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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 "non-linear 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations, through its subsidiary agency United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has put in such resources to curb infant mortality in pursuit of the Sustainable development goals (SDG). Nevertheless, the issue of under-five mortality is still persistent in so many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study investigated the long-term and short-term impacts of solid waste, urbanization, and pollution on under-five mortality, employing the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and the dynamic Autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) models for the empirical investigations and robustness checks, respectively. The study found that there is significant cointegration between the interest variables. While key findings from the DARDL results revealed that pollution, urbanization, and solid waste have long-term significant positive impacts on under-five mortality in Nigeria, the short-run outcome shows that urbanization and solid waste had a significant positive impact on under-five mortality, while pollution was statistically insignificant. Moreover, lead exposure showed a significant long-term positive and short-term negative impact on under-five mortality in Nigeria. Furthermore, the DARDL simulations show higher long-run shocks and variations as compared to the short run. Thus, CO2 emissions, urbanization, and solid waste encourage under-five deaths in Nigeria. The study recommends, among other things, the enactment of environmental laws that will curb CO2 emissions in the country while also strengthening the existing ones, discourage indiscriminate solid waste disposal, and encourage investment in clean technologies and modern healthcare facilities in urban areas of Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive growth of carbon emissions (CO2E) from industrial energy use not only exacerbates global warming and severely curbs the sustainable development of the economy and society. As a high energy-consuming sector second only to the fossil energy division, the power and heavy division, China's chemical industry should have received more attention for its CO2E. However, there are limited literatures on energy CO2E in China's chemical sector at present. Based on this fact, this current paper uses the energy utilization approach, the input–output analysis approach, and the extended structural decomposition method to evaluate the energy-related CO2E of China's chemical sector from 2007 to 2017. (1) China's chemical sector energy-related CO2E showed a trend of first growth and then a slow decline, demonstrating that the rapid growth of China's chemical sector energy-related CO2E has been effectively controlled; However, it should be noted that the chemical industry is still dominated by high-CO2E energy-related CO2E at the current stage. (2) Input structure and energy intensity effects have a reduced influence on the growth of energy-related CO2E in China's chemical sector. This is due to upgrading energy use technology and optimizing the generalized technology progress rate in the chemical sector. (3) Energy structure and final demand effects have encouraged the growth of the chemical sector's energy-related CO2E. It shows that the industrial system's demand for chemical products is constantly expanding, and the chemical products still have the characteristics of high carbonization. Also, the chemical sector's supply-side energy utilization structure has not been significantly enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the current study is to analyze the nexus between public debt, renewable electricity, economic growth, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in emerging economies between 1990 and 2020. The augmented mean group (AMG), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) models have been applied to analyze the long-run estimation. The empirical evidence demonstrates that public debt, renewable electricity reduces CO2 emissions. Furthermore, an N-shaped relationship has been identified between per capita CO2 emissions and per capita GDP in emerging nations. Also, the result reveals a bidirectional causal relationship between public debt and economic growth, CO2 emissions and economic growth, public debt and CO2 emissions, and renewable electricity and economic growth. The current study recommends promoting the renewable energy transition, elevating renewable electricity generation capacities, and ensuring greener economic growth by emitting carbon dioxide emissions across emerging countries. The government across each region could incorporate taxes and other incentives to encourage entrepreneurs and citizens to produce equipment that reduces carbon intensity and is ecologically friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs an economic growth model that includes natural resource endowments to theoretically explore the paradox of “resource gospel” and “resource curse.” Based on the theoretical analysis, the influence of natural resources on green total factor productivity is analyzed empirically through an econometric model using Chinese urban panel data from 2010 to 2019. The theoretical analysis shows that the impact of natural resource endowment on green total factor productivity is indecisive. The empirical results show that natural resource endowments significantly lessen urban green total factor efficiency, and the results remain robust after addressing for endogeneity issues and robustness tests. However, this effect is significantly heterogeneous depending on the city level and science and education level; for example, the “resource curse” effect is more pronounced in non‐central cities and cities with average education and science level. Simultaneously, the mechanism analysis shows that natural resource endowment reduces urban total factor productivity by inhibiting innovation and introducing choices in the technological progress approach. Therefore, the research findings bring empirical evidence to promote reforms in natural resource allocation and provide theoretical support for encouraging green total factor productivity in resource‐based cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a high-energy-consuming sector, China's light sector should have received more attention for its carbon emissions (CO2e). However, the literature on energy-related CO2e in China's light sector is limited at present. This paper aims to assess the impact of China's light sector on CO2e. This paper applies the energy consumption technique, input-output analysis technique, and structural decomposition model to analyze China's light sector energy-related CO2e and emission reduction from the input-output perspective. The results show that the energy structure effect, energy intensity effect, and input structure effect are the main restraining factors for the growth of the light sector energy-related CO2e, which are caused by the expansion of the energy utilization structure on the supply side of the light sector. The final demand effect is the factor promoting the growth of the light sector energy-related CO2e. It reveals that the final demand products in the light sector still have high environmental degradation features. Policymakers should actively enhance and rationally adjust the demand for the light sector in numerous industries to avoid the resource waste caused by the excessive expansion of the light sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the interconnectedness and volatility correlation between cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets in the five largest African countries, addressing concerns about potential spillover effects, especially the high volatility and lack of regulation in the cryptocurrency market. The study employed both diagonal BEKK-GARCH and DCC-GARCH to analyze the existence of spillover effects and correlation between both markets. A daily time series dataset from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021, was employed to analyze the contagion effect. Our findings reveal a significant spillover effect from cryptocurrency to the African traditional financial market; however, the percentage spillover effect is still low but growing. Specifically, evidence is insufficient to suggest a spillover effect from cryptocurrency to Egypt and Morocco's financial markets, at least in the short run. Evidence in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya indicates a moderate but growing spillover effect from cryptocurrency to the financial market. Similarly, we found no evidence of a spillover effect from the African financial market to the cryptocurrency market. The conditional correlation result from the DCC-GARCH revealed a positive low to moderate correlation between cryptocurrency volatility and the African financial market. Specifically, the DCC-GARCH revealed a greater integration in both markets, especially in the long run. The findings have policy implications for financial regulators concerning the dynamics of both markets and for investors interested in portfolio diversification within the two markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently suffering from a significant environmental crisis characterized by global warming, rising sea levels, foods, and droughts. This has adversely affected the poorest nations, resulting in increased occurrences of both droughts and flooding that impact their means of livelihood. In order to address this issue, countries globally need to develop policies that efficiently reduce environmental destruction and achieve zero carbon emissions. A number of empirical estimates were used in this study. The Friedman, Frees, and Pesaran tests are used to evaluate cross‐sectional dependence. Unit root tests, such as the augmented Dickey–Fuller test, are used to assess the stationarity of variables. The Pedroni test is used in co‐integration analysis to find the long‐term relationships between variables, and a novel Panel quantile auto‐regression distributed lag methodology to investigate both long‐term and short‐run dynamics across G‐17 countries spanning from 2000 to 2021. The results clarify the pivotal role of carbon taxes, technological innovation, and renewable energy consumption in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, thereby enhancing environmental quality, while the sustained use of natural resources is harmful to environmental quality. Furthermore, the finding reveals that Fintech's association with CO2 emissions negatively impacts environmental quality. The study also demonstrates the efficacy of environmental taxes in reducing CO2 emissions across, supporting for higher carbon pricing as a viable policy tool for environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance is a market‐driven approach to achieve the “double carbon” goal. However, the existing research predominantly focuses on the connotations and empowerment aspects of green finance. Notable regional disparities exist in China's financial markets and resource endowments, resulting in uneven levels of green finance development among various areas, significantly impeding the overall green transformation of the economy and society. In light of this, our paper explores the spatial patterns and association network of green finance development in China. The research findings indicate that: (1) The development of green finance in China exhibits an “east high, west low” spatial distribution pattern, with significant spatial clustering observed among neighboring provinces. The eastern region displays a “H‐H” clustering, while the western region shows an “L‐L” clustering. (2) The spatial correlation distribution of provincial green finance in China demonstrates an eastward concentration and westward dispersion trend, with strong correlation areas gradually expanding. Notably, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and the Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei urban agglomerations lead nationally in attractiveness. (3) The external radiation capability of provincial green finance is progressively improving, with provinces such as Beijing, Hebei, Hubei, and Sichuan likely to occupy strategic structural positions, possessing greater development advantages. This study not only expands the theoretical scope of existing green finance research but also provides a practical reference for coordinating and achieving the high‐quality development of regional green finance from a practical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]