Revisiting the Role of Fiscal Policy, Financial Development, and Foreign Direct Investment in Reducing Environmental Pollution during Globalization Mode: Evidence from Linear and Nonlinear Panel Data Approaches

Hindrance or facilitator? The economic consequences of national demonstration eco-industrial parks in China

Many countries attach great importance to the green, low-carbon, and circular development of industrial parks. China is one of them and has entered an exploration journey of national demonstration eco-industrial parks (NDEIPs). However, the impact of the transformation of industrial parks into NDEIPs on local economic development still remains a mystery. To address this issue, we develop an empirical study using a combination of the multi-period difference-in-differences method and the propensity score matching method based on the panel data for 266 cities in China from 2001 to 2021. The results show that industrial parks becoming NDEIPs promotes cities' economic development. This conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests, such as the reverse causality test and the placebo test. Moreover, the park heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences vary according to differences in levels, industry types, life cycle phases, and the degree of foreign firm agglomeration. The city heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences differ based on administrative levels, innovation capabilities, technology industrialization, and environmental friendliness. The spatial heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences differ according to geographical location and whether situated in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The policy upgrading heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences differ during the process of policy upgrading and transformation. In addition, the mechanism tests reveal that green innovation, human capital level, and firm attractiveness mediate the relationship between industrial parks becoming NDEIPs and cities' economic development. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the economic effects of the transformation of industrial parks into NDEIPs, and provides a reference for the government on how to maximize these economic effects.

Asymmetric role of green energy, innovation, and technology in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions: evidence from India

The primary cause of environmental degradation, which poses a danger to the long-term viability of the ecosystem, is the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). For this reason, the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26) established a decarbonization goal in response to this ecological concern, for which all economic players have a responsibility. India is among the participants who have a target set for them to decarbonize their economies by the year 2060 via the use of green energy and the advancement of science and innovation. Nevertheless, the asymmetrical effect of green energy, technology, and innovation on India's decarbonization program was not sufficiently explored in the prior study; hence, this research aims to fill this literature vacuum by considering India's GHG emissions from 1990 to 2020 by leveraging the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The findings reveal the asymmetric influences of variables of interest on GHG emissions during the short and long term and under positive and negative shocks. Regarding the positive shock, long-term findings demonstrate that innovation and technical know-how grow GHG emissions and accelerate environmental degradation. However, a negative shock in innovations and technological know-how is opposed to a positive shock and improving environmental conditions. Further, positive shocks in green energy boost environmental effectiveness by reducing GHG secretions in India. In contrast, the negative shock in green energy deteriorates the environment by triggering GHG releases. These factual findings compel the Indian government to prioritize green technologies in addition to green energy generation to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and meet rising energy demands.

The effects of green finance on enterprises' green innovation under the "dual carbon" goal: an exploratory study based on fsQCA

With increasing environmental degradation, green finance and green innovation have attracted the attention of policymakers and industries. However, the impact of green finance on corporate green innovation is still unexplored. Based on signal theory, this study analyzes the mixed effect of green finance on green innovation in enterprises. We use data from 31 provinces (333 cities in total) in China in 2021 and use a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method. Green finance factors include green credit, green bond, green investment, green insurance, and green subsidy. Our research findings are as follows: Firstly, green innovation in businesses is not a product of a single antecedent situation but rather the interaction of several antecedent conditions. Green insurance and green subsidy are the core prerequisites for high green innovation in enterprises, and green credit plays an auxiliary role. Secondly, when there is a lack of green insurance, green bonds and green subsidies play a key role, leading to a high level of green innovation in businesses. Thirdly, the impact of various antecedents on the level of green innovation performance in enterprises is asymmetric. Policymakers should fully leverage the effect of green subsidy signals and minimize the risks of green innovation by expanding financing channels. Our findings enrich the literature on green innovation and finance and provide beneficial practical insights for green innovation in enterprises.

Greening the BRI countries through economic and political reforms

Preserving the environment and promoting sustainable development are essential objectives for a state aimed at improving the standard of living for present and future generations. The depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation are serious concerns for policymakers worldwide. However, to fulfill its role effectively, a state must have strong institutional capacity. Studies have shown that inadequate governance and weak institutional quality are associated with environmental degradation, lower economic growth, unfavorable development outcomes, and increased inequality. Economic and political reforms are necessary to overcome these issues, while the concept of institutional reforms to save the environment is novel and hardly discussed in the earlier literature, especially in the context of BRI countries. So, this study explores the impact of economic and political reforms on the environment by applying a difference-in-differences approach to the data of 45 BRI economies from 2000 to 2022. The empirical findings reveal a negative relationship between economic and political reforms on ecological footprints, emphasizing the need for institutional reform to preserve the environment in the BRI region. Institutional reforms have a significant contribution to environmental sustainability by fostering better governance, political stability, and an environment conducive to reforms-driven decision-making. These reforms can help address the environmental challenges associated with large-scale infrastructure and economic development projects like the BRI, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable future.

The usage of spatial econometric approach to explore the determinants of ecological footprint in BRI countries

Protecting our environment is not a choice, but a responsibility we owe to future generations. Numerous studies examined the factors affecting the environmental deterioration but this research takes a step further by employing a spatial dependence model to evaluate spatial impact of ecological footprint and its contributing factors, particularly productive capacities which is hardly investigated in economic literature of BRI economies. For the purpose, the annual data of 54 BRI countries is analyzed for the time period from 2000 to 2018 by employing various econometric techniques. The outcomes of the Durbin model express that neighboring economies significantly affect the ecological footprint of an economy, highlighting the need for a regional policy framework to address environmental issues. It is also found that improving the productive capacities, green investment and democratic quality decrease the ecological footprint while per capita GDP, globalization, and development of financial sector increase the environmental deterioration. The significant interdependence of the countries within the region, a regional policy and vision must be implemented to safeguard the environment. The research findings can facilitate policy formulation aimed at promoting environmental sustainability, with particular focus on enhancing productive capacities and green investments.

Is fiscal deficit 'curse' or 'haven' for environmental quality in India? Empirical investigation employing battery of distinct ARDL approaches

Undoubtedly, throughout the past half-century, environmental quality has emerged as a significant obstacle to both economic and social endeavors. Recent local and international policy debates have focused on environmental deterioration and global warming, but how governments balance economic growth and environmental sustainability is still enigmatic. For this reason, we have examined the determinants of environmental quality in India from 1972 to 2021. More specifically, we have investigated whether the fiscal deficit is 'curse' or 'haven' for environmental quality (CO2) in India. Moreover, this study deliberated four other predictors, comprising technological development (TIN), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), urbanization (Ub), and human capital index (HCI). In order to attain this objective, a range of econometric estimation techniques are employed to ensure the validity and reliability of the outcomes. For instance, we have employed a battery of ARDL approaches, such as standard ARDL, nonlinear ARDL, and multiple threshold NARDL approaches. In light of our research findings, we will be focusing directly on the examination of the NARDL and MTNARDL outcomes. This is due to the empirical evidence indicating the existence of asymmetric effects resulting from FD on CO2 emissions in India. The NARDL approach reveals that the consequence of fiscal deterioration is more pronounced, and the influence of fiscal progress is mild in terms of CO2 emission growth. Further, the outcomes of the MTNARDL approach revealed that the size of the extremely low changes in FD is much higher than the extremely high changes in FD in both models. This implies that as the FD rises, CO2 ascends more significantly, and when the FD lowers, CO2 declines progressively. In a nutshell, FD has a long-run positive and asymmetric impact on CO2 in India; thus, we may conclude that FD is considered the 'curse' for CO2 in India. Furthermore, TIN, HCI, and Ub have detrimental effects on CO2, whereas FFC stimulates CO2 in India. This research work provides some important policy implications for environmentalists, economists and macroeconomic policymakers to promote a green and healthy environment.

Does the individual effect of resource rents imperative in the attainment of environmental sustainability? Evidence of Southeast Asian economies

This study investigates the impact of natural resource exploitation on environmental sustainability in Southeast Asian economies, while testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) inverted U-shaped hypothesis, a model which suggests an initial increase in environmental degradation with economic growth followed by a decrease at a certain level of income. Utilizing World Development Indicators data from 1995 to 2018, the research dissects the long-term influence of various resource rents, namely coal, oil, and forest. The research highlights the indispensable role of renewable energy in maintaining ecological balance. Results indicate that while coal rent exacerbates environmental degradation, forest and oil rents prove eco-friendly, although this is only confirmed in fully modified OLS estimation. The study underscores the importance of forest rents in achieving environmental sustainability. Renewable energy emerges as vital for promoting sustainable low-carbon practices. In line with the EKC hypothesis, the study finds that economic growth initially increases carbon emissions, but eventually reduces them. It calls for appropriate measures to manage resource exploitation, ensure renewable energy availability, alleviate energy poverty, and curb deforestation, thereby mitigating ecological damage.

Examining the impact of environmental technologies, environmental taxes, energy consumption, and natural resources on GHG emissions in G-7 economies

The focus areas for COP-27 include fast-tracking our worldwide evolution to decarbonization in the energy industry and clean energy as the stockholder's effort to restrict global warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above the levels of pre-industrial. After this COP-27 summit, most of the developing countries will provoke challenges in accomplishing their targets of a carbon neutrality and sustainable economy with the minimum possible greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this regard, the G-7 countries, despite prosperous cautiously, have not prospered in certifying ecological welfare in tandem. Nevertheless, these economies cannot endure their green growth attainments without instantaneously safeguarding their ecological features. To do this, green technologies and environmental taxes are vital apparatuses that can assist in accomplishing carbon neutrality objectives. Consequently, the current study investigates the influence of green technologies, environmental taxes, natural resources, renewable, and fossil fuel energy on GHG emissions in G-7 nations from 1994 to 2020. After confirming the cross-sectional dependency issue, this study uses a battery of second-generation panel methods to estimate the empirical findings. The estimated evidences discovered that green technologies, environmental taxes, and renewable protect environmental quality in the long run. However, natural resources and fossil fuel energy increase the GHG emissions levels. Furthermore, this study suggests that G-7 economies should be more focus on green technologies, imposing environmental taxes eco-innovation related developments, and promote renewable energy projects through the sustainable alteration of their consumption and production processes.

The role of monetary and fiscal policies in determining environmental pollution: Revisiting the N-shaped EKC hypothesis for China

The equilibrium between environmental quality and economic growth is one of the contemporary objectives of fiscal and monetary policies in the case of China. In this study, we investigate the extent of the existence of the N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and measure the collision of fiscal and monetary policy on carbon emissions within the economic growth perspectives that China is witnessing. This study examines the dynamic nexus between monetary supply, government expenditure, and carbon emissions in China over the spanning from 1980 to 2019. The findings demonstrate that the money supply reduces carbon emissions in the short- and long-run. Precisely, a 1-unit augmentation in monetary policy tool (money supply) will significantly reduce the pressure on the environment by 0.29332 unit in the long-run and 0.79311 unit in the short-run. In contrast, the fiscal policy instrument (government expenditure) contributes to the increase in carbon emissions. Specifically, a 1-unit increase in government expenditure will increase the carbon emission by 0.17835 and 0.48247 units in the long-run and short-run, respectively. Additionally, the result also confirmed the N-shaped EKC hypothesis. Particularly, at the initial stage of economic growth, there are 1.58659 and 4.29197 unit increas in carbon emission in the long-run and short-run, respectively. However, after taking the square of economic growth, this reduces the environmental pollution by 0.3018 and 0.81665 units in the long-run and short-run, respectively. Finally, the cubic form of economic growth shows the 0.01755 and 0.04747 units increase in the pollution level in the long-run and short-run, respectively. Moreover, the study also found the presence of a causality link between government expenditure, economic growth, and carbon emissions. These findings will aid policymakers in implementing fiscal and monetary policies that promote long-term development while lowering carbon emissions.

The relevance of international tourism and natural resource rents in economic growth: Fresh evidence from MINT countries in the digital era

The Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey (MINT) economies are recognized to be bedevilled with many obstacles hampering the economic expansion. In the meantime, many of these problems have not been comprehensively scrutinized in the context of the countries. In recent years, natural resources and tourism development have significantly increased in MINT economies. This study scrutinizes the relationship between natural resource rent, mobile use, foreign direct investment, international tourism, and economic growth in a balanced panel data of four MINT nations from 1971 to 2019. The key finding of this study shows that there is a positive and significant impact of foreign direct investment, natural resource rent, mobile use, and international tourism on MINT's economic growth. Furthermore, the tourism-led growth hypothesis is supported empirically in the case of MINT nations. Furthermore, the Granger causality analysis demonstrates that unidirectional causality is discovered from economic growth to tourism. The study recommends that MINT nations implement some practical tourism strategies to push up economic development, and in turn economic growth will positively contribute to the tourism sector.

Effects of public expenditures on environmental pollution: evidence from G-7 countries

In this study, the effect of public expenditures and, their sub-components on environmental pollution is discussed in G-7 countries. Two different periods were used in the study. These are the period 1997-2020 for general public expenditure, and the period 2008-2020 for public expenditure sub-components. For cointegration, Westerlund cointegration test was used, and according to the analysis result there is a cointegration relationship between general government expenditure and environmental pollution. Panel Fourier Toda-Yamamoto causality test was used to determine the causality relationship between public expenditures and environmental pollution and the result indicates that there is bidirectional causality between public expenditures and CO₂ on a panel basis. For models estimation, System the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method was used. The findings of the study indicate that general public expenditures decrease environmental pollution. Considering at the results of the sub-components of public expenditures, housing and community amenities, social protection, health expenditure, economic affairs, recreation, culture & religion expenditures have a negative effect on environmental pollution. Other control variables generally  have a statistically significant effect on environmental pollution. Energy consumption and population density increase environmental pollution but environmental policy stringency index, renewable energy and GDP per capita reduce environmental pollution.

Meditation for role of productive capacities and green investment on ecological footprint in BRI countries

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a development strategy with a focus on enhancing connectivity, promoting economic growth, and improving people's livelihoods. However, it has also raised concerns about its effect on the environment. This study explores the impact of productive capacities and green investment in mitigating the ecological footprint of BRI countries. The role of productive capacities on ecological footprint is very little discussed in earlier studies. This study investigates the effect of productive capacities index and green investment on ecological footprint for 42 BRI participating countries covering the time span of 2000-2018. Different methods are applied to tackle the problem of dependence of cross sections; then Lagrange multiplier bootstrap method is applied to find co-integration. The long run relationship is uncovered by "augmented mean group" (AMG) and "common correlated effects mean group" (CCEMG). The findings of the study show that both productive capacities and green investment have a significant negative impact on ecological footprint, depicting that promoting sustainable development and environmental protection is feasible through increasing productive capacities and investing in green technologies. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers, who should focus on promoting sustainable environment by prioritizing productive capacities and green technologies.

Environmental impact of globalization: The case of central and Eastern European emerging economies

Against the backdrop of piling environmental concerns in the modern era of globalization, this study aims to check the validity of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) in Eastern European emerging countries and the relevance of globalization. The study targets to reduce the lack of consensus on the globalization-economic complexity-environment in European countries. Besides, we also intend to explore the existence of an N-shaped economic complexity-related Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) controlling for the bearing of renewable energy on environmental degradation. For analytical purposes, both parametric and non-parametric quantile regression approaches are employed. Overall, we find a non-linear relationship between economic complexity and carbon emissions, and N-shaped EKC is verified. Globalization and renewable energy consumption boost and inhibit emissions, respectively. More importantly, the results confirm the moderating role of economic complexity in neutralizing the carbon emissions-boosting effect of globalization. On the other hand, the non-parametric findings show that the N-shaped EKC hypothesis does not hold for high emissions quantiles. Furthermore, for all emissions quantiles, it is found that globalization boosts emissions, economic complexity, and globalization jointly curbs emissions and renewable energy curbs emissions. Based on the overall findings, some vital environmental development policies are recommended. The conclusions support shaping policy options promoting economic complexity and renewable energy as key factors in mitigating carbon emissions.

Asian logistics industry efficiency under low carbon environment: policy implications for sustainable development

Logistics is a crucial part of every business. The logistics sector not only contributes significantly to Asian economies but also has far-reaching effects on ecological and social concerns. Therefore, it is important to examine the factors that can affect the logistics performance of the country. Hence, the primary objective of the study is to estimate the impact of CO₂ emissions, ICT, and human capital on the logistics performance of the 20 Asian economies. In order to investigate the relationship between the variables, we have employed the OLS, 2SLS, GMM, and panel quantile regression. The estimates of CO₂ emissions and GHG emissions are significantly negative in 2SLS and GMM methods, implying that environmental pollution hurt logistic performance. The estimates of ICT and education are positively significant, suggesting that increased use of internet and higher education rate are crucial in improving logistics performance. In the panel quantile regression model, the estimates of CO₂, internet, and education are insignificant at most quantiles except at a few higher quantiles. Thus, governments should invest in the development of efficient logistics infrastructure to achieve sustainable development.

Exploring industrial agglomeration and green finance impact on regional environmental pollution in China based on system-GMM model

The boom of building various industrial agglomerations in China has continued for many years. The relationship between industrial agglomeration and environmental pollution is the core issue of this paper. At the same time, green finance is a new financial development model that takes environmental protection as the core, and effectively promotes the sustainable development of the environment, the economy, and society while maintaining its own sustainable development, so green finance is a major direction for future financial development. This paper selects the data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2004 to 2020 as the research object and uses a system-GMM method to verify the relationship between industrial agglomerations, green finance on regional environmental pollution. It provides theoretical reference for improving global climate change and reduces environmental pollution (EP), concludes as follows. (1) Industrial agglomeration can exacerbate EP level in China, and also exacerbates EP in the western region, but the effect of industrial agglomeration on EP in the eastern and central regions has been insignificant. (2) Green finance can improve environmental pollution. The intensity of EP in economically less developed regions is more sensitive to green finance policies. (3) The correlation effect of industrial agglomeration and green finance can improve environmental pollution, i.e., green finance has an important role in improving EP. However, there are significant differences in different regions. The interaction term between industrial agglomeration and green finance with a non-significant positive coefficient in the eastern region, and it is non-significant negative coefficient in the central region, and a significant negative coefficient in the western region. The work has important theoretical value for achieving the goal of regional sustainable development and green transformation.

Can new energy demonstration city policy reduce carbon emissions? A quasi-natural experiment from China

Against achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 context in China, the new energy demonstration city policy (NEDCP) has a crucial function to perform in promoting resource utilization efficiency, building the green development policy system, and facilitating carbon emission reduction. However, existing research has rarely investigated the contribution of NEDCP on carbon reduction. To investigate the policy effect of NEDCP, the differences-in-differences (DID) model is introduced to quantify the influence of NEDCP on carbon reduction, taking a statistical sample of 285 Chinese cities over the period 2005-2017 on the basis of exploring the intrinsic mechanism of NEDCP on carbon emissions. The statistical results reveal that NEDCP significantly inhibits carbon emissions. NEDCP's dampening impact on carbon reduction is more pronounced in the eastern area but not in other areas. City size and resource endowment heterogeneity results suggest that NEDCP significantly inhibits the output of carbon emissions in non-resource-based and large cities but insignificantly in resource-based and small- and medium-sized cities. Finally, we conclude that policy-makers should not only broaden the scope of NEDCP implementation continuously but also design relevant policy combination tools following the basic characteristics of each city to provide institutional guarantees for achieving carbon emission reduction.

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

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

Ensuring environmental inclusion in developing countries: the role of macroeconomic policies

In every society, there exist disadvantaged groups who have failed constantly to take part in the development of the economy and reap the benefits of economic growth as well. Along with economic and social factors, environmental factors are also accountable in making inclusion a challenge for the marginalized group. Contaminated drinking water, inappropriate sanitation systems, and pollution are the factors that affect health and wellbeing of the poor class by affecting their productivity. Thus, the lack of a clean environment leads the poor section towards further poverty and income inequality. Since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes three components to achieve sustainable development, namely economic, social, and environmental, this study inspects the role of macroeconomic policies in ensuring an inclusive clean environment in developing countries. Moreover, it considers the composite effect of fiscal policy and monetary policy on environmental inclusion by including interactive terms. This investigation uses FE-2SLS on a panel of 51 developing countries for the period of 1995-2019 to analyse the impact of macroeconomic policies on environmental inclusion. The study provides empirical evidence that fiscal and monetary policy has the potential to ensure an inclusive clean environment in developing countries. The findings imply that the macroeconomic policy actions depend on each other. Furthermore, governments in developing regions are required to cut nondeveloping expenditures and use expansionary monetary policy to promote green growth.

Ecological footprint in Bangladesh: Identifying the intensity of economic complexity and natural resources

Recent years have seen a spike in the number of academics utilizing the ecological footprint as a stand-in for environmental depletion because of its extensive nature and its ability to capture the worsening of the ecosystem. Thus, this article brings a new effort to analyze the effect of Bangladesh's economic complexity and natural resources on its ecological footprint over a long period, from 1995 to 2018. Using a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model, this paper suggests that a more complex economy has a significantly positive effect on ecological footprint over the long term. If the economy is simplified, it has less impact on the environment. For Bangladesh, an increase in economic complexity of 1 unit leads to an ecological footprint increase of 0.13 units, while a drop in economic complexity of 1% causes an ecological footprint decrease of 0.41%. Results also demonstrate that both positive and negative changes in natural resources contribute to rises in environmental quality in Bangladesh, which negatively influences the country's ecological footprint. Quantitatively, a 1% increase in natural resources reduces the ecological footprint by 0.14%, whereas a 1% decrease in resources has the opposite effect, reducing it by 0.59%. In addition, an asymmetric Granger causality test confirms the existence of a unidirectional causal link from ecological footprint to a positive partial sum of natural resources and from a negative partial sum of natural resources to ecological footprint. Finally, the findings point to a two-way causal relationship between the size of an economy's ecological footprint and the complexity of its economy. Policymakers should boost technological advances and lessen operational costs by adopting an innovative Research and development framework and devoting more cash to natural resource policies that promote an adaptable ecological footprint.

The role of economic growth, information technologies, and globalization in achieving environmental quality: a novel framework for selected Asian countries

This study examines the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT), GDP growth, population, and globalization on the environmental quality of 31 Asian economies (i.e., categorized as lower middle-income, upper middle-income, and high-income groups Asian economies). This analysis employed the time series data from 1990 to 2018. The robust second-generation econometric technologies are used in this analysis. This study applied the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) premises under the extended "STIRPAT model" to add population and GDP (per capita) and information technologies (ICTs) by employing ecological footprint. To estimate, the estimators of this study used the CS-ARDL estimates, and for robustness check, this study used the augmented mean group (AMG) test. The co-integration test found the long-run association between ecological footprint and its main determinants. The results of CS-ARDL have confirmed the imperative role of information technologies in mitigating the ecological footprint in the higher, upper-middle, and lower-middle-income economies of Asian economies. The statistical findings of this study are robust to diagnostic tests and alternative estimation proxies and techniques. Moreover, policymakers need to identify the direction of the information technology-ecological footprint nexus through cooperation in combating climate change with financial assistance in the ICT sector.

The spatial impact of digital economy on energy intensity in China in the context of double carbon to achieve the sustainable development goals

Using the provincial panel data of China during 2012-2019, the present study employed spatial Durbin error model to explore the spatial effect of the digital economy on energy intensity. The results show that both digital economy and energy intensity have spatial autocorrelation, showing the distribution characteristics of spatial aggregation. The digital economy has a significant negative influence on energy intensity. The result shows a significant spatial spillover effect of digital economy on energy intensity, and the development of the digital economy in neighboring regions reduces energy intensity in the central region. Additionally, industrial structure, urbanization, energy price, and foreign direct investment have a heterogenous impact on energy intensity. Thus, it is crucial to give importance to the development of the energy intensity, plan the spatial layout of the digital industry as a whole, drive the coordinated growth of the regional digital economy, quicken the upgrading of industrial structure, promote urbanization, perfect the energy price formation mechanism, raise the entry threshold for foreign direct investment, to effectively reduce the energy intensity, and facilitate the smooth realization of the "double carbon" goal.

Asymmetric role of non-renewable energy consumption, ICT, and financial development on ecological footprints: evidence from QARDL approach

This study examines long-term connection and short-term dynamics concerning ecological footprint and six independent variables, named fossil fuel consumption, energy consumption, financial depth, trade, GDP, and ICT for Pakistan's duration from 1960 to 2019. The "QARDL-quantile autoregressive distributed lag" technique is used for time series and panel estimation. The QARDL model exhibits the connection between variables over the quantiles range, reflecting varying stages of Pakistan's ecological footprint. The results exhibit noticeable quantile-varying co-integration connection among ecological footprint and six independent variables. The results accentuate the significant influence of energy consumption, strong financial position, economic growth, and ICT technologies on ecological well-being, which assists in understanding short and long-term impact on the environment in Pakistan.

Industrialization, energy consumption, and environmental pollution: evidence from South Asia

This study has been carried out to analyze the contribution of industrialization and energy consumption by keeping the role of urbanization on environmental pollution for South Asia. The study used Augmented Mean Group (AMG), Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) analysis, Westerlund co-integration test, and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test for the panel of South Asia covering the period 1984-2016. To measure the status of environmental pollution, CO₂ is taken as a proxy indicator, and industrialization is measured by the industrial value-added. The results of AMG demonstrate that industrialization and energy consumption are significant indicators of environmental pollution and these empirical findings are also confirmed by the CCEMG model. The long-run co-integration between industrialization, energy use, urbanization, capital, and environmental pollution is also confirmed by the Westerlund co-integration test. The findings of the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test also confirmed the bidirectional causality between industrialization and pollution. A unidirectional causality is observed from energy consumption to pollution. The study suggests formulating policies for energy-efficient technologies in the industrial sector and the high-speed pattern of urbanization.

The impact of economic uncertainty, economic growth and energy consumption on environmental degradation in MENA countries: Fresh insights from multiple thresholds NARDL approach

This paper explores the influence of economic policy uncertainty on environmental quality in selected MENA countries depending on an augmented STIRPAT model over the period 1970-2020. ARDL model and its extensions like augmented ARDL, augmented NARDL, and MTNARDL models are applied to detect any possible effect from uncertainty index to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The empirical results reveal the validity of environmental Kuznet curve (EKC) curve in all the countries. Moreover, the results show that the uncertainty index enhances environmental degradation, especially in extremely large changes in Morocco, Turkey, and Iran. Besides, the findings reveal that energy consumption and population in the entire sample escalates CO₂ emissions over the study period. Consequently, policymakers in MENA countries should consider the economic uncertainty index, particularly in light of its recent rise, when developing any strategies and plans aimed at improving environmental standards, as well as the need to encourage the use of renewable energies in order to increase the percentage of their contribution to total energy consumption.

Analyzing the determinants of sustainability of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects: an interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a game changer initiative of South Asian Pacific Rim. It has great importance for almost all Asian countries. Its success is expected to dictate the economic development of the stakeholders. The aim of this study is to evaluate the essential determinants deriving the sustainability of CPEC projects. The design of the study comprises of the review of literature, data collection, and analysis. Population under study is the folk of stakeholders of CPEC. Sampling envisages on purposive sampling design, i.e., 14 experts from within the stakeholders. Primary data is collected in the field setting through a survey questionnaire appropriate for the study. ISM is used for modelling and MICMAC for analysis and classification using inductive approach. The findings of the literature survey show that there are 23 prime determinants of sustainability of CPEC projects. The results of ISM show that 13 determinants are at Level-I, nine at Level-II, and one determinant namely "economic globalization" is at Level-III being the most critical and driving determinant. The findings of MICMAC show that only one determinant is classified in independent quadrant, and all the remaining determinants are in linkage quadrant, whereas, no determinant is shown in autonomous and/or dependence quadrant. But most of the determinants have potential to be classified in dependent and independent quadrants. It is intimately evident that the results of MICMAC corroborate the results of ISM. It is useful for folk of the stakeholders by way of developing an understanding about the multitude of determinants, intra-determinant relations, prioritizing the determinants for policy decisions, and/or for building future studies. This study has some limitations, e.g., the study uses qualitative approach and answers what and how questions that do not quantify the relations or tell the cause of indicated relations.

Beyond COP26: can income level moderate fossil fuels, carbon emissions, and human capital for healthy life expectancy in Africa?

The growing concerns on the need to moderate the unceasing surge in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions believed to be detrimental to the environment and wellbeing of the human race have generated concerted efforts from governments and policymakers worldwide. Among many other factors, fossil fuels which remain the most consumed energy resource have been identified as the primary culprit to demeaning life expectancy. To this end, this study probes how income mediates between fossil fuels and carbon emissions to promote life expectancy in selected oil-abundant African economies from 1980 to 2019. The roles of human capital through investment in education are considered in the current inquiry. The empirical evidence is anchored on second-generation tests comprising cross-sectional dependence, slope homogeneity, and Westerlund cointegration tests. The empirical model is estimated based on advanced panel techniques comprising cross-sectional dependence autoregressive distributed lag model, common correlated effects mean group, augmented mean group, and quantile regression. Findings from the study reveal that fossil fuels and carbon emissions reduce life expectancy. Besides, income level promotes healthy life expectancy while equally subduing the negative impacts of fossil fuels on it. Additionally, the life-improving roles of human capital are empirically confirmed. Based on the findings, withdrawing the subsidies on fossil fuels and making aggregate income inclusive are among the key policies formulated.

Does technology innovation matter for environmental pollution? Testing the pollution halo/haven hypothesis for Asian countries

China's GDP grew 9% annually during the end of the twentieth century. This economic growth degrades China's ecology, making it the world's greatest polluter. This position forced China to invest in developing nations and to take advantage of low-cost labor and increased pollution quotas from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to meet sustainable development objectives without environmental harm. The significance of this study is, first, this study examines the influence of Chinese outward foreign direct investment, gross domestic product, trade openness, technological innovation, and energy consumption on carbon emissions in Asian countries (Turkey, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, India, Indonesia, and Cambodia). Secondly, the panel autoregressive distributed lag cointegration (ARDL) technique was used on data from 2000 to 2020 to investigate the pollution halo/haven hypothesis and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for south Asian nations. This analysis demonstrated that Chinese outbound foreign direct investment increases carbon emissions and confirms the pollution halo concept. Except for India and Pakistan, these nations show a U-shaped link between Chinese foreign direct investment and carbon emissions. So, policy implications recommended by the results of this study are foreign direct investment inflows with modern and ecofriendly technological transfer and enhancement in labor, and conservational management practices will benefit emerging countries to attain their sustainable development goals.

Is air pollution detrimental to regional innovation? An empirical heterogeneity test based on Chinese cities

Nowadays, innovation seems to be the inevitable choice to achieve stable economic growth. However, the negative impact of air pollution on health and economy makes air pollution an important factor in regional innovation, which deserves our discussion. The overall regional innovation level from 2014 to 2019 has an upward trend, while the overall air pollution has a downward trend during the period, which provides foundation for our research. Based on the data of 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2014 to 2019, this paper uses the fixed effect and mediation model to verify the impact and mechanism of air pollution on regional innovation. The results show that the increase in air pollution, measured by the air quality index, significantly inhibits regional innovation. Air pollution has significant funds crowding-out effect and human capital loss effect, thereby decreasing the regional innovation level, which means innovation funds and researchers play a conductive role between air pollution and regional innovation. In heterogeneity analysis, it is found that the detrimental effect of air pollution on regional innovation is significant in eastern and central China, in large- and medium-sized cities, and in cities with poor or general air quality. It indicates that developed and large-scale regions should pay more attention to air pollution control. For polluted regions, more emphasis and endeavors are needed to address air pollution problems. Besides, the inhibitory effect is more severe on incremental innovation rather than on radical innovation, which deserves the attention of enterprises engaged in incremental innovation. Therefore, we propose that targeted environmental policies and effective measures should be developed to improve air quality in the long run. Moreover, policymakers could provide strong support for innovation grants, talent subsidies, and rewards and encourage clean technological innovation through short-term trade-offs between heavily polluting and low polluting enterprises.

Exploring the mediating role of environmental strategy, green innovations, and transformational leadership: the impact of corporate social responsibility on environmental performance

This study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on environmental performance by utilizing data collected from ten big industrial organizations operating in Lahore, Pakistan. The research data was organized using the cross-sectional process. Of the 316 questionnaires completed by employees, 226 were considered valid, and these responses were used for further PLS analysis. The findings of the research indicate CSR has a moderate impact on environmental performance. Furthermore, the result revealed that green innovation, green capability, environmental strategy, and green transformational leadership are a better ecological performance example that could mediate CSR and environmental performance. This research study postulates the existing resource-based view (RBV) theory for overall directors of industrial organizations and representatives to achieve and manage CSR, green innovation, green capability, environmental strategy, and green transformational leadership to find optimal environmental performance. Thorough study will provide valuable inputs to the overall directors and managers of the enormous industrial sector to support their internal strategies such as CSR, green innovation, green capability, environmental strategy, and green transformational leadership to expand the environmental performance (to help directors, managers, policymakers, and executives to take appropriate/profitable decisions in the future).

Assessing environmental concern and its association with carbon trade balances in N11 Do financial development and urban growth matter?

Expanding of complex global supply chains enhances the role of global trade in the deterioration of the environment by production redeployment across nations, which is tightly connected to emission transmission or the carbon trade balance. Although much earlier studies have assessed the link between emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and their influenced variables in the past few years, no substantial attention is available in the literature review concerning the influence of carbon trade balance on the environment in N11 economies. Therefore, via economic progress, renewable/fossil energies consumption, financial development, and urbanization growth as control variables, the influence of the carbon trade balance on emissions of CO₂ in N11 countries is explored from 1990 to 2020. The Co-integration and causality relationships using Panel PMG ARDL and Granger causality techniques are investigated to reach our goal. All of the variables investigated degrade the environment in the long run, whereas renewables alleviate CO₂. As a result, carbon emission countries' regulators should step up their efforts to support green energy subsidies and carbon taxes, as well as, when supply chains outsource emission-intensive production units to partner nations, they should encourage positive externalities of innovative green technologies.

Effects of the green supply chain management practices on firm performance and sustainable development

The idea of sustainable development and green supply chain management is considered at the underlying stage in the research and academic fields, particularly in the rising economies of Asia. This research investigates the persuasive force of the firm's green supply chain management practices with the mediating part of the competitiveness and investment recovery. Data was collected from the 12 ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 leather industries based in Pakistan. We distributed the 350 questionnaires at 12 leather industries, and the questionnaire was also transferred on Google Forms, and 50 questionnaire mail to different individuals who work in leather industries of other cities of Pakistan; out of 350 questionnaires, 183 were filled, and the remaining questionnaires were incomplete, and out of 50 emails, we get the response of 33 emails, and evaluated the model of this study by using the partial least square structural equation modeling PLS-SEM. We interact with the employees of leather industries and try to understand how they are following the green practices in their firms. This research uses resource dependence theory as the theoretical base. This study elaborates how the organization's behavior is affected by the external resources of the corporation. The actual outcomes uncover that green supply chain management activities positively impacting the firm's performance, where competitiveness and investment recovery play a mediating role among intra-organizational green practices.

Hydropower, human capital, urbanization and ecological footprints nexus in China and Brazil: evidence from quantile ARDL

The relations among ecological footprints, biocapacity per capita, gross domestic product per capita, natural resources, urbanization, human capital, and hydroelectric consumption are analyzed from 1971Q1 to 2017Q4 for Brazil and China. The novel quantile autoregressive distributive lag method was employed to analyze the long-run and short-run dynamics of environmental degradation. The findings revealed that economic growth has a positive role in the environmental degradation of both countries. However, human capital, natural resources, and hydropower have heterogeneous effects across quantile distribution and between the two countries. Based on the quantile dynamics of environmental degradation, the present study mentions policy implications for sustainable development.

Do Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy, and Environmental-Related Technologies Asymmetrically Reduce Ecological Footprint? Evidence from Pakistan

Can Pakistan’s environmental-related technologies (ERT) and nuclear and renewable energy mitigate environmental pollution? As global warming and climate change rise dramatically, economies shift to friendly energy substitutions and eco-friendly technologies, contributing to the mitigation of environmental contamination. In this scenario, policy and academic analysts have paid more concentration to renewable and nuclear energy deployment with ERT installation. To achieve this goal, the present study scrutinizes the asymmetric effects of nuclear energy, renewable energy, and ERT on the ecological footprint of Pakistan. The current research applies a novel non-linear autoregressive distributive lag method from 1991 to 2020. The results of the current analysis show that negative changes in nuclear energy increase emissions levels in the long run, while positive and negative changes in renewable energy deployment significantly overcome the burden on the environment. Similarly, positive and negative changes in ERT reduce pollution levels in the long run. Moreover, these long-run outcomes are analogous to short-run findings for Pakistan. Therefore, there is a dire requirement to increase the consumption of renewable and nuclear energy sources and take advantage of the noteworthy impact of an uncontaminated atmosphere through clean ERT potentials.

Determinants of renewable energy sources in Pakistan: An overview

For successive economic growth of any society, sustainable energy plays a pivotal role. Considering this view, developing countries are facing serious challenges of energy at the present time. However, policymakers have outlined numerous policies to satisfy energy demand but still remain incapable to fill the gap between demand and supply. At a halt, 11% of the world population lacks access to different formulae of energy supply and access. Additionally, in different time periods, distinct policies have erupted for the progress of renewable energy. It includes especially those households of the far-flung areas having no gas and electricity availability. However, the basis of this research study is to determine the significant renewable energy source for Pakistan's economy with the economic benefits such as job creation in energy sector. This research study aims in finding ways to secure energy supplies and achieving economic benefits. The research study concludes by engaging renewable energy technologies with the least operational and externality cost that is the utmost choice in the future. In policy perspective, Pakistani government should take actions in favor of renewable energy and technological innovation that necessitates biomass resources to be tied to non-sustainable prolonged investments.

Fresh insight through the VAR approach to investigate the effects of fiscal policy on environmental pollution in Pakistan

This study explores the impact of fiscal policy on environmental pollution, employing the vector autoregressive (VAR) model on annual data from 1976 to 2018 in Pakistan. We estimate the effect of total expenditure, total revenue, education expenditures, health expenditures, and other dynamic determinants such as gross domestic product (GDP), private investment, market rate, and crude oil price on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in particular. Further, this study creates impulse response functions to check the fiscal shocks, coordinating with five scenarios of public expenditures, segregated into government revenue, and education and health expenditures. The outcomes indicate that government spending in the public sectors (education and health) had a diminishing effect on CO₂ emissions, whereas government revenue that was collected from taxes improved economic growth but at a cost of environmental pollution. In Pakistan, a fiscal policy scenario has been implemented that increases government expenditures to alleviate the effects of CO₂ emissions. Therefore, policymakers should provide the right direction for the feasible distribution of resources in every public sector through a powerful structure, which will ultimately reduce the overall level of environmental deficit.

The impact of environmental regulations on export trade at provincial level in China: evidence from panel quantile regression

Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2017, this paper constructs a quantile regression econometric model to analyze whether China's environmental regulation has an impact on export trade and to verify whether the Porter hypothesis has been valid in China in recent years. The results show that in the short term, environmental regulations have a restraining effect on export trade, while in the long run, due to the existence of innovation efficiency, environmental regulations will change from having a restraining effect to a promoting effect on export trade. Strict environmental regulations will reduce the production cost of Chinese products, further improve the export competitiveness of Chinese enterprises, and promote export trade. The empirical results verify the conclusion that the Porter hypothesis is confirmed in China. The following three suggestions are proposed for China's exports to promote the win-win of China's green development and export trade: promote the realization of international and domestic double circulation, avoid becoming "pollution shelters" and support technological innovation in environmental protection industries.

Environmental pollution and agricultural productivity in Pakistan: new insights from ARDL and wavelet coherence approaches

The most serious challenge to the global facade is figuring out how to mitigate pollution levels without compromising agricultural productivity. The spillover effect of environmental change is predicted to be very high, although it will differ by region and crop. Considering this view, this study tries to address this issue by adopting comprehensive methodologies to assess the influence of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, agricultural labor, land, feeds, and fertilizers on agricultural productivity in Pakistan from 1961 to 2018. The autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and wavelet transform coherence (WTC) approaches are applied to estimate the long-run and short-run elasticity estimates. The empirical findings discover that CO₂ emissions, agricultural land, labor, feed, and fertilizers exert high pressure on agricultural productivity which is backed up by the WTC findings. Furthermore, the gradual shift causality test results reveal the presence of a unidirectional causality relationship between all regressors and agriculture productivity, demonstrating that all the factors significantly influence agriculture productivity. Moreover, these findings are robust to different robustness tests that we perform to test the reliability/accuracy of our core results. From policy perspectives, regulations must be developed to explore a practicable expansion strategy that includes the use of efficient fertilizers and feed at optimal levels, as well as environmental protection through public-private investment in the agricultural sector.

Impact of globalization on CO2 emissions based on EKC hypothesis in developing world: the moderating role of human capital

In the last 3 decades, developing economies continuously have increased their manufacturing industries with an impressive growth rate. Rising the trend of globalization, these underdeveloped economies are receiving economic growth at the cost of environmental degradation. In this context, this study investigates the impact of globalization and human capital on carbon emissions (CO₂) in the 78 developing economies from 1990 to 2016. Our findings based on robust system generalized method of moments (GMM) indicate that human capital and political globalization significantly reduce environmental degradation while economic, social, and overall globalization decrease the environmental quality. Furthermore, our empirical results support the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. However, globalization (without interactive term with human capital) appears to have no significant association with CO₂ emissions, while (with an interactive term) it appears to have a significant negative influence on environmental quality. Moreover, our results are robust to various robustness checks; I have performed for scrutiny the consistency of our findings. This study also offers useful policy implications for stakeholders, policymakers, and governments for promoting environmental sustainability.

Travel-Business Stagnation and SME Business Turbulence in the Tourism Sector in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, apart from having an impact on public health, has also caused the stagnation of travel-bureau businesses and the management of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector. This study aims to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic as a determinant of travel-business stagnation and turbulence in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the influence of human resources, business development, and product marketing on the productivity of the travel and SME business, the direct and indirect effects of business innovation, economic digitization, and the use of technology on business stability and economic-business sustainability. This study uses an explanatory sequential qualitative–quantitative approach. Data were obtained through observation, in-depth interviews, surveys, and documentation. This study is focused on assessing the efforts made by travel-agency-business actors and SMEs in responding and adapting to changes in the business environment, both internally and externally. Human resources, business development, and product marketing together affect the productivity of travel agents and SMEs with a coefficient of determination of 95.84%. Furthermore, business innovation, economic digitization, and the use of technology simultaneously affect business stability with a coefficient of determination of 63.8%, and business stability affects the sustainability of travel and SMEs with a coefficient of determination of 67.6%. This study recommends a strategy for travel-agency-business sustainability and the stability of SMEs’ economic-business management towards increasing economic growth in the North Toraja Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Green Technology Innovation, Globalization, and CO2 Emissions: Recent Insights from the OBOR Economies

This study explores the connection between technological innovation, globalization, and CO2 emissions by controlling the critical influence of information and communication technology (ICT) and economic growth in a panel of One Belt One Road (OBOR) countries from 1991 to 2019, utilizing advanced and robust econometric strategies (second generation). In addition, this study also uses an interaction variable (TI*GLOB) to check the interaction role of technological innovation on the linkage between globalization and CO2 emission, besides their direct effect on CO2 emissions in OBOR countries. The outcomes revealed that the linkage between technological innovation and CO2 emissions is negative, and statically significant in all the regions (e.g., OBOR, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, MENA, Europe, and Central Asia). Moreover, the results of globalization show a significant positive relationship with CO2 emissions in OBOR and South Asia region. Nevertheless, it significantly negatively affects environmental pollution in East and Southeast Asia, MENA, Europe, and Central Asia. The results of TI*GLOB indicate that, for the OBOR sample, East and Southeast Asia, and Central Asia, the moderation effects of technological innovation with globalization are significantly negatively associated with CO2 emissions. However, in MENA and Europe, the interaction effect is a significant positive. The coefficient of ICT for OBOR, Europe, and Central Asia are positive and statistically significant; however, for East, Southeast Asia, and MENA regions, these results are statistically negative. Furthermore, the findings are robust, according to various robustness checks that we have performed for checking the reliability of our main findings. The study establishes numerous polities and makes various recommendations, in light of relevant conclusions.