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Green Finance and Globally Competitive and Diversified Production: Powering Renewable Energy Growth and GHG Emission Reduction
... Climate change, overpopulation, environmental degradation, and economic constraints are the biggest hurdles to achieving sustainable development goals [1]. Global warming caused by human activity is also a threat to the world's sustainable economic growth [2]. Business companies are one of the main consumers of human natural resources and also major polluters worldwide. ...
Green transparency motivates organizations to decrease environmental hazard emissions, improve ecological safeguarding behavior, and increase environmental performance. However, the current literature ignores the cultural and organizational factors behind green transparency behavior, which cannot answer stakeholders how to reduce barriers to green transparency to achieve sustainable goals. This study collected data from 207 Chinese companies listed on three stock exchanges (Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen) through an online survey to unfold the interplay between green transparency and contextual and organizational factors. The collected data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The analysis revealed that environmental regulations, digitalization, innovation, and gender diversity significantly affect organizational sustainability culture. The findings also revealed that all these factors directly affect the green transparency of Chinese companies. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that organizational sustainability culture mediates the relationship between green transparency and all other study constructs. Short-term training programs regarding sustainability, mutual group discussion without gender discrimination, and supporting the use of digital tools may significantly develop a sustainability culture in the company and can improve firms’ green transparency.
Green credit policy (GCP) has dual attributes of being both an "environmental regulation" and a "financial instrument". Understanding its role in facilitating industrial green transformation is crucial. However, there is limited theoretical and empirical evidence on the impact of GCP on industrial green transformation. This research fills this gap by comprehensively investigating the impacts and mechanisms of GCP on industrial energy intensity (EI) in China, considering both incentive and constraint effects. Theoretically, the environmental and financial impacts of GCP are merged into a unified analytical framework based on a heterogeneous enterprise model. Empirically, diverse empirical methods, including difference-in-differences (DID), difference-in-differences-in-differences (DDD), and mediating effects models, are adopted to examine whether GCP can promote green innovation or accelerate financial constraints. Results show that (1) GCP significantly decreases EI, especially among high-polluting enterprises (HPEs). The impact of incentives is far greater than that of constraints. (2) Regarding the incentive effect, energy substitution and innovation offsets exert a primary influence on reducing EI. (3) The constraint effect is caused primarily by rising financing and pollution abatement costs. (4) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the inhibiting effect of GCP is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises, underdeveloped financial markets, and abundant energy endowments. This paper provides a theoretical framework and new empirical evidence for policymakers to design effective policies for promoting industrial green transformation.
Over the past half-century, scientists from many different areas have been investigating how to switch to renewable energy, especially in the context of a circular economy. Numerous articles have discussed the scientific aspects of developing technology to support this process. This systematic literature review and bibliometric study aim to fill in research gaps by looking at trends, challenges, and possible future directions for the use of renewable energy in the context of a circular economy, especially in the fields of business, management, and economics. The study analyzed 294 peer-reviewed articles using the R Studio-Biblioshiny package version 4.1.2 software. The challenges of integrating renewable energy technologies within a circular economy include financial constraints, such as a high initial investment, the lack of an adequate regulatory framework and government support, the intermittent availability of renewable energy sources, the scarcity of resources and components for renewable energy generation technologies, relatively low energy conversion efficiency, the challenge of increasing consumer awareness, and the environmental impact of technological waste. The study suggests that future research should focus on financial models and policy incentives that can encourage businesses and investors to take advantage of renewable energy. The study also recommends exploring sustainable alternative fuel technologies, optimized waste-to-energy conversion, the increased efficiency of bioenergy conversion, more efficient solar panels, improved energy storage capacity, the life cycle management of solar panel devices, and the development of innovative business models to facilitate industrial symbiosis.
Introduction
Green finance plays a crucial role in driving sustainable development and has the potential to effectively reduce pollution emissions, thereby positively impacting the environment. However, in the agricultural sector, China, unlike developed countries, primarily relies on a small-peasant economy, and the green financial system is not well-developed. As a result, the specific emission reduction effects and mechanisms of green finance on agricultural non-point source pollution (ANSP) remain unclear. The objective of our research is to explore the internal mechanisms through which green finance influences ANSP, with the aim of providing valuable policy insights to the government and promoting the green transformation of agriculture for enhanced food security.
Methods
This study employs an empirical analysis of green finance on ANSP using provincial panel data from China spanning the years 2005 to 2020. By utilizing robust data and applying empirical analysis, we can derive scientifically credible conclusions. We introduce a relative indicator to assess the trend of ANSP and investigate the pathways through which green finance operates using heterogeneity analysis, intermediary effect evaluation, and threshold effect analysis.
Results and Discussion
The empirical findings reveal the following insights: (1) While green finance demonstrates a significant reduction effect on ANSP, this effect varies across different regions. Specifically, the impact of green finance on ANSP reduction is more pronounced in areas characterized by strong comprehensive agricultural strength, high levels of economic development, and predominantly focused on plantation agriculture. (2) From a mechanistic standpoint, green finance substantially diminishes ANSP by facilitating agricultural scaling and promoting the adoption of green technologies. (3) The threshold effect analysis demonstrates that the mitigation effect of green finance on ANSP exhibits non-linear characteristics, with a double threshold effect observed. As the level of green finance development increases, the mitigation effect is further enhanced.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the appropriate implementation of green finance can effectively enhance the agricultural environment and ensure food security. Considering the heterogeneity of the role of green finance and the presence of threshold values, it is crucial for the government to tailor green finance policies according to local conditions. This research not only expands on previous studies but also offers valuable insights for the government in formulating green finance policies. Furthermore, it provides a viable pathway for reducing ANSP while serving as a reference for other developing countries aiming to establish green agriculture and sustain food system security.
World relied heavily on non-renewable sources in energy production for a long time. Although renewable energy investment is costly, especially for developing countries, the energy continuity provided by these sustainable sources can lower investment costs dramatically in the long run. Improvement of factors like economic growth and social welfare are believed to increase awareness of sustainable energy production. In this context, this paper examines the relationship between renewable energy production and the economic growth of Germany, France, which are low energy-dependent countries, and Turkey, which is heavily dependent on external sources in terms of energy. The paper uses annual data between 1970-2018. The stationarity of variables was tested with methods developed by Zivot and Andrews (1992), and Enders and Lee (2012). Cointegration analysis with structural breaks developed by Gregory and Hansen (1996) was used to evaluate the relationship between variables. The results from the regime shift model indicate that structural reforms caused a big regime shift in the relationship between energy production and economic growth in Germany and Turkey whereas the reforms did not lead to such a shift in France. The results of the causality analysis indicate a unidirectional causality from GDP to RN for Turkey and Germany.
This study investigates the relationship between internet users, a proxy for digital human capital, and CO2 emissions in a sample of Post-Communist countries over the period 1990-2019. The results suggest that internet diffusion is negatively and significantly correlated with CO2 emission even after controlling for other economic antecedents of environmental degradation. Moreover, using fixed effects two-stage least squares estimator, we document that internet has causal impact on carbon emissions. In the full specification, a 10 percentage points increase in internet use leads to 4.2% decrease in CO2 emissions across Post-Communist countries. These results remain intact even when we introduce additional control variables in the model and conduct analysis on sub-samples. The papers highlights that human capital leads to sustainable development in developing countries.
Renewable energy holds a remarkable role in clean energy adaptation due to the much lower carbon footprint it releases compared to other fossil fuels. It also has a positive impact by slowing down the rate of climate change. The study has examined the links between renewable and non-renewable energy use, CO2 emissions and economic growth in developed, developing, and LDCs and Economies in Transition between 1990 and 2019 in 152 countries. Granger-causality has been used as the methodology to investigate the link between the variables. The findings of the existing studies on the relationship between the consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and economic growth are inconsistent, indicating that there may or may not be a relationship between the two factors. Apart from having a few empirical studies so far have examined the link between the above-mentioned variables, analysis has yet to encompass all the regions in the four sub-groups discussed above. The results indicated that no Granger-causal relationship exists between GDP and REC outside of Economies in Transition. Additionally, the GDP and CO2 of all countries have a one-way relationship. Nevertheless, research indicates that GDP and CO2 have a bi-directional link in Economies in Transition, a uni-directional relationship in developing countries, and no meaningful association in developed and LDCs. Therefore, it is essential to emphasise actions to lower CO2 emissions and develop renewable energy while also stimulating the economy. Ultimately, more nations should choose renewable energy sources to build a more sustainable future.
One phenomenon observed during environmental problems was increased green finance in most countries. This study explores the mechanisms of green finance, sustainable competitiveness, and supply chain among SMEs. Self-administered online questionnaires were completed by 738, 314, and 210 senior managers respectively from China, Malaysia, and Singapore. SPSS and Smart PLS-SEM software were used to test the hypotheses. This study aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 11, i.e., sustainable cities and communities, and Sustainable Development Goal 13, i.e., climate action. This study echoes the China government's "double-carbon" target initiative presented in the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Keywords: Human Capital Index in Malaysia, Early Education, Economic growth, Future Productivity eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER & cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), College of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v8i24.4635
The theory of capabilities describes the need for a country to adopt different capabilities to enhance its productivity through the production of diversified and complex goods. These capabilities are not independent of the human, physical, institutional, legal systems, and gross value chain (GVC) of a country. Therefore, the current study analyzed the relationship between GVC, institutional quality, human capital development, and the economic fitness of different countries. This study sed
panel data from 131 countries for the period of 2007–2019. The generalized method of moments (GMM), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), and quantile regression showed that GVC, institutional quality, and human capital development have a big positive effect on a country’s economic health. The quantile regression results also showed that GVC, institutional quality, and skilled human capital have a positive and significant effect on the economic fitness of all three quantiles (25th, 50th, and 75th). Overall, the study concludes that greater GVC participation, political stability, effective government, good rules of law, high regulatory quality, and good human capital all enhance the country’s capabilities to produce diversified and complex goods that increase its market share in the global competitive market. Thus, the government should formulate policies in such a way that they promote participation in GVC to overcome the limitations of resource availability and poor technology. In addition, it should be ensured that effective policy implementation is in place to facilitate business without unjust means, violence, etc.
The role of green finance is to develop green industry mechanisms in areas including transportation, building, water preservation, clean energy production, storage, and distribution, which ultimately results in emissions and waste reduction, biodiversity habitat protection, and pollution control. Therefore, recognizing the significance of green finance, this research investigates the asymmetric role of green finance and clean energy in the reduction of carbon emissions along with economic growth, foreign direct investment, and urbanization as control antecedents using the econometric model of “Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL)” for the period 2000-2020 in ASEAN nations. According to the NARDL outcomes, green finance, and clean energy positive shock enhances the ecological quality and negative shocks harm environmental quality. In addition, economic growth, and urbanization contribute to harmful pollutants. Therefore, the results recommend ASEAN nations’ governments, environmentalists, and policymakers, devise strong financial mechanisms, and develop long-term green investment strategies to attract green finance and investment opportunities to bridge the gap in clean energy.
The world has acknowledged the importance of natural resources to compensate for energy requirements for sustainable development. Green Energy (GE) and Eco-innovations have the potential to improve air quality by reducing CO2 emissions and ensuring sustainable development, which the available literature has neglected. Therefore, we investigate the dynamic impact of green energy and environmental innovations on the USA's economic growth and CO2 emissions. We applied the quantile-on-quantile (QARDL) approach from 1990 to 2019. Our findings indicate that GE consumption mitigates CO2 emissions by increasing economic growth in different quantiles in the USA. Furthermore, Eco-innovations also contribute to economic growth by reducing CO2 emissions in different quantiles. Additionally, Bi-directional quantile causality was found between green energy consumption, economic growth, and CO2 emissions. Thus, the empirical results of the current study provide acumens for policymakers of the USA to consume green energy and use green technology and environmental innovations to counterbalance the environmental issues induced by CO2 emissions without halting economic growth and sustainable development.
The economic fitness of a country shows its capacity to address complex issues, such as climate change and environmental degradation, which are urgent global concerns. Its key function is given less importance in empirical research and has been neglected by existing empirical studies. Concerning this neglect, our study investigates the influence of economic fitness on CO2 emissions in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for the BRICS nations between 1995 and 2015. The Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and Panel-Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) techniques are used to estimate the empirical association. The results suggest that economic fitness and CO2 emissions have an inverted N-shaped relationship. Furthermore, after accounting for major contributing factor of CO2 emissions like GDP per capita, financial development, urbanization, and foreign direct investment, our robustness checks produce robust and significant results.
Energy is an important factor in boosting and sustaining the economic growth level of a country. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between energy consumption and the economic growth of selected developed and developing countries from 1993–2019. For this purpose, we used the Pedroni co-integration method to determine the long-term relationship between economic growth and energy consumption. To estimate the long-term parameters, the panel fully modified OLS method and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin heterogeneous panel causality estimation technique were used, and the causality direction between variables was considered. The results showed that energy consumption had a positive and significant effect on the economic growth of both groups of countries. The causality analysis revealed the existence of a protection effect between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in developed countries. Hence, policies that lead to an increase in independent growth in these countries can effectively impact their growth. On the other hand, the existence of the feedback effect in developing countries shows that storage policies and reduced energy consumption may pose a threat to economic growth in these countries.
Many environmental problems are human induced, one of which is the change in atmospheric composition, a hot research topic in recent decades. This study aims to investigate the impact of human capital (HC) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Sri Lanka using time series annual data from 1978 to 2019. The time series data were examined for a unit root problem and an unknown structural break. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach was employed to identify the long-run relationship between HC and CO2. The results confirm the long-term relationship between carbon emissions and human capital. As a unique finding of this research, the estimated coefficient of human capital to carbon emission is negative and statically significant, suggesting that a 1 percent increase in HC decreases carbon emissions by 1.627789 percent. The significance of this finding is that it can help achieve Sustainable Development Goal “13”, which focuses on combating climate change and its effects. The study indicated that building in HC by investing more in education helps to reduce carbon emissions in the long term. It reflects that human capital accumulation is linked to reduced environmental degradation due to lower CO2 emissions.
In this article, we investigate the impact of "Renewable Electricity Output" on the green economy in the context of the circular economy for 193 countries in the period 2011-2020. We use data from the World Bank ESG framework. We perform Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Panel Data with Random Effects, Weighted Last Squares-WLS, and Pooled Ordinary Least Squares-OLS. Our results show that Renewable Electricity Output is positively associated, among others, with "Ad-justed Savings-Net Forest Depletion" and "Renewable Energy Consumption" and negatively associated , among others, with "CO2 Emission" and "Cooling Degree Days". Furthermore, we perform a cluster analysis implementing the k-Means algorithm optimized with the Elbow Method and we find the presence of four clusters. In adjunct, we confront seven different machine learning algorithms to predict the future level of "Renewable Electricity Output". Our results show that Linear Regression is the best algorithm and that the future value of renewable electricity output is predicted to growth on average at a rate of 0.83% for the selected countries. Furthermore, we improve the machine learning analysis with a Deep Learning approach using Convolutional Neural Network-CNN but the algorithm is not appropriate for the analyzed dataset. Less complex machine learning algorithms show better statistical results.
Community renewable energy has been acknowledged as a necessary step in the transition toward a sustainable energy system. It can contribute to the achievement of energy autonomy by communities. In rural settings, it can be a driver of sustainable rural development. And it can be seen as a specific contribution to circular economy from the energy sector. The willingness to invest in community renewable energy has received some attention in previous research but needs further investigation at the local rural scale through quantitative approaches. Based on a survey in a small Galician village, this study contributes to the filling of this gap. The willingness to invest of its inhabitants is analyzed in relation to alternative financial, sociodemographic and sociopsychological features. Survey results show the heterogeneity of individual attitudes and concerns that condition the willingness to invest in rural community renewable energy and the different perceptions of risk and return related to these projects. Cluster analysis allows identifying four different investor profiles (skeptics, financial illiterate, enthusiasts, yield investors). These should be accounted for by project promoters and policymakers when designing incentives and strategies to foster community renewable energy in rural settings.
The development and implementation of public policies towards renewable energies are crucial in order to address the contemporary challenges faced by humanity. The 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle), as a circular economic practice, are often cited as one of the best solutions for sustainable development. Therefore, this study analyzed public policies for renewable energy from the perspective of the circular economy. Accordingly, a systematic review of the literature was carried out with respect to the beneficiaries and convergences of circularities, with a focus on public policies for renewable energies. The sample had public policies classified into three types (distributive, redistributive, and regulatory policies). The results showed that the first studies began in 1999, with a significant increase in publications during the 2010s, in which Germany was the country with the greatest contribution. The analyses associated with space showed the countries committed to the use of renewable energies and the 3Rs of the circular economy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The economic analyses revealed that the circular economy for the generation of renewable energy has a positive economic return in terms of social well-being and the mitigation of environmental degradation. There is a barrier to the circular economy’s development posed by the cost of its implementation in the private sector and the resistance to raising awareness in society, requiring strong public sector engagement in decision making and the constant evaluation of public policies. It is concluded that the circular economy facilitates more efficient, productive structures and public policies, promoting alternatives for energy security and sustainability for the world energy matrix.
The International Energy Agency revealed in its report in 2021 that the world energy-CO2 emission reached its highest peak during that year. This statistic shows the need to set new environmental protection policies and improve the current ones. Hence, our study aims to highlight the leading role of human capital in the fight against climate change. To do so, by using the Feasible Generalized Least Squares and the Two-Stage Least Squares estimators, we analyze the moderating impact of human capital on the link between renewable energy, nonrenewable energy, economic growth, and CO2 emissions in the case of the 20 newly emerging market economies for the period 1990–2021. We find negative effects of renewable energy consumption, industrialization and trade openness on CO2 emissions. We also find positive effects of nonrenewable energy consumption, economic growth, and human capital on CO2 emissions. In addition, our findings reveal that renewable energy consumption and human capital are complementary levers for reducing CO2 emissions, whereas human capital mitigates the detrimental effect of nonrenewable energy consumption on environmental quality. Besides, the results underline that human capital has an inverted U-shaped effect on CO2 emissions. Regarding policy implications, policymakers should emphasize the complementarity between human capital and renewable energy consumption by facilitating the accumulation of human capital towards productive investments and the use of renewable energy technologies in these countries. They should also raise people’s environmental awareness by implementing educational reforms, effective environmental awareness campaigns, and government regulatory pressures that help people understand global warming issues and adopt environmentally friendly practices in their daily activities. Finally, policymakers should promote the use of renewable energy rather than non-renewable energy sources in the production of goods and services by obliging countries to integrate green policies into their industrialization and trade openness strategies.
Green Economy or green economy is an economic idea that aims to improve the welfare and social equality of the community, while reducing the risk of environmental damage significantly. So far, the economic aspect is more dominant than the environmental aspect so that environmental sustainability is not maintained and produces negative effects/externalities that can harm residents in the surrounding environment. Environmental damage is a full concern for economists, giving rise to the concept of a green economy or better known as a green economy.
Estimating the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on carbon emissions is crucial for formulating emission reduction targets and policies. Using the unbalanced panel data of 325 prefecture-level cities in China from 2001 to 2017 and a two-way fixed-effects model, this paper investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty on city’s carbon emission intensity. We find that one percentage point increase in economic policy uncertainty will make the city’s carbon emission intensity increase by 4.28 percentage points, and by 0.244 tons per ten thousand yuan at an absolute level. The findings imply that policy makers need to consider the potential threat of economic policy uncertainty on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China.
The high-tech industry plays a crucial role in reducing carbon emission and achieving green economic development. This research uses Meta-Frontier data envelopment analysis to measure the innovation efficiency level of the high-tech industry in China’s provinces from 1999 to 2018, compares the difference in this industry’s innovation efficiency under the regional Frontier and common Frontier, and inspects the convergence condition of its innovation efficiency in the three major areas of eastern, central, and western China. The results show under the regional Frontier that the difference in innovation efficiency of the western region’s high-tech industry is the biggest, while the difference in the central region is the smallest, and under the national common Frontier the innovation efficiency level of the eastern region’s high-tech industry is the highest, while that of the western region is the lowest. The regional pattern of innovation efficiency in the high-tech industry is consistent with the development trend of the regional economy. Moreover, by using the ratio of the technology gap ratio, we find that the eastern region has the potential optimal technology in China, whereas the central and western regions have large room for improvement. Lastly, the stochastic convergence test shows that the innovation efficiency of the central region’s high-tech industry presents a convergence trend, but the same trend does not occur in the western and eastern regions as well as for the whole country.
Green production is one of the major debates as environmental degradation poses threats globally. The paper attempts to explore the relationship between green production and environmental quality by using Economic Fitness approach. We develop a Green Complexity Index (GCI) dataset consisting of 290 traded green-labeled products and Economic Fitness Index (EFI) for the US states between 2002 and 2018. We analyze the environmental performance of green production using the GCI and EFI data at the sub-national level. Findings indicate that exporting more complex green products has insignificant effects on local (i.e., sulfur dioxide, particulate Matter 10) and global polluters such as carbon dioxide, even accounting for per capita income. Yet, economic fitness has a significant negative impact on the emission levels implying that sophisticated production significantly improves environmental quality in the USA. The insignificant impact of GCI on environmental degradation suggests that green product classifications should incorporate the production and end-use stages of goods to limit the adverse environmental effects of green-labeled products.
This study aimed to understand green finance’s impact on fertilizer use and agricultural carbon emissions. We selected the macro panel data of 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2000 to 2019. The main research methods are standardized test framework (cross-sectional dependence, unit root and cointegration test), the latest causal test, impulse response, and variance decomposition analysis. Examined the long-term equilibrium relationship between green finance, fertilizer use, and agricultural carbon emissions. The results show: fertilizer consumption and agricultural carbon emissions have a positive correlation. However, green finance can significantly reduce agricultural carbon emissions. The causal test confirmed the bidirectional causal relationship between agricultural carbon emissions and fertilizer use. At the same time, verified one-way causality from green finance to both of them. Interpret the results of impulse response and variance decomposition analysis: among the changes in agricultural carbon emissions, chemical fertilizers contributed 2.45%, green finance contributed 4.34%. In addition, the contribution rate of green finance to chemical fertilizer changes reached 11.37%. Green finance will make a huge contribution to reducing fertilizer use and agricultural carbon emissions within a decade. The research conclusions provide an important scientific basis for China’s provinces (cities) to formulate carbon emission reduction policies. China has initially formed a policy system and market environment to support the development of green finance, in 2020, the “dual carbon” goal was formally proposed. In 2021, the national “14th Five-Year Plan” and the 2035 Vision Goals emphasized the importance of green finance. It plays an important supporting role in carbon emission reduction goals, and green finance has become an important pillar of national strategic goals.
Environmental degradation is one of the most significant problems of the globalized world. This paper explores the impact of institutional development and human capital on CO2 emissions in 11 EU transition economies over the period of 2000–2018 through co-integration analysis. The co-integration analysis revealed that human capital negatively affected CO2 emissions in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia, and that institutions had a negative impact on CO2 emissions in the Czech Republic. However, both institutions and human capital positively affected CO2 emissions in Latvia and Lithuania.
Sustainable development and reducing environmental pressure are major issues that concern developed as well as developing countries. Although researchers widely use carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint within the scope of environmental degradation, a more comprehensive ecological indicator is needed to assess environmental sustainability. In this context, the load capacity factor enables a comprehensive environmental sustainability assessment through the simultaneous analysis of biocapacity and ecological footprint. However, there are few studies analyzing the determinants of load capacity factor and this study aims to fill this gap for Indonesia. Using the recently developed Fourier quantile causality test, this study investigates the impact of income, export diversification, non-renewable and renewable energy consumption on the load capacity factor for Indonesia during 1965Q1–2014Q4. The results show unidirectional causality from non-renewable energy consumption to the load capacity factor at all quantiles, while income, export diversification, and renewable energy are the causes of environmental quality at middle and higher quantiles (within 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9). Most importantly, renewable energy and export diversification increase the load capacity factor and thus support environmental quality. In contrast, an increase in income and consumption of non-renewable energy reduces the load capacity factor. These results highlight the importance of renewable energy and export diversification for the sustainable development of Indonesia.
Green economy is a new economic development mode characterized by energy saving, environmental protection and harmonious development. It is proposed to solve the increasingly prominent global ecological problems and the deterioration of ecological environment quality. Green economy aims to adjust the direction of economic development, with information technology and creation as the breakthrough point and the knowledge economy as the focus of development. Cultural and creative industry is centered on intangible capital or resources such as creativity, knowledge, culture, information science and technology. It occupies little and has low energy consumption, strong extension and high technical content, which naturally makes it the focal point of green economic development. This paper discusses the development path of green economy from the aspect of cultural creative industry.
Under the background of dealing with global warming, the widespread use of the internet provides a new idea for countries to develop a low-carbon economy at the right time. Based on the panel data of 70 countries from 1995–2018, this paper empirically analyzes the relationship between internet usage, human capital, and CO2 emissions under different levels of economic development by using system GMM and a threshold regression model. The results show that internet usage and human capital are essential drivers of low-carbon economy development, and human capital can inversely regulate the impact of internet usage on CO2 emissions. Internet usage can increase CO2 emissions when human capital is below the threshold value, and it can significantly inhibit CO2 emissions when human capital exceeds the threshold value. In other words, with the accumulation of human capital, the effect of internet usage on CO2 emissions has an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship. Furthermore, the empirical analysis of high-income and middle- and low-income countries indicates the hindrance effect of internet usage on CO2 emissions is more evident in high-income countries. For both the high-income and middle- and low-income countries, the relationship between internet usage and CO2 emissions generally shows an inverted “U-shaped” relationship, first rising and then falling as human capital accumulates.
In this chapter, the authors investigate the role of “renewable energy consumption” in the context of circular economy. They assume that the consumption of renewable energy is a proxy for the development of circular economy. They use data from the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dataset of the World Bank for 193 countries in the period 2011-2020. They perform several econometric techniques (i.e., panel data with fixed effects, panel data with random effects, pooled ordinary least squares [OLS], weighted least squares [WLS]). The results show that “renewable energy consumption” is positively associated among others to “cooling degree days” and “adjusted savings: net forest depletion” and negatively associated among others to “greenhouse gas (GHG) net emissions/removals by land use change and forestry (LUCF)” and “mean drought index.” Furthermore, they perform a cluster analysis with the application of the k-Means algorithm and find the presence of four clusters. Finally, they compare eight different machine-learning algorithms to predict the value of renewable energy consumption.
The circular economy (also known as the circular economy and the circular economy) is one of the elements of the concept of sustainable development. Currently, it is most commonly described as an economy whose goal is to constantly maintain the highest value and utility of products, components, and materials in separate biological and technical cycles, and its task is ultimately to decouple economic development from the consumption of scarce resources. As humanity, we behave as if we have forgotten that we are part of the natural environment. The essence of assessing our progress has become the size of broadly understood consumption, which also pollutes our natural environment. In a sense, we have stopped observing nature, which can come to balance when it is out of balance. This chapter explores the circular economy as a sustainable development marketing tool.
Promoting green financial reform is an important measure to support environmentally-biased technological progress (EBTP) and achieve sustainable economic and social development. Although China launched a green finance reform and innovation pilot zone (GFRIPZ) policy in 2017, little is known about whether and how such a policy affects EBTP. Based on mathematical deduction, this paper studies the mechanism through which green financial reform influences EBTP. The analysis employs panel data of Chinese prefecture-level cities and a generalized synthetic control method to examine the policy effect of the establishment of GFRIPZ in EBTP. It is found that establishing GFRIPZ significantly promotes EBTP, and that the policy effect shows "ahead-of-policy" and dynamically increasing features. Potential mechanisms reside in the pilot policy's easing of financing constraints and upgrading of industrial structure. Further heterogeneity analyses reveal that great disparities exist in the policy effects of different pilot zones, with a steadily increasing policy effect in Zhejiang and Guangdong, a lagging policy effect in Jiangxi and Guizhou, and an inverse U-shaped policy effect in Xinjiang. Policy effects are much stronger in regions with a higher degree of marketization and a higher level of attention to education. Additional tests of economic performance indicate that the pilot policy, interweaved with its driving effect on EBTP, is conducive to promoting an energy-conservation and low-carbon-energy transition. The findings shed light on applying green financial reform to encourage environment-friendly technological research and development.
Global warming and greenhouse gas emissions pose severe threats to environmental sustainability. A sustainable environment is a prerequisite for long-term socioeconomic growth and human survival. Green technology is brought about by a country's economic and financial openness, and education provides knowledge to the public and labor, contributing to environmental sustainability. Thus, this research aims to unveil the liaison between human capital, trade openness, and environmental quality for Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries from 1998 to 2018. Several econometric methods, including the Driscoll-Kraay standard errors and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality approaches, reveal long-run and causal relationships among the modeled indicators. The Driscoll-Kraay standard error results show that human capital is negatively related to carbon dioxide emissions (CO2 emissions). Imposing high tariffs and excise duties, changing tax structures, discouraging the inflow of polluted commodities, and encouraging green trade can help BRICS combat high environmental pollution. The results show that a one-point increase in human capital in models 1 and 2 can reduce CO2 emissions by 1.5279 and 0.1538 points, respectively. In contrast, a 1% growth in trade can lead to a rise in CO2 emissions of 0.3731% and 0.2384%, respectively. Similarly, financial development and energy consumption result in high CO2 emissions in the long run. Moreover, a feedback
To achieve a zero-carbon agenda, businesses in emerging economies need to focus on green production resources to develop a circular economy. This study identified the key role of green financing in mobilizing pro-environmental behaviours for achieving sustainable production and a circular economy. The study aimed to study the effect of green financing on the pro-environmental behaviours of educational institutes within China. A quantitative methodology was adopted, and structured questionnaires were used for the collection of data from educational sector employees. The data was collected from both administrators and teachers with a random sampling technique and was later analyzed through SEM. The results showed that green financing aids institutions in the implementation of pro-environmental behaviours and also sustainable policy development was found to mediate the association between low carbon management, carbon asset transactions, and energy saving and emission reduction technologies and green financing. This study makes valuable contributions to the literature on green financing, sustainable development, and pr-environmental behaviours. The findings can help the education sector to adopt sustainable practices. It may also contribute to helping policymakers develop policies related to pro-environmental behaviours. Furthermore, the paper explores the green financial aspect of educational institutes, making it a valuable resource for both theory and practice.
Green finance has emerged as a strategy that encompasses not only instruments for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change, but also financial products and services that address a broader range of environmental concerns, including industrial pollution control, waste management, sanitation and hygiene, and ecological protection. The study employs an integrative approach comprising a bibliometric and manual review of sample studies to understand the subject of knowledge in green finance and its transition from theory to practice, indicating the current state of research and its evolution tendencies. The current study analyzes the publications that highlight the various dynamics of green finance by conducting a bibliometric analysis on a sample of 222 relevant papers retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The study discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the constructs/themes uncovered through the results and identifies current research trends, hotspots, and prospective research opportunities. Finally, we identify key topics in the field of green finance and suggest a four-part conceptual framework (goal, procedure, place, and perspective) based on the results of the thematic map. This framework serves as a guide for future research.
The World Bank has identified that energy efficiency as a vital enabler for most of the Sustainable Development Goals. Its role in restricting CO2 emissions is astonishing. In recent years, the importance of identifying the determinants of energy efficiency has acknowledged huge importance from the environmentalists. This study expands the horizon of this debate by introducing new potential determinants of energy efficiency considering the evidence of the USA economy. We have studied the impact of investment in renewable energy resources, financial inclusion, industrial production, and trade openness on energy efficiency in the case of the USA over the period of 1990 to 2020. Additionally, this study contributes to the literature by exploring the causal relationship among variables by taking into account the time dimension. The results show that industrial production, financial inclusion, renewable energy public R&D and trade openness are important factors of energy efficiency in the USA. Except for industrial production, all other variables are positively related to energy efficiency. The direction of causality is confirmed from energy efficiency to financial inclusion, industrial production, Renewable energy public RD&D budget and trade openness. The results show that a shock in energy efficiency has implications for all variables at different frequencies. We suggest that policymakers must introduce proper policies to improve the financial system, which has important implications for renewable energies.
Although numerous policies and measures in China are aimed at accelerating energy poverty eradication, few scholars have investigated the nexus between China's inclusive financial development (IFD) and energy poverty. To this end, we first evaluate the composite index of China's IFD, and then empirically investigate the energy poverty eradication effect of IFD by applying the differential generalized method of moments (Diff-GMM) technique based on the sample data of China's 30 provinces between 2004 and 2017. We also conduct an asymmetric analysis and detect the moderating and mediating roles of technical innovation in the linkage between IFD and energy poverty. The primary findings imply that: (1) improving the development of China's inclusive finance can help eradicate energy poverty, and the interaction of inclusive finance and technical innovation can strengthen this effect; (2) the energy poverty eradication effect of IFD is mainly caused by strengthening the supply of energy services and improving energy management institutions; (3) IFD and technical innovation show an asymmetric correlation with energy poverty at different quantiles; and (4) China's IFD not only directly eradicates energy poverty, but also has an indirect promotion effect of energy poverty eradication by accelerating technical innovation. We propose some policy implications related to supporting inclusive finance, strengthening technical innovation, and considering regional heterogeneity.
Even though a few studies have focused on natural resources and commodity sectors by considering the pandemic, they have only compared their status in pre-COVID19 to post-COVID19. None of the studies has directly examined the causal relationship between the pandemic, and natural resource index and the primary commodity-related sector indices. This study fills the gap of exploring the dynamic association between them by analyzing the causal relationship between the COVID19, and natural resources index and the primary commodity-related sectors (i.e., agribusiness, energy, and metals & mining) by applying a novel time-varying causality test on daily data from January 23, 2020, to November 12, 2021. The empirical results support the presence of time-varying causality from COVID19 to natural resources, agribusiness, energy and metals & mining. The results obtained from the rolling window algorithm support causal linkages between the variables however at several points it fails to capture the dynamics of linkages between the variables which is captured by the recursive window algorithm. The outcome is robust when the pandemic is proxied by either number of cases or deaths. Similarly, the findings obtained from heteroskedastic-robust specification also validate our findings. Several policy implications are further discussed in the study.
In the 22 well-developed countries of the world, the level of CO2 emissions has been reducing over the years despite positive economic growth. This study therefore attempts to explore the role of contributory factors for CO2 emissions reduction in these countries. Selecting the data period of 1990–2018, our chosen independent variables are gross domestic product (GDP), square of the gross domestic product (GDP²), renewable energy, technological innovation and export quality. Adopting a panel non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach, a pooled mean group (PMG) estimation technique is used to explore the asymmetric linkages between CO2 emissions and these independent variables. The panel heterogeneous causality test is used to examine the direction of causality. The estimated results have confirmed the existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis; and renewable energy and export quality are found as contributory factors for the reduction of CO2 emissions. Positive stimuli of technological innovation measured by research and development expenditure and export quality index reduce, whereas the negative shocks or counter incentives of these variables increase CO2 emissions. In regards to causal relationship, bidirectional causality is found between renewable energy and CO2 emissions, technological innovation and CO2 emissions, GDP and renewable energy, and renewable energy and technological innovation. In addition, a unidirectional causality is also revealed from GDP to CO2 emissions, export quality and technological innovation, and from technological innovation to export quality. Policy recommendations are made following the findings.
Among the climate change policies, improving energy efficiency and investment in renewable sources are considered key driving forces that may lead to sustainable outcomes over a longer period. This study aims to provide new insight into the role of green financing, volatility, and geopolitical risk in dealing with the investment in renewable energy sources through micro and macro-level data during 2015–2020 in China. Several benchmarks and other regression estimation approaches were applied to address the study title while considering both direct and indirect association between the variables of interest. The study findings have shown that green financing (in the form of green bonds) and green regulations like environmental taxes play a significant and positive role in promoting investment in renewable energy sources. However, oil price volatility and geopolitical risk adversely impact the investment pattern for the clean energy sources in China when controlling the firm size and corporate governance practices. The study also justifies the moderating role of green regulations while strengthening the relationship between green financing and investment in renewable energy. Based on the study findings, it is recommended that green firms in China should be promoted so that investment in renewable energy sources would be considered as a long-term strategy. Comprehending both theoretical and empirical findings, the study has provided meaningful insights for policymakers and environmentalists to design and implement environmental practices that have sustainable returns.
Estimating the marginal abatement cost (MAC) of CO2 emission is critical in formulating emission reduction targets and policies. Existing studies rarely emphasized the impact of random noise on MAC estimation, and downscaling the production activity is conventionally applied as the only measure for emission abatement while the possibilities of other measures, such as increase the investment, are often neglected. This paper estimates the least MAC of CO2 for Chinese iron and steel enterprises using a stochastic semi-nonparametric method which considers both inefficiency and random noise. Multiple measures including downscaling the production activity and increasing the inputs investment, are all considered for identifying the least-cost measure for reducing emissions. In addition, the strategies corresponding to adjustment on production and response to environmental regulation of each enterprise are included in the estimation, which makes it possible for identifying the upper and lower bound of MACs. Empirical results indicate that i) the stochastic semi-nonparametric method provides a more consistent estimates with the production process, ii) the average MAC of CO2 emissions in China's iron and steel industry ranges from 2.07 to 2395 yuan/ton, and iii) increasing labor is identified as the least-cost abatement measures for most of the iron and steel enterprises listed in China's top 500 enterprise. Policy implications have been put forward to reduce the carbon abatement cost in China's iron and steel industry.
Contributing about 40% of the world's annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the building industry is tasked with reducing its energy consumption and its carbon footprint in accordance with the Paris Agreement. This study investigates the relationship between green property finance and the building industry's CO2 emissions across 98 high-income and developing economies for the period 2012–2018. Our results show that although green property finance expansions are significantly and negatively related to the industry's CO2 emissions in the full sample, this result is more evident for developing nations. This is a significant outcome for these countries since many of them are experiencing rapid but unchecked population growth and strong oil consumption. Policies to maintain this development during the COVID-19 pandemic are crucial because this crisis has curtailed the availability of green finance facilities, which has either slowed down or reversed any progress made.
This study empirically examines the effect of green finance and fintech on high-quality economic development. Using data from 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2007 to 2019, this study applies panel regression analysis to investigate the relationships between green finance, fintech, and high-quality economic development, and adopts a two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) to defaecate the endogeneity issue. This study finds that green finance comprehensively facilitates high-quality economic development by positively affect its all three aspects (i.e., ecological environment, economic efficiency, and economic structure). Additionally, fintech strengthens the positive impact of green finance in the aspects of ecological environment and economic structure, while having limited effects on the relationship between green finance and economic efficiency. Based on these findings, our study proposes three policy suggestions for policymakers, including reinforcing the integration of fintech development with green finance, building an environmental disclosure framework to supervise local governments in improving efficiency of green finance, and developing medium- and long-term favorable policies as an external intervention measure to promote green finance in the private sector.
JEL classification: P18 Q28 P48 Keywords: Solar energy consumption (SEC) CO 2 emissions Quantile-on-quantile (QQ) estimation a b s t r a c t Renewable energy plays an important role in the modern economic growth paradigm. As a perpetual source, solar-based renewable energy has the ability to reduce CO 2 emissions, which has been neglected in prior empirical studies. We have analyzed the asymmetric association between solar energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in the top ten solar energy-consuming countries (). Using data from 1991 to 2018, a novel methodology , 'Quantile-on-Quantile (QQ)', is applied. The results explore the mode of how quantiles of solar energy consumption asymmetrically affect the quantiles of CO 2 emissions by providing an adequate framework to comprehend the overall dependence structure. The empirical findings demonstrate that solar energy consumption reduces CO 2 emissions at different quantiles for all selected countries except France. The overall relationship is stronger at higher quantiles of CO 2 emissions for various countries. The outcomes suggest that the intensity of asymmetric relationship in solar energy-CO 2 emissions nexus differs with countries that need individual caution and attention for governments in formulating the policies connected to solar energy and the environment. Our empirical evidence also emphasizes that solar energy should be integrated for sustainable growth and environmental quality.
Coupled with adopting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) role may not be overlooked. The ADB took substantial measures to ensure environmentally sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific. They include climate change finance, that is a joint project of the ADB and the Global Environment Facility. One of its components is climate mitigation finance, which consists of the investment process that supplies funds to achieve environmental sustainability in the region. Considering the evolving role of green finance, this study quantifies green finance as “climate mitigation finance” and examines its impact on the ecological footprint across twenty-six economies in the Asian region. To do so, we use an ordinary least squares baseline model, followed by fixed-effects estimation. Our empirical findings show that green finance reduced the ecological footprints, and it appears environmentally friendly. From the Asian perspective, in particular, green finance delivers as anticipated. Moreover, the findings are robust to using alternative measures and estimation strategies, and they should motivate policymakers to continue investing in climate finance.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between green finance, economic growth, renewable energy consumption (energy efficiency), energy import and CO 2 emission in Vietnam using multivariate time series analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from 1986 to 2018 since Vietnam initiated the economic reforms, namely “Doi Moi” in 1986. The concept and methods of cointegration, Granger causality and error correction model (ECM) were employed to establish the relationship between the variables of interest.
Findings
Our results confirmed the existence of cointegration among the variables. The Granger causality test revealed unidirectional causality running from renewable energy consumption to CO 2 emission and green investment to CO 2 emission.
Originality/value
This study results confirm the existence of cointegration among the variables. The results of the study imply that policies on economic development impose a significant impact on pollution in Vietnam. This study has described Vietnam, its economic development, green manufacturing practices, its environmental health and level of carbon dioxide emission which was enhanced due to COVID-19.
Since climate change mitigation is the central debate of modern literature, the realization of carbon neutrality in response to diversified macroeconomic variables is the most crucial concern of international economies. However, the critical role of trade and renewable electricity output in export diversification-environmental nexus is missing. Therefore, this study investigates the combined influence of trade openness, exports diversification, and renewable electricity output on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in China from 1989 through 2019. Applying novel time series econometric techniques robust to structural breaks, following new outcomes are obtained. Firstly, long-run equilibrium cointegration existed among the under-analysis variables. Secondly, export diversification and renewable electricity output are predicted to decelerate CO2, supporting carbon neutrality in the long run. Thirdly, trade openness and gross domestic product accelerated the CO2, delaying carbon neutrality accomplishment. Most importantly, significant structural break dummy interacting with trade openness implicated that during the post-2001 era, China's trade openness extensively deteriorated the environmental quality in the face of trade liberalization obtained after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Based on empirical results, export diversification and renewable electricity production policies should be mutually non-exclusive and closely coordinated. Further, to counter the carbon emission acceleration impact of trade openness, increasing the share of green tradable products is suggested. Finally, bilateral trade restructuring is recommended to realize the long-term dream of economic sustainability and carbon neutrality.
Due to the rapid industrial growth in the BRICS nations, export earnings and energy demand witnessed an upturn in the preceding years. Therefore, by considering export diversification, extensive export margin, and intensive export margin as the determinants of renewable energy, the present study intended to explore whether total, horizontal, and vertical growth in exports stimulated the demand for renewable energy in the BRICS nations for the period of 1990–2018. In doing so, technological innovation, income inequality, and capital formation are carried as controlled variables. The elasticity coefficients revealed that export diversification, traditional exports, technological innovation, and capitalization contributed to escalating the usage of cleaner energy solutions, whereas the exports of new products and income inequality had a negative impact on the demand for renewable energy. The computed results signify the need for advanced and renewable energy-based production processes and just distribution of income in the society so that at industrial and household levels, cleaner, energy-efficient, and environment-friendly procedures can be followed. For securing the constructive contribution of various stakeholders, the study proposed a multipronged policy framework, which may help to culminate a synergy between economic and environmental channels.