucial efforts' policy ramifications are addressed as well.

Links among population aging, economic globalization, per capita CO2 emission, and economic growth, evidence from East Asian countries

Population aging, economic globalization, and economic growth simultaneously cause changes in environmental quality, but so far no studies have integrated these key factors into the same environmental policy framework. Thus, this study uses the more robust Westerlund cointegration test and the augmented mean group (AMG) estimator (robust to cross-sectional dependence (CD), heterogeneity, and endogeneity) to estimate the long-term relationship between population aging, economic globalization, economic growth, and per capita carbon emissions in East Asian countries during the period 1975-2018. The analysis results reflect that population aging significantly reduces the long-term per capita carbon emissions of specific East Asian countries. However, energy generation and economic globalization make significant contributions to long-run per capita carbon emissions. Moreover, the impact of economic growth on long-term per capita carbon emissions is significantly positive, while the impact of square of economic growth on long-run per capita carbon emissions is significantly negative, thus validating the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for specific East Asian countries. The results of the causality test indicated a two-way causality between energy generation and per capita carbon dioxide emission, supporting the feedback hypothesis. There is also a two-way causal relationship between aging population and per capita carbon dioxide emission. Policy recommendations are discussed in response to the empirical findings of this study.

A causal link between financialization and ecological status: a novel framework for Asian countries?

Sustainable finance and green trade are essential to accomplish the green growth agenda. Though the literature prevails, little is known about the inclusive influence of financialization and trade openness on ecological status rather than just focusing on air pollution or inconclusive element. This study aims to analyze the role of financial dimensions and trade openness with environmental performance in the context of three panels of Asian countries consisting of low, middle, and high-income over the period 1990-2020. The estimated outcomes from the novel panel, the Granger non-causality technique, demonstrate that financialization further contributes to environmental deterioration instead of preserving the environmental quality. Regarding the low and middle-income economies, the authorities should enhance gains from trade openness to develop energy efficiency and ecological status policies. In the case of high-income Asian countries, they are even more desperate to consume energy and ignore the ecological challenges. The findings of this research offer various policy suggestions to accomplish sustainable development objectives.

A step towards achieving SDG 2030 agenda: Analyzing the predictive power of information globalization amidst technological innovation-environmental stewardship nexus in the greenest economies

Through the transition of novel ideas, products, technologies, and business models, info-globalization facilitates the flow and expansion of cross-border information and resources. In the meantime, this stimulates the potential of informational globalization and the internet for environmental and other technological advancements, and assists to the realization of cleaner and greener production and consumption. However, prior studies have completely disregarded this facet of globalization. Thus, this novel study evaluates the role of technological innovation (TIN) and information globalization (ING) in predicting ecological footprints (EFP) and carbon emissions (CO2) in the world's top ten greenest economies. Besides, this study also unveils the moderating role of TIN and ING for environmental sustainability. The novel research employs non-parametric causality-in-quantiles approaches on quarterly data from 1994Q1 to 2019Q4 in order to quantify for causality-in-mean and causality-in-variance, since there may be no causation at first moment, but higher-order interdependencies may exist. The findings revealed that TIN and ING possess significant predictive potential for both ecological footprint and carbon emissions, indicating asymmetric predictability over environmental sustainability. Moreover, TIN and ING asserted a significant interaction role when it comes to predicting pollution levels in chosen countries. Overall, it is essential to note that natural resource conservation and pollution mitigation via green and technical innovation become a dilemma since pollution has no boundaries and will always stoke fires beyond them. The provision of financial and R&D assistance, as well as the use of mass and social media to raise awareness not only in their own regions but also in neighboring countries, might contribute to the achievement of SDG 13 and Cope26's ambition of cutting pollution by 2030.

Relationship between financial inclusion and carbon emissions: International evidence

The nexus between financial inclusion and carbon emissions is becoming an increasingly important topic, given the augmented awareness of the negative impacts of climate change and carbon emissions on the environment and human health. In this study, we examine the impact of financial inclusion on carbon emissions using the STIRPAT framework for 102 countries from 2004 to 2020. We measure financial inclusion as a composite index, using principal component analysis (PCA) from five financial inclusion proxies. Our robust panel regression estimations suggest an N-Shaped relationship between financial inclusion and carbon emissions. The N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) implies that the impact of financial inclusion on carbon emission is nonlinear and changes from an inverted U-shaped to a U-shaped. This finding is strong in developing countries and weak in advanced countries. It is also robust across our two normalized measures of financial inclusion as well as across different estimation techniques. These findings suggest adapting a universal environmental strategy that enhances financial inclusion through strong and accessible financial systems, particularly for low-income countries. Our results further suggest that government authorities and policymakers need to develop well-directed and inclusive financial policies that consider the varying levels of governance, regulations, and income across countries.

Environmental quality and energy transition prospects for G-7 economies: The prominence of environment-related ICT innovations, financial and human development

Energy transition and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are fundamental to achieving sustainable development and ensuring a bright and healthy future. To contribute to the empirical literature on these objectives, this study explores the long-term influence of environment-related ICT innovations (EICT) on energy transition and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in G-7 economies for the first time, while considering financial development (FD) and human development (HD). Additionally, the study investigates the moderating role of FD with EICT and HD in energy transition and GHGE. Using a Cross-Sectional Augmented Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) technique to tackle the issues of cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity, the study evaluated data from 1990 to 2020. The results indicate that EICT, FD, and HD have a significant positive effect on long-term energy transition, and mitigate GHGE in G-7 economies. Furthermore, the influence of EICT and HD on energy transition and GHGE is amplified in the presence of financial development, as evidenced by the moderating effect of FD. Based on these facts, the study suggests various policy measures, such as investing in clean technologies and education, to promote the energy transition and environmental quality in G-7 economies to achieve sustainable development goals.

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 current developments and future prospects of solar photovoltaic industry in an emerging economy of India

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is a novel and eco-friendly power source. India's vast solar resources present tremendous solar energy use prospects. The solar PV growth in India has spanned over fifty years, with a significant increase during the past decade. To meet the requirements of the rapidly expanding PV power market in India, it is essential to define, scrutinize, and comprehend the industry's development path and features. This study comprehensively analyzes the current state of solar resources, the future growth prospects of the solar PV sector, and the major factors that influence the industry's smooth growth. The study relates to the following five major factors: technological R&D, industrial planning, rules and regulations, power pricing guidelines, and projects enticement programs. To explore these elements, a multifaceted approach consisting of an inclusive literature research, statistical data inquiry, legislation review, and regulatory and policy analysis is undertaken. Analyzing the usual occurrences, the development process, and the features of the five elements permits the growth of development route models. The findings of this study provide information regarding the current development and future prospects of PV power sector in India. In today's rapidly changing social, economic, and technological landscapes, policymakers have the opportunity to gain better understanding from the ever-evolving practices and new advances in the business paradigm.

The asymmetric impact of financial development on ecological footprint in Pakistan

The current research aims to investigate the impact of financial development on the ecological footprint in Pakistan from 1980 to 2018 by controlling economic growth, the square of economic growth, and energy consumption. The structural break unit root test results show that all variables are stationary at first difference. The bound F-test for cointegration affirmed the indications of a long run connection between the parameters in the discussion. Moreover, we use the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag model to check the non-linear links in establishing the associations between financial development and ecological footprint. The outcomes suggest an asymmetric connection between financial development and ecological footprint because positive and negative shocks in financial development have different effects on ecological footprint. The findings reveal that the impact of the positive shock on financial development is negative but insignificant. Besides, the impact of the negative shock on financial development is positive and statistically significant. It implies that a 1% increase in the negative shock of financial development causes a 0.0877% rise in ecological footprint. The coefficient of economic growth is significant at a 1% level of significance. In the long run, a 0.4471% increase in ecological footprint is associated with a 1% increase in economic growth. However, the coefficient of the square of economic growth is negative but insignificant. Thus, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is not valid in Pakistan. Likewise, energy consumption positively affects the ecological footprint. The results of short run estimates correspond to the long run estimates. As a policy suggestion, the current study suggests expanding green financial development in Pakistan by emphasizing more on Sustainable Development Goals.

Impact of economic policy uncertainty, geopolitical risk, and economic complexity on carbon emissions and ecological footprint: an investigation of the E7 countries

There is a plethora of studies on the energy-consumption-environmental-quality nexus. Nevertheless, empirical research on the impact of global uncertainties on environmental quality is lacking. This study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU), geopolitical risk (GPR), and economic complexity on the ecological footprint and carbon emissions of E7 economies for the period 1995-2018. Our empirical results indicate a long-term relationship between economic complexity, EPU, GPR, energy consumption, and two environmental quality indicators, carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint. In the long run, a divergence from disequilibrium takes 3 years to return to the equilibrating position. The environmental effects of key determinants are different in terms of direction, magnitude, and time span. Specifically, an inverted U-shape describes the relationship between economic complexity and environmental degradation in the long-term only, which confirms the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The environmental effects of EPU and GPR are harmful in the short run but prove to be beneficial in the long run. Higher energy consumption significantly degrades environment quality as expected. Based on these findings, the paper provides several useful suggestions for policymakers in the context of E7 countries.

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.

Analyzing inclusive green growth in China: a perspective of relative efficiency

Inclusive Green Growth (IGG) has important reference value for China's ecological civilization construction and transformation of economic development. Therefore, this study assesses China's IGG level from the perspective of relative efficiency. The IGG efficiency (IGGE) was measured at the provincial level in China from 2000 to 2020 by using Super-Epsilon-Based Measure (EBM) model that considers undesirable outputs. The spatiotemporal pattern of IGGE was analyzed by kernel density estimation and spatial autocorrelation. The results indicate a fluctuating trend from 2000 to 2020 for the IGGE of China, and significant differences between regional and interprovincial IGGE were observed. On average, the eastern region presented the highest efficiency, while the level in the central regions was lowest. There is a positive spatial autocorrelation in the IGGE distribution, and the agglomeration of spatial distribution fluctuated during the study period. The IGGE has spatial spillover effects at the provincial level according to the spatial Durbin model. Among the influencing factors, the spatial spillover effects of industrial structure, government administrative capability, and industrialization level are significant. The regression results also confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve effect between IGG and economic growth in China. Finally, some implicit policies can be established based on the empirical analysis.

Investigating the moderating role of economic policy uncertainty in environmental Kuznets curve for South Africa: Evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach

South Africa, one of the emerging markets and fast-developing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa recognised for varying world's natural assets on the international market, has recorded significant economic growth in the previous several years. However, aside from the ecological repercussions of energy generation, how economic uncertainties moderate the effects of energy intensity, renewable and non-renewable energy usage, and economic complexity on the environment has largely gone unnoticed. As a result, this paper addresses an important empirical vacuum by exploring the moderating influence of economic policy uncertainty in the environmental Kuznets curve for South Africa from 1960 to 2020. Results from the novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations framework reveal the following key findings: (i) economic policy uncertainty accelerates environmental degradation in both the short and long run; (ii) economic growth (as measured by the scale effect) increases environmental degradation, whereas the square of economic growth (as measured by the technique effect) slows it down, confirming the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis; (iii) environmental quality is deteriorated by energy intensity, economic complexity, non-renewable energy usage, and trade openness; (iv) the use of renewable energy and technological innovation increase environmental quality; (v) whereas the moderating effects of economic policy uncertainty on the environmental impacts of energy intensity, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption result in an increase in environmental destruction, its moderating effect on environmental implication of economic complexity plays an important role in improving environmental quality. These findings permit us to draw important policy recommendations for South Africa for improving environmental quality.

A step towards green economic policy framework: role of renewable energy and climate risk for green economic recovery

According to the World Bank, energy efficiency is a critical facilitator of most Sustainable Development Goals. Its contribution to CO2 emission reduction is astounding. Environmentalists have recently emphasized the essential need to determine energy efficiency causes. This research broadens the debate's horizons by proposing additional possible energy efficiency factors using data from the Chinese economy. From 1990 to 2020, we examined the influence of investment in renewable energy resources, financial inclusion, industrial production, and trade openness on China's energy efficiency and climate risk. Additionally, this study is added to the literature by examining the causal relationships between variables while considering the temporal dimension. The findings indicate that industrial production, financial inclusion, public R&D on renewable energy, and trade openness contribute significantly to China's energy efficiency and climate risk. All other factors, except industrial production, are positively associated with energy efficiency. The path of causality is established from energy efficiency and climate risk to financial inclusion, industrial production, renewable energy, public research and development budgets, and trade openness. According to the findings, changes in energy performance have frequency-changing impacts on all variables. Policymakers believe that the financial system must be strengthened since this will significantly influence renewable energy.

Impact of financial development and renewable energy consumption on environmental sustainability: a spatial analysis in CEMAC countries

This research aims to examine the impact of financial development and renewable energy consumption on CO₂ emissions in CEMAC for the period 1990-2018. The study employs spatial analysis approach. As previous investigations have overlooked the effects of the spatial interactions in demonstrating environmental sustainability across nations, this paper gives the first comprehensive spatial analysis of CO₂ emissions among countries. To eliminate possible bias and inefficiency in estimated coefficients, the spatial autoregressive model is used to account for both geographical dependency and individual heterogeneity. The results revealed that under economic distance weights, the values of the spatial lag coefficients of financial development (FD), foreign direct investment (FDI), gross domestic product (GDP), and renewable energy consumption depict negative and statistical significance effects regarding spatial fixed effects in the SDM model, while trade openness (TO) shows a negative and insignificant impact. Other decomposition effects results show that FD had both direct and indirect significantly negative effects on environmental sustainability in CEMAC. This indicates that FD has a significant negative effect on CO₂ emissions in both the local country and its adjoining countries. On average, a unit change in FD in each country and its neighboring countries would reduce dioxide carbon by 0.071 and 0.066, respectively, and that of the whole region would be 0.137 units, meaning that environmental sustainability will improve. However, GDP recorded significantly positive direct and indirect effects on environmental sustainability. The direct and indirect effects of FDI on CO2 in both the local and neighboring countries were negative but statistically insignificant. On the other hand, the direct and indirect effects of TO on environmental sustainability were positive and statistically significant. Along with significant and statistical effects of financial development, GDP, FDI, renewable energy consumption, and TO, the findings reveal the presence of a positive spatial dependency of CO₂ emissions in CEMAC. This implies that policymakers in CEMAC countries lean to rely on their environmental sustainability decisions to assign financial and investments to that of neighboring nations. Furthermore, the findings indicate that adjacent countries' FD and REC have a considerable impact on a country's CO₂ emissions. Our findings offer significant political implications, implying that financial development and renewable energy consumption should be strengthened to meet environmental sustainability goals.

The nexus of financial development, technological innovation, institutional quality, and environmental quality: evidence from OECD economies

The present study investigates the effect of institution quality, technological innovation, and financial development on environment quality using 37 OECD nations from 1998 to 2018. The cross-sectional dependence (CD) and Lagrange multiplier (LM) techniques are used to measure the cross-sectional dependence. The second-generation panel unit root tests and panel cointegration tests are applied to examine the unit-root properties and long-run association existence between variables. Finally, we employed the two-step (SYS-GMM) methodology to estimate the coefficient values. The findings showed that financial development has a positive effect on selected carbon (CO2) emission dimensions. When the moderating term is introduced, it was identified that institutional quality and technology innovation conditioning effects are crucial between financial development and CO2 emission. Our evidence-based study provides significant results for technology innovation and institutional quality moderating role in reducing CO2 emissions in OECD economies. Our findings are also robust to alternative measures, which could be useful for policymakers to formulate long-term and short-term strategies and policies for a better sustainable environment.