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This study examines the impact and its mechanisms of green finance on economic growth by using the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone (GFRIPZ) as a quasi‐natural experiment. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, we employ a difference‐in‐differences (DID) model and find that the GFRIPZ's construction has a positive effect on economic growth, resulting in real GDP growth of 2.2% in the pilot zones. Mechanism analysis shows that the GFRIPZ policy promotes economic growth by stimulating green technological innovation and increasing green fiscal expenditures. Further, the moderating effect result reveals that the more powerful the environmental regulation, the better the economic growth effect of the GFRIPZ policy. Additionally, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the GFRIPZ policy can contribute more in accelerating economic growth in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Xinjiang. Our findings provide the latest empirical evidence that green finance promotes economic growth, as well as cross‐references for policymakers to scientifically execute green monetary policies and effectively balance green development and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposes the ambitious goal of an inclusive and sustainable economy. Thus, a realistic assessment of individual countries' possibilities to implement the Sustainable Development Goals might provide helpful insights. We seek to contribute to the existing literature by proposing a working framework for assessing, at the individual country level, the impact of long‐run economic growth on societal sustainable development. The framework is based on composite models from the Structural Equation Modeling‐SEM with a Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS‐PM) estimator. In contrast, societal sustainable development is viewed as emerging from its various dimensions (environmental protection, human development and public health). Based on the analyses of an extended sample of 99 countries, including data for thirty years (from 1990 to 2019), we find that economic growth matters in explaining societal sustainable development, and different countries have benefited unequally from this situation. The key finding reveals that countries aiming to follow the SDGs should recognize their significant disparities and engage in profound structural, institutional, functional and cultural transformations. Thus, a more holistic approach to societal sustainable development is currently needed to enhance government effectiveness as a transmission channel for the impact of growth. In addition, governments need to adjust their economic mechanisms to internalize the costs of environmental degradation and negative externalities for human development and public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of digital transformation in improving sustainable innovation performance, the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which digital transformation affects sustainable innovation performance is unclear. Using the lens of information technology‐enabled organizational capabilities, this study develops a moderated mediation model based on new economic growth theory and information asymmetry theory to examine the impact of digital transformation on sustainable innovation performance. Using a sample of Chinese agriculture firms, our findings reveal that digital transformation positively affects sustainable innovation performance through digital technology‐business alignment, and this indirect effect is stronger when environmental uncertainty is lower. Moreover, environmental uncertainty negatively moderates the relationship between digital transformation and digital technology‐business alignment. Our theoretical explanations and empirical evidence provide insights into how digital transformation initiatives can be leveraged to improve sustainable innovation performance, thus making an important contribution to the related literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) tremendously impacts the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the countries involved. However, the BRI's impacts and impact pathways on the synergies and trade‐offs in these countries' SDGs remain unclear. Using global data from 2005 to 2021, we find that the BRI has dramatically promoted low‐income countries' SDGs and the synergies between high‐income countries' SDGs. Continuing to prioritize economic growth as the main focus of the BRI may not be the optimal path for achieving mutual development that benefits all of humanity. Although there is environmental pressure involved with the BRI, this factor does not force involved countries to make trade‐offs between improving SDGs and environmental resources. Furthermore, the BRI affects involved countries' SDGs through two key channels: fostering industries, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9) by enhancing people's well‐being (SDG 3) and promoting zero hunger (SDG 2) through sustainable cities (SDG 11). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of green development is crucial for policy analysis and decision‐making. To address the research gap on green development assessment systems, this study first presents the Super‐efficiency Bounded Adjusted Measure model to gage the green growth index and economic growth index. This analysis involves evaluation of the coupling coordination degree. Through the analysis of the coordination between green growth and economic growth leads to recommendations for each region under consideration in regards to promotion of the components of the sustainable growth. This study presents the model that melds the objectives of the green and economic growth and uses the results for constructing the sustainable development Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient for the analysis of the differences in the sustainable development levels across the regions. The empirical case is presented to show the possibilities for application of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural resources are vital resources given by nature and are responsible for promoting a nation's economic development. However, with the existence of two opposing theories, it is essential to provide state‐of‐the‐art research that ascertains the association between natural resources and economic growth. The Rostow hypothesis presents the importance of natural resources in promoting economic growth, while the resources curse hypothesis alludes that natural resources, in the developing countries, reduce economic growth. The present research uses the contemporary Methods of Moments Quantile Regression method to explore on this relationship in the fifteen natural resources‐rich African countries. The data used are annual data for the period 1990 to 2021. The major results presented in this research show that natural resources rent significantly promotes economic growth in this region, supporting the postulations of Rostow's hypothesis. Renewable energy is also observed to play a significant role in raising economic growth of this region. However, labor force participation rate is determined to reduce economic growth and this can be explained by high levels of unemployment in this region. Capital provides a positive but insignificant effect on economic growth of the natural resources‐rich African countries. The study results also show that economic growth, capital, trade openness, and labor force enhance natural resources rent. The study calls for the improvement in the use of renewable energy and natural resources in order to attain sustainable economic development in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing global concern about the challenges of sustainable development. Furthermore, these concerns are becoming increasingly prevalent in Bangladesh on a daily basis. This may be attributed to the escalating influx of remittances, the degradation of natural resources, and the potential adverse impacts of economic growth on the ecosystem. Thus, this research looks at how remittances (REM) and natural resources (NR) affect the ecological footprint (EFP) in Bangladesh by controlling economic growth (EG), renewable energy (REN), and urbanization (URB) from 1990 to 2021. The study utilizes the linear and non‐linear autoregressive distributed lag model to test the relationships between REM and NR on EFP. Positive and negative shocks to REM and NR have varied consequences on EFP, which suggests an asymmetric relationship. The findings reveal that the impact of the positive shock on NR is positive and significant. It implies that an increase in the positive shock of NR causes a rise in EFP. However, the impact of the negative shock on NR is negative but statistically insignificant. Likewise, negative shock in REM decreases the EFP by increasing ecological quality, while positive shock in REM does not significantly impact EFP. Similarly, REN and URB improve the environmental quality in Bangladesh while EG decreases. To meet sustainable development goals, policies can be designed for proficient and ecologically friendly types of energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development and environmental sustainability have recently become global priorities. This study utilizes the nonlinear autoregressive distribution lag model (NARDL) to investigate the asymmetric effects of natural resource rents on economic growth and environmental quality in China and the United States from 1970 to 2020. The findings indicate that natural resource rents exert asymmetric effects on economic growth and environmental quality in both countries; however, the impact patterns differ between the two countries. In the short term, a decrease in natural resource rents significantly increases GDP per capita in the US, while an increase in natural resource rents has no effect. Moreover, natural resource rents do not influence the ecological footprint in the US. By contrast, China's GDP per capita remains unaffected by natural resource rents, while the ecological footprint is significantly influenced by both positive and negative changes in natural resource rents, exhibiting asymmetric impacts. In the long run, an increase in natural resource rents significantly impacts both GDP per capita and the ecological footprint in the US, while a decrease only impacts the ecological footprint. By contrast, both increases and decreases in natural resource rents impact per capita GDP and the ecological footprint in China. These findings highlight the importance of tailoring country‐specific policies to facilitate sustainable economic development and enhance environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has experienced great economic expansion, which has resulted in varied degrees of diversified commerce, an elevated level of government revenue, and an increase in the demand for energy. The purpose of this study is to provide a solution to this conundrum by analyzing the effects of trade diversification (TDF), government revenues (GRN), gross domestic product (GDP), and natural resource rent (NTR) on the sustainable development of the ASEAN countries between the years 1981 and 2022. In order to accurately portray the concept of environmental sustainability, the ecological footprint (EFP) is utilized to represent sustainable development. The quantile‐based econometrics technique known as the Method of the Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) has been utilized in order to investigate the direction and amplitude of the asymmetric correlation that exists between the interaction of GRN, TDF, NTR, and EFP. According to the estimations of the MMQR, it is proposed that government revenues, which include significant financial incentives that promote the stringent execution of environmental rules, hence avoiding deleterious impacts on the environment, have negative coefficients at all quantiles (Q0.25 − Q0.90). Conversely, TDF and GDP have a positive and statistically strong significant correlation across all quantiles (Q0.25 − Q0.90), revealing that TDF reduces environmental sustainability and expands the size of the world's EFP by making energy‐intensive products more accessible. In addition, the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and the Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG) both provide evidence that supports the correlation study by demonstrating that there is a similar pattern of causality across variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial institutions operating in a stable financial system seem to be willing to support the realization of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This view assumes that financial stability is crucial for sustainable development. We investigate the effect of financial stability on sustainable development. We use a unique financial stability index, sustainable development index and four SDG indicators. We analyse 26 countries from 2011 to 2018 using the system GMM method. The findings of the sustainable development index analysis show that financial stability has a significant effect on the level of sustainable development and the effect is negative in Asian countries. European and Asian countries have a high sustainable development index compared to African countries. The result of the individual SDG analyses show that financial stability has a significant effect on SDG3. Financial stability has a negative effect on SDG10 in Asian countries and a negative effect on SDG3 during periods of economic prosperity. Financial stability has a positive effect on SDG3 and SDG7 in countries where the banking system have high capital buffer. The results show that the effect of financial stability on sustainable development depends on how sustainable development is measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel data set comprising 284 prefecture‐level and above cities in China during 2005–2018, this study develops a theoretical mechanism harnessing the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to accumulate evidence and explain how innovation affects China's economic growth. It is found that regional economic growth is facilitated by local innovation activities as well as the absorption capacity of innovation and technology spilled over from other regions. This study also identifies 12 regional innovation poles across the country, which are found to have played a significant role in promoting urban economic development within a physical distance range of 150 km of a given region. This finding attests to the radiation effect from regional innovation poles in cultivating more such poles for China, to promote sustainable high‐quality economic growth, suggesting a route for China to avoid the curse of the middle‐income trap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a sustainable development model by examining the short‐run relationship, long‐run relationship and causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. We consider a sample of 142 countries for 1991–2019 and employ time series analysis. The study noticed the long‐run and short‐run relationship between economic growth and renewable energy consumption in the case of all Countries Groups and regions such as Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Sub‐Saharan Africa and low‐income economies. Overall, we conclude that renewable energy consumption positively influences economic growth, which can motivate countries to achieve sustainable development goals. A nation cannot only focus on economic development when growing environmental and climatic concerns exist. What is essential is the prioritisation of sustainable development goals. The constructed model will help the countries plan, modify and implement national and international sustainable development policies. The results will also be helpful to intergovernmental organisations for channelling countries' efforts towards sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influx of international tourists may affect the economic growth of destination countries by influencing the quality of life (QoL) of residents, the effects of which are unclear ex ante. Therefore, this study utilises the autoregressive distributed lag model to examine tourism‐induced growth by taking into consideration the residents' QoL using Singapore as a case study. We also consider the factor of heterogeneous tourism demand by regions of origin in a market‐based analysis using seemingly unrelated regression, motivated by the assumption that consumers from different markets differ widely over their preferences. This study seeks to contribute to an understanding of tourism as a source of sustainable economic development and as such provides important policy implications for practitioners and scholars alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) plays a pivotal role in reconciling economic growth with environmental sustainability. This research focuses on the individual green entrepreneurial orientation (IGEO) of mid‐level managers. In particular, it aims to explore how individual, environmental, and organizational factors foster IGEO. The data were collected from a total of 102 small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as 510 mid‐level managers operating within Taiwan's environmental protection sector. Subsequently, the gathered data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques. The study found that green opportunity identification and entrepreneurial motivation notably influence various aspects of IGEO. In addition, elements like a green institutional environment, corporate green resources, and corporate environmental policies significantly boost IGEO. However, no significant links were found between a green institutional environment and green innovativeness or between corporate environmental policies and green proactiveness. This study provides a valuable contribution to GEO research, specifically focusing on SMEs and environmentally sustainable initiatives within developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research scans the association between economic growth and derivatives markets in the Asia‐Pacific region between 2001 and 2022. Using the autoregressive distributed lag model, we reveal a bidirectional linkage between derivative markets and economic growth. We further demonstrate that both derivatives and stock markets have a strong positive association with economic growth, underscoring the significance of financial markets in driving economic advancement. We suggest policies prioritizing sustainable economic development and regulation of financial markets, particularly derivatives and stock markets, to increase market transparency, reduce information asymmetry, and foster economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high‐quality green transition is essential to achieving sustainable and coordinated global development. In this paper, a new method of two‐step geometric average is proposed to measure green transition, and a comprehensive framework on the relationship between sustainability and coordination via the propelling force of green transition is constructed at both the national and provincial levels. In addition, the mediating effect model and the threshold model are employed to empirically verify the mechanisms and influences. According to the results, green transition can contribute to regional economic growth at national level and to the coordinated development of regional economies at provincial level in China. Meanwhile, the non‐linear 'U‐shaped' relationships between green transition and regional economy are demonstrated in Asia and the eastern region of China, and spillover effect of technological innovation can indirectly promote regional development. In addition, the heterogeneity effect of green transition fully releases the dividend of economic quality and environmental governance capacity, promoting the coordinated development of regional economies. In the meantime, the driving force of green transition on regional economy is dependent on the external environment, particularly before and after the outbreak of COVID‐19, when its impact has altered substantially. Therefore, it is necessary to promote green transition via greater technological innovation efficiency, and then to restore the vitality of regional economic development; which could provide policy makers and professionals in the regional economy with information for enhancing sustainable and coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitioning towards a sustainable society is at the core of public planning in the EU through the European Green Deal (EGD). However, is the EGD a master plan for actual sustainable development in the EU? This work aims to answer this question through an analysis of the environmental sustainability within the EGD's plans through the method of critical discourse analysis, and discussing the results with previous efforts for sustainable development in the EU and in the UN. The results of the analysis identify fundamental flaws in the environmental sustainability of the EGD, which seems to repeat mistakes of previous efforts for sustainability planning in the EU. This work concludes that economic growth is the predominant focus in public planning and that the EGD needs a review of various environmental aspects to be considered the master plan for a transition towards a sustainable EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent aspirations for human development that necessitate the epiphany of a universal yet varied set of ethical values, social equity, sustainability, and healthy lifestyle within a clean, safe environment. However, recent events such as Covid‐19 and the Ukraine–Russia Impasse have been a bane to achieving these goals. Consequently, there is the need to find innovative ways to increase accomplishments. Given that the SDGs are inherently interconnected and that achieving one is a suitable springboard for achieving others, we hypothesize the whole SDGs in four dimensions: (i) environmental, (ii) economic, (iii) human development, and (iv) energy sustainability to aid in cost effective implementation and comparative analysis between BRICS and G7 countries. Proxying SDGs 3 and 4 with human development, SDG 8 with economic growth, SDG 13 with environmental sustainability, and SDG 7 with energy sustainability, we use panel data from 2000 to 2020. We conducted a thorough empirical investigation and used sophisticated econometric approaches—Driscoll–Kraay for the principal analysis and fixed effect for robustness check. From the analysis, we conclude that the policy frame of UN‐SDG is inconsistent within the panel (BRICS and G7 nations), suggesting that these policy instruments need a uniform harmonization in the policy framework. In conclusion, a policy framework must be created in such a manner that, while having the ability to improve the environment, the pattern of economic growth is preserved, and human progress pursues its goals with priority access to sustainable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Large amount of carbon emission is the main hazard to environment and human health. The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of economic growth, forest zone, agricultural productivity, and energy consumption on environmental pollution in China using time series data from 1980 to 2020. The underline research utilized dynamic ordinary least‐squares (DOLS) method, Johansen and Engle–Granger cointegration tests, and the autoregressive‐distributed lag (ARDL) technique to analyze the varying data set. To compare findings, fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR) estimators are estimated. Energy use and population raise CO2 emissions with 1% economic development. Long‐term CO2 emissions may be reduced by 1% agriculture production and forestry zone growth. The Granger causality test showed causation between all variables. Results reveal that China might achieve sustainable development goals by cutting down CO2 emissions and mitigate global climate change. The underline research presents policy recommendations for attaining environmental sustainability in China through green investment by reducing carbon emissions. These policies highlight promoting use of renewable energy, financing green technological progression in agricultural productivity, and the ecological feasibility of China's forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines two major policy frameworks for achieving sustainable development: the market‐based 'Green Economy' approach (exemplified by South Korea), and the redistributive 'Living Well' approach (exemplified by Bolivia). We compare the two paradigms in qualitative terms using document analysis, and we assess quantitatively how they have fared in terms of delivering progress towards sustainable development in each country. Time series data for the Sustainable Development Index and the Gini index were examined. The results show that, since 'Living Well' was initiated, social outcomes have continued to improve in Bolivia and, while emissions and material footprint have increased, they remain low and within or near sustainable boundaries. By contrast, South Korea has regressed in terms of sustainability. Social indicators have improved, but the Green Economy policy has failed to reduce ecological pressures. This raises significant questions about the legitimacy of the Green Economy paradigm as a model for achieving sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires a context‐specific understanding of how actions to achieve one goal interact with others. We analyzed statistical data, and conducted online surveys and interviews with conservation professionals to understand how terrestrial conservation goals (SDG 15: Life on land) influence and are influenced by other goals in Nepal. Our findings suggest that SDG 15 synergized with economic growth (SDG 8), gender equality (SDG 5), water access (SDG 6), sustainable production and consumption (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13), but traded off with food security (SDG 2), energy access (SDG 7), poverty alleviation (SDG 1), and infrastructure development (SDG 9). Increased multi‐sectoral collaboration between conservation and development stakeholders is urgently needed to address the negative impacts of other goals on SDG 15. Additionally, conservation measures in Nepal can benefit from being more people‐focused, participatory, and contextualized to mitigate negative impacts on socioeconomic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is unquestionably necessary for economic progress, but it also results in carbon emissions, which are the leading cause of environmental deterioration and climate change. From this perspective, clean energy can contribute to both sustainable development and ecological sustainability, as it consists of non‐carbohydrate energy sources that do not or rarely emit greenhouse gases. In this context, this paper investigates economic policy uncertainty (EPU), economic expansion (EE) and clean energy consumption (EC) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Russia from 1995 to 2021. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was used to illustrate the interdependence of factors. The error correction model (ECM) is also used to check the relationship among the study's desired factors. The long‐term investigation found that EPU harms the environment by increasing emission levels. The economic expansion increases CO2 emissions and reduces the environmental quality, supporting the ecological modernization argument. The consumption of clean energy negatively impacts CO2 emission; hence its higher amount reduces the carbon. Thus, the study found a causal relationship between EPU, EC, EE and CO2 emissions. Based on the study's findings, a policy framework is proposed to address the sustainable development goals and environmental quality. Adding the other variables like environmental regulations can be taken as future direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice‐animal co‐culture (RAC) systems are an integrated farming approach to mitigate the diverse challenges facing the food system. Studies of the production potential and ecological mechanisms of RAC systems have demonstrated natural advantages over traditional production systems. The quantification of the advantages and the potential promotion of RAC systems at regional and global scales, however, remains unclear. Writing in Earth's Future, Cui et al. (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002984) comprehensively assessed an ecological RAC system and identified the potential benefits of global promotion using a meta‐analysis. In this commentary, we contextualized Cui et al.'s (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002984) study and further theoretically clarified the connections of RAC systems to the various sustainable development goals (SDGs) and targets, with references to the officially released list of SDG indicators. Moreover, we discussed the limitation of the current studies and pointed out some potential directions for future research to understand the present and future roles of RAC systems in meeting the multiple SDGs. Plain Language Summary: Rice‐animal co‐culture (RAC) systems provide a potential way to mitigate the great challenge of sustainably feeding the growing world population. RAC systems would substantially improve the progress of sustainable development goal 2 (SDG2, Zero hunger) by producing more diverse food, enhancing agricultural sustainability, and increasing farmers' income and would also benefit many other sustainable development goals (SDGs), such as SDG1 (No poverty), SDG8 (Decent work and economic growth), SDG6 (Clean water and sanitation), SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production), and SDG13 (Climate action). Quantifying the contributions of RAC systems to SDGs at the goal, target, and indicator levels needs to be further explored in future studies. Key Points: Cui et al. (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002984) comprehensively assessed the benefits of the global promotion of rice‐animal co‐culture (RAC) systems by meta‐analysisRAC systems directly help sustainable development goal 2 (SDG2) and are positive to many sustainable development goals (SDGs) by their environmental and economic benefitsThe role of RAC systems in meeting SDGs needs to be further explored and quantified by identifying the current crucial gaps [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study aims to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development, as well as explore how entrepreneurship can contribute to addressing the challenges associated with sustainable development. The significance of this topic lies in the fact that sustainable development is crucial for the long‐term well‐being of societies and the planet, and entrepreneurship has the potential to play a vital role in achieving sustainable development goals. Through a systematic literature review, this study evaluates how sustainable business activities can help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8‐Decent Work and Economic Growth). The study employs the Scopus indexing online database and VOSviewer, a data mining tool, to identify scholarly literature related to sustainable entrepreneurship and SDG‐8 published between 2015 and 2022. The bibliometric study indicates a significant growth in the scientific literature on this topic in recent years. The study identifies five research subjects, including current trends in the literature on SDGs, economic development, socioeconomic growth, durability, higher education, and other related topics. By conducting a thorough inquiry into the literature, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development, and provide insights into how entrepreneurship can be leveraged to achieve sustainable development goals. Ultimately, this research has important implications for policymakers, businesses, and individuals interested in promoting sustainable development and creating a more equitable and prosperous world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty plagues the sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) region and impedes its socio‐economic development. It is impossible to attain sustainable‐development without alleviating energy‐poverty. In this study, we examine the role of governance and renewable‐energy in alleviating energy poverty for 22 SSA countries from 2000 to 2018 using system generalised method‐of‐moments and three‐stage least‐squares models. Government expenditure is found to increase economic growth, which in turn, reduces energy poverty. On the other hand, energy poverty is found to initially increase and then fall with rising renewable‐energy share. Additionally, the association of energy poverty with socio‐economic, environmental and governance factors, is analysed within a structural‐equation modelling (SEM) framework. Our SEM model shows that government institutional‐factors remain central to reducing energy poverty without compromising environmental‐sustainability. This study suggests that SSA needs transparent governance, strong institutions and a rising renewable‐energy share along with a resilient grid infrastructure to address the energy poverty problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial development (FD), by supporting financial inclusion, economic growth and green innovation, kindles sustainable development (SD), though unbridled FD without governance can fuel unsustainable activities. Therefore, we aim to estimate the role of governance (CG) in the FD–SD nexus for a panel of 128 countries covering the period 1995–2017 using advanced econometric methods. Results infer that FD beyond certain level may hamper SD, while governance always encourages SD. Besides, their confluence has substitutive effects, especially in high‐income countries, yet it is crucial for sustainability. These insights are useful for policymakers to develop appropriate FD, governance and SD strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the importance of sustainable water and energy solutions in achieving poverty eradication, economic growth, and global prosperity. It highlights the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on water and energy and emphasizes the increasing global demand for these resources due to population growth and economic development. The article emphasizes the interdependence of water and energy and the need for a coordinated and integrated approach to address their challenges. It also highlights the role of water and energy in climate change mitigation, health crises, and the pursuit of sustainable development. The article concludes by discussing the potential for integrated water-energy systems to improve efficiency and accessibility and contribute to a more equitable and resilient world. The Special Issue on Sustainable Water and Energy Solutions includes contributions and examples of the nexus approach in different parts of the world. [Extracted from the article]

This study corroborates the importance of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG‐7), intended to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable energy for all, and SDG‐8, designed to promote decent work and sustainable economic growth. This article is motivated by the highlighted SDGs and empirically explores the long‐run and causality relationship between energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, and economic growth for annual frequency data from 1965 to 2021 for the case of Mexico. To this end, we leverage the use of fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, and canonical regression estimation methods, while for the direction of causality, the gradual shift and wavelet coherence methods are used. According to the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), the bounds test traces a long‐run relationship between the outlined variables over the sampled period. Empirical evidence validates the energy‐induced growth hypothesis. This result resonates with the causality analysis, where energy consumption drives economic growth one way in Mexico. This suggests that Mexico cannot embark on energy‐conservative policies, as such actions will hurt economic progress. In addition, unidirectional causality is seen between urbanization, trade openness, and economic growth. These findings have far‐reaching implications for economic growth and macroeconomic indicators in Mexico. More insights are highlighted in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the impact of eco‐friendly technology on environmental degradation indicated using the load capacity factor (LCF) with the framework of the Load Capacity Curve (LCC) hypothesis. In this regard, an environmental degradation function is formed and analyzed using the Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (AARDL) approach during the period spanning from 1975 to 2021 for India. The outcome indicates that eco‐friendly technology reduces the LCF, thereby fostering environmental degradation in the long run, but the relationship is not significant in the short run. Further, an N‐shaped LCC hypothesis has been observed in both long and short runs. Besides, energy consumption exhibits a LCF reducing or environmental degradation boosting role in the short run and long run. These findings are consistent with other models that are used to check the robustness of AARDL‐based results. Thus, the study recommends policies for promoting eco‐friendly technology, judicious economic growth, and cautious energy consumption to attain sustainable development by increasing the LCF in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges brought on by the rapid rate of economic growth include the depletion of natural resources (NAR) and environmental deterioration. Due to its abundant mineral resources and rapid economic growth, China has gained attention from both the developing and developed worlds. Using data from 1970/Q1 to 2020/Q4, this paper evaluates the time‐frequency nexus between CO2 emissions and natural resources, coal consumption, and economic growth. The study employs the Wavelet Local Multiple Correlation (WLMC) to explore this nexus. This approach enhances the capacity to comprehend the fundamental relationships between these indicators at different frequencies. To the best of the investigator' knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation to explore the time‐frequency nexus between natural resource, economic growth, coal use, and CO2 emissions in China, thus filling a gap in the literature. Furthermore, wavelet coherence is employed as a robustness check. The WLMC bivariate cases revealed that economic growth, coal consumption, and natural resources drive CO2 emissions positively at all frequencies, that is, in the short and long‐term, thus leading to environmental degradation. Furthermore, the wavelet coherence results support the outcomes of the WLMC bivariate cases. This study offers significant implications for policy and insights that are supported by the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are presented as significantly interacted. Yet most studies only investigated the direct interactions of SDG targets, and indirect interactions, that is, the interlinkages transmitted through one or more mediums, should also be considered to obtain more accurate interaction estimation and more scientific policy decisions. We first made a methodological contribution by proposing a plus‐minus decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory model, which can consider not only the direct synergies and trade‐offs but the indirect ones. Then, based on this proposed method, we navigated the complicated network across the SDGs considering both direct and indirect interactions, find out the key interactive ones with a visually directed graph, obtain the weights of each SDG, and define the best governance structures to capitalize on synergies and minimize trade‐offs. Results show that, when incorporating indirect interactions, the share of synergy effect of SDGs dominates the total influence, taking up to 98.33%, suggesting that the achievement of the 2030 Agenda can be facilitated through interactions. Although all SDGs should be equally addressed by 2030 suggested by the United Nations, equal importance across 17 SDGs does not mean we have to make the same efforts in achieving each SDG, and SDG 4 and SDG 13 are the top priority to tap into these interaction potentials. Our interdisciplinary analysis across economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection provides a science‐driven reference for all UN member states to facilitate achieving the SDGs by maximizing the synergies and minimizing the trade‐offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth‐energy‐environment relationship has been debated over the last decades. The devastating impacts of economic growth and energy consumption on the environment have concerned environmental stakeholders worldwide. Although education has been identified as an essential determinant of environmental degradation, its moderating role is overlooked in the literature. This study examines the direct and moderating roles of education in the growth‐energy‐environment relationship in 23 African countries. The panel mean group (MG), pooled mean group (PMG), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and the Driscoll–Kraay standard errors are used for the analysis. The study finds that the direct and moderating roles of education aggravate environmental degradation. The findings also reveal that the marginal impacts of energy consumption are contingent upon education and increase environmental degradation. The study recommends transforming the school curriculum to foster environmental awareness, competence, and mindset to improve the environment in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming and other significant climatic changes arising from the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have placed great policy puzzles on whether to slow or not to slow gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This paper presents and estimates empirical models of growth using standard tools of growth empirics for 23 OECD countries over the period 1990–2017. The main objective is to examine the role of green energy consumption and investment on economic growth. Using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) with fixed effects, empirical results suggest that green energy consumption and investment—in the sense of renewable energy consumption and expenditure in renewable energy research and development (R&D)—have small, although positive effects on economic growth. These effects are heterogeneous, leading to asymmetric patterns over the conditional quantile distribution of per‐capita GDP with stronger effects found in the lower quantiles. The implication of our findings is that capacity utilization in green energy consumption and investment has not been developed to a viable level that will mitigate greenhouse effects and spur sustainable development in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether the raw material productivity, export intensification, and environmental‐related technologies in the Nordic region (i.e., Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) drives the region's carbon neutrality target. By adopting both symmetric and asymmetric empirical approaches over the period 1990–2019, the study found that positive and negative shifts in environmental‐related technologies mitigates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the region with the former causing a larger impact. Furthermore, the findings reveal that a positive shift in raw material productivity mitigates GHG emissions while a negative shift in raw material productivity causes a surge in GHG emissions especially in the long‐run. Moreover, a positive (negative) shift in export intensity yields a decline (upsurge) in GHG emissions in the long‐run. In the symmetric framework, in both long‐ and short‐run, the result reveals that economic growth upsurges GHG emissions while raw material productivity for green growth and environmental‐related technologies mitigates GHG emissions. This demonstrates the efficient raw material productivity profile of the Nordic countries. Alongside the Granger causality inference, the result further informs that energy intensity is crucial to curbing GHG emissions in the region. Thus, the result from the study offers relevant policy instructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global concerns regarding climate change and the related environmental adversities continue to persist alongside rapid development of the world economies, the United Nations declared a set of compressive sustainable development goals (SDG) that are to be realized by the end of 2030. These goals are specifically conceptualized to collectively facilitate the attainment of sustainable socioeconomic development while concurrently improving the quality of the global environment. Hence, this study assesses the interlinkages between economic growth, environmental pollution, financial development, and renewable energy use in light of the objectives of SDG8, SDG13, SDG10, and SDG7 by considering the BRICS nations as a case study. Although the previous studies, in this regard, have predominantly focused on specifically scrutinizing the determinants of these four macroeconomic variables of concern, not much importance was shown to map the interrelationships among these variables. The econometric analysis conducted in this study utilizes quarterly frequency data covering the period from 1990‐Q1 to 2020‐Q4. Overall, the findings from causality and variance decomposition analyses reveal that in the long run these variables are influenced by each other which, in turn, also verifies the cross‐linkages between the four SDG of concern. Besides, the causality‐related findings appear to be robust when alternate causality estimators are employed. Therefore, based on these critically important causal relationships, a set of interactive SDG‐related policies is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive economic growth mode leads to resource depletion and environmental degradation. Green development is the best way to solve this problem. We analyzed the sample data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta of China from 2007 to 2019. We used the spatial Durbin model and interaction term model to study the effects of regional financial agglomeration (FA) on green development and the moderating role of green technology innovation. The results show that FA promotes local green development but inhibits the green development of neighboring areas. Because the polarization effect of the growth pole is greater than its dispersion effect, cities with high levels of FA have a strong "siphon effect" on the surrounding areas. Green technology innovation positively moderates the promoting effect of FA on green development; the higher the level of green technology innovation and the degree of emphasis on it, the stronger the promoting effect. The government should encourage green finance to promote green technology innovation and promote the green development of the regional economy. These findings provide new insights for developing countries to achieve sustainable development under environmental constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries around the world are facing enormous challenges in their economic and social development as COVID‐19 continues to spread, resulting in slower economic recovery in the post‐pandemic era. Considering the impact of economic growth on future sustainable development in this new era, green economic recovery (GER) can achieve a win‐win situation between economic recovery and environmental improvement and bring forth environmentally sustainable economic growth. This research first lists related COVID‐19 literature surveys and GER policies in the post‐pandemic era in China. Based on a comparative study of the international experience of GER policy practices, this paper then analyzes the opportunities and challenges China faces for GER and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions on how to promote its sustainable development in the post‐epidemic era. We believe our research presents useful enlightenments for sustainable economic and social development in the post‐epidemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While international trade in agricultural commodities can spur economic development especially where governance is strong, there are also concerns about the local impacts of commodity production and their distribution. Previous frameworks have primarily focused on trade effects on environmental conditions in production regions, as well as economic growth and food security. Instead, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of agricultural trade on multidimensional wellbeing and equity. The purpose of the framework is to guide the analysis of the impacts of trade on people, by identifying the core concepts and organising the complexity of the local social impacts of global value chains. The framework is supported by evidence from studies on trade in soy, coffee, cocoa, and palm oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the development discourse is profoundly political. Despite a range of innovations the situation remains much the same, and has led over time to the dominance of the economic growth model. Whilst academic/ideological vigour, policy relevance and institutional support, together with intellectual independence, are essential; too radical an alternative approach would be dismissed by mainstream opinion, either by design or neglect. To survive and to remain influential, any alternative requires the mainstream to engage with it for political feasibility. The development discourse has thus evolved through a delicate balancing act, acknowledging a need for a cautiously optimistic outlook. By tracing changes in two approaches to development (basic needs and human development) and in two global development goals (millennium development goals and sustainable development goals) through their selection and use of indicators, this article explores both the explicit and the implicit power of the mainstream in the past and present alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the effects of renewable energy, nonrenewable energy, and foreign direct investment (FDI) on output growth in the five South Asian economies. For this purpose, a panel growth model has developed over the period 1990–2018. Pedroni cointegration estimates indicate that renewable, nonrenewable energy, FDI, and gross domestic product (GDP) are cointegrated. The results from the panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) depict the nonrenewable energy stimulates output growth. FDI also has a positive impact on output growth. Besides, the empirical results confirm that renewable energy has a significant and positive impact on output growth in the South Asian economies. The findings suggest that South Asian economies should investment in renewable energy for sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving sustainable development is the prime objective of every government. Based on Solow's theoretical proposition, this study attempts to explore empirically the linkages between tourism, energy consumption, and economic growth, for the top nine Asian travel and tourism countries including Indonesia between 1995 and 2018. The fully modified ordinary least squares method and Granger's causality approaches are implemented for empirical analysis. The empirical result reveals that tourism has a statistically positive impact on economic growth in Asia's top nine travel and tourist countries. Moreover, energy consumption, exports, and savings have also a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth. The results of panel Granger causality tests demonstrate that there is a mutual interdependence between tourism, energy consumption, and economic growth in the selected panel country group. The empirical finding indicates the positive influences of tourism on economic growth; therefore, the government must strive to formulate a policy that would help to build infrastructural adequacy and promote tourism development in Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's extensive economic growth has been accompanied with high levels of pollution, and excessive energy consumption has brought serious pollution problems. The use of financial resources to regulate green production modes and encourage high‐quality economic development has become a major focus in academia. At the same time, growth enterprise market (GEM) enterprises, which mainly operate in technology‐intensive industries, are assumed to have a simulating effect on regional innovation. Therefore, this paper utilizes the capital return differences of 4437 listed companies and 920 GEM companies based in 30 provinces of China from 2008 to 2018 to quantitatively analyze the levels of financial misallocation. With two‐stage regression method, the direct effect of financial misallocation on regional green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE) and the indirect impact observed when taking regional innovation as an intermediary variable are discussed. Furthermore, dynamic threshold panel regression and heterogeneity analysis are used to verify the above nonlinear relationship. The empirical findings indicate that financial misallocation enhances innovation capability and further restrains GTFEE. With an improved degree of marketization and environmental regulation, the inhibitory effect of financial misallocation on GTFEE is more significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global warming have raised the need to use renewable sources. The expansion of the use of renewable resources has a deep relationship with energy consumption, its price, and economic growth. Therefore, based on the threshold regression approach, this study evaluates the effect of price and energy consumption on renewable energy development in Iran's different economic growth regimes. In this regard, by collecting economic data in Iran over 30 years, using STATA software, and forming a threshold regression model, the asymmetric effect of energy prices on energy consumption is investigated. The results showed a threshold for regression equal to 7.28% in the annual GDP growth rate data. According to the threshold value, economic analysis is divided into two parts: economic growth below the threshold and economic growth above the threshold. The results show a negative and significant relationship between the energy price index and the share of renewable energy in Iran during high economic growth. The reason for this is related to the unstable and intermittent growth of the economy, unprincipled management of resources due to increased revenues due to rising energy prices, energy subsidies, and the private sector's reluctance to invest in cheap renewable energy fossil fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to debates about trade unions and the environment by studying differences between union members and non‐members when asked to prioritize between environmental protection and jobs and economic growth. Differences are explored in a multi‐level framework based on European Values Study data from 2017, covering 22 European countries. The empirical results show that members are more pro‐environmentally inclined than non‐members. This is demonstrated to be attributable to a large extent to the fact that members tend to be more left‐leaning politically, a disposition which tends to be associated positively with environmental concern. While those employed in transport and manufacturing generally are least likely to be willing to prioritize environmental protection, membership has the most pronounced positive effect in this group. The tendency for members to be more pro‐environmentally inclined is consistent across the studied countries. The article also shows that both members and non‐members in countries with higher collective bargaining coverage tend to be more pro‐environmentally inclined. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the political nature of collective interest representation with which unions are concerned, broader debates about union renewal and the importance of unions in garnering workers' support for a greener economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of globalization on national economies remain a subject of empirical interest. Owing to the spillovers via globalization effects, a number of economies in the South Asian region have recorded phenomenal economic growth. However, the extent to which economic growth can influence development outcomes remains the issue of interest. Therefore, this study adds to the literature by examining the time and modulative effects of economic globalization on some direct regressors of economic growth. The study focused on eight South Asian countries from 1996 to 2019 for which data on globalization were sourced from Konjunkturforschungsstelle Globalization index, World Governance Indicators and International country risk database. A pooled autoregressive‐distributed lag (ARDL) approach was utilized in addressing the objective of this study. Consequently, the findings suggest that while globalization influences economic growth positively, rising interest rates and inflationary pressures can unsustain this influence. Likewise, the modulated estimates show that economic globalization can be utilized as a tool to stimulate investment as well as to check corruption and subsequently sustain economic growth in South Asian economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesion Policy is a core policy of the European Union, the main objective of which is to address uneven economic growth across the EU by promoting balanced and sustainable development. Given its characteristics, it certainly has a great impact on the daily life of European citizens and can compensate population groups and places less favoured by the implementation of the internal market and economic and monetary union. As a result, Cohesion Policy is expected to shape regional support for European integration. This study tests this assumption using regional data for the EU‐28 in a period that includes the recent phases of expansion and recession, in a scenario characterized by growing anti‐EU rhetoric. The results suggest that a greater amount of EU funds spent in the region does not stimulate support for the Union. However, an appropriate temporal distribution of the resources allocated to the region could have a positive effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries enact environmental regulations to achieve sustainable development and ecological sustainability. However, environmental regulations do not guarantee environmental sustainability unless implemented efficiently. Furthermore, political institutions play a key role in the formulation and management of environmental regulations. This research examines the relationship between democracy, environmental regulations, economic growth, and ecological footprint (EF) in the panel of G7 nations from 1985 to 2017. Second generation econometric techniques are used to analyze the data. The empirical evidence indicates that economic growth enhances EF while democracy and environmental regulations positively contribute to ecological sustainability by reducing EF. The causal outcomes reveal that democracy Granger causes EF and renewable energy indicating that democracy curbs environmental degradation and stimulates the share of renewables. Further, democracy and environmental regulations Granger cause each other. Lastly, the implication of these findings for sustainable development and ecological sustainability are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is pivotal for sustainable economic growth. Undoubtedly, the role of the composition of the export basket (measured as economic complexity) is one of the crucial variables influencing energy consumption. Despite its importance, the existing body of literature does not intensively study the relationship between economic complexity and total energy consumption. Therefore, this study's primary aim was to examine the effect of economic complexity on energy consumption in a case study of 21 developed and 44 developing countries for the period 1971–2014. In this context, economic complexity expresses the level of sophistication of a country's export basket. This paper considers energy prices and income as explanatory variables in Durbin‐H panel cointegration analysis and applies a cointegration test with structural breaks to check for the long‐run relationships. For the long‐run estimations, we employ the augmented mean group method and dynamic seemingly unrelated regression. The findings reveal that economic complexity increases energy consumption in developing countries while it decreases energy consumption in developed countries. This is an important insight for countries concerned about their energy dependence. The diversification of their production and export baskets can reduce energy needs. The paper finally presents policy recommendations based on the empirical estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes by investigating the association between scale, technique, and composition effects on energy consumption by considering financial development, oil prices and globalization as potential determinants of economic growth and energy consumption. We have applied recent cointegration considering cross‐sectional dependence and structural breaks introduced by Westerlund and Edgerton, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2008, 70, 665–704. Furthermore, FMOLS, DOLS and Cup‐FMOLS are applied to examine impact of scale effect, technique effect, composition effect, financial development, oil prices and economic globalization on energy consumption. The empirical results show that variables are cointegrated for long run relationship. Scale effect and technique effect are negatively and positively linked with energy consumption. Composition effect and economic globalization stimulate energy consumption. Contrarily, financial development and oil prices decline energy consumption. This empirical analysis helps policy makers of developing economies in designing their comprehensive environmental policy for sustainable economic development in long‐run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]