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In the wake of the growing threats to humanity from climate change, we analyzed the information and communications technology (ICT)/education—environmental nexus from three distinct blocs including BRICS, MINT, and the G7 economies between 1990 and 2020. Two models were examined to reach the study's objectives. The first model evaluates whether education and ICT are essential for environmental sustainability via potential reduction in carbon emission. On the other hand, the second model fills an existing gap in extant studies by examining the prospect of education and ICT in influencing citizens on the importance of transition to renewable energy usage. Driscoll and Kraay estimator was employed as a panacea tool for cross‐sectional dependence and slope homogeneity while the fixed effect approach provides sufficient robustness checks on the findings. While some outcomes vary per bloc, others are relatively similar across the three blocs. Education level in school enrollment perspectives shows a negative significant pollution reduction effect across the three blocs, while only the G7 bloc performed better from human capital perspectives. The combined sample bloc shows that ICT also significantly reduces carbon emission, however, an individual bloc analysis refutes this stance for the MINT bloc. Additionally, while renewable energy cushions emissions in all the blocs, rapid urbanization, shows a positive CO2 emission impact except in the G7 bloc. Last, ICT and education significantly boost renewable energy usage only in the G7. Hence, governments and stakeholders in the blocs should gravitate toward greater investments in quality education and greener ICT infrastructures for a sustainable environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human progress has become detrimental to the environment. Moreover, the failure to mitigate pollution would eventually impact negatively on the economy. This study investigates the influence of technological innovation, research and development, and quality of governance on carbon emissions for the European Union countries while controlling for industrialization, renewable energy, trade openness and foreign direct investment from 1996 to 2018 by employing the method of moment quantile regression technique. The result revealed that renewable energy, trade openness, and quality governance boost environmental quality, while technological innovation and industrialization increase carbon emissions. Also, the interaction between technological innovation and quality governance, research and development and quality governance as well as industrialization and quality governance decreases carbon emission while that of foreign direct investment and quality governance increases carbon emission. From the causality analysis, there is a bidirectional relationship between research and development and carbon emission, technology innovation and carbon emission, renewable energy and carbon emission, trade openness and carbon emission as well as industrialization and carbon emission. Moreover, a unidirectional connection was obtained between foreign direct investment and carbon emission, as well as quality governance and carbon emission. Based on the outcomes, comprehensive policy directions are suggested for policymakers in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of increased renewable energy consumption has been widely debated, and this has become a central energy policy concern for developing and developed countries. The existing literature provides evidence that there is a positive relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in developed economies. However, findings in respect of developing/emerging economies remain inconclusive. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the impact on renewable energy consumption on economic growth by controlling other macroeconomic variables for regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (East, Central and West) covering the 1990–2018 sample period. For this purpose, common correlated effects mean group estimator (CCEMG) and Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality test approach are used to consider both cross-sectional dependency and cross-country heterogeneity across countries. The CCEMG result indicates that an increase in renewable energy consumption led to reduction in economic growth even when the sample is analyzed based on geographical locations as East, West, and Central Africa. Granger causality results validate the feedback hypothesis for only Central Africa; the growth hypothesis is supported for East and West Africa. The empirical results suggest that energy planners, governments, and policy makers must act together to increase the renewable energy consumption share in her energy mix to promote economic growth for regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the long-run and causality relationship between tourism development and the real income level in an environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework for emerging industrialised economies (E7). The newness of our study to the tourism literature is the inclusion of institutional quality and tradeto the mix. The inclusion of the additional variables in the econometrics setting is worthwhile to circumvent omitted variable bias. Second-generation panel estimation techniques, in conjunction with the Driscoll-Kraay robust estimator, have been employed to accommodate cross-sectional dependency in the panel under review, as well as for robustness of coefficients and estimates. The Empirical results affirm the presence of the EKC phenomenon and tourism-induced emission in E7 economies, thereby suggesting that sustainable tourism has a deteriorating impact on economic growth in the examined industrialised countries. Similarly, real GDP per capita and non-renewable energy also dampen the quality of the environment, as indicated by the robust regression of AMG and CCEMG. Hence, an increase in non-renewable energy and tourism demand increases CO2emission in E7 economies. Additionally, we observe that the quality of institution improves the quality of the environment, thus, indicating that the role of good governance (institutional quality) improves the quality of the environment in E7. Furthermore, there is a need for a paradigm shift to sustainable tourism development alongside the adoption of the polluters pay principles to mitigate the adverse implications of the consumption of non-renewable energy. More insights are presented in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is an important driver of economic growth for several countries in the world. However, the rise in tourism activities has raised concerns regarding emissions resulting from tourist activities such as transportation as well as the consequent effect on the quality of the environment. Hence, this study examines the impact of tourism and other factors such as investments, energy utilization and economic growth on carbondioxide (CO2) emission in the emerging industrialized seven countries namely (China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia and Turkey) for the period 2000 to 2018. The study uses the Pool Mean Group Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL), ordinal least square (OLS), dynamic ordinals least square (DOLS) and fully modified least square (FMOLS) estimators as well as Dumitrescu and Hurlin Causality Test. Long run regression estimates reveal that a increase in tourism activities lower carbondioxide emissions in the E7 countries which can be traced to the adoption of environmentally friendly tourism. Furthermore, investment in energy and economic growth, the majority of the regression results point that both factors lower carbondioxide emissions in the emerging seven (E7) countries while energy consumption is a driver of CO2 emissions in the E7 countries. The study suggests that the implementation of environmentally friendly tourism be sustained to continually improve the quality of the natural environment in the blocs. Similarly, strict regulations of economic activities in line with the protection of the environment are advised while the use of renewable energy is needed to reduce emissions in the E7 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Can clean energy and technology address environmental sustainability in G7 under the pre-set of human development?" published in the journal Environmental Science & Pollution Research. The correction addresses a mistake in the author's contribution details provided for the paper. The correct author contributions are listed, and the publisher apologizes for any confusion or inconvenience caused. The publisher also notes that they remain neutral regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

The current study explores the impact of technological innovation and trade openness on clean energy while accounting for economic growth, access to electricity, pollution, industrial restructuring, and urbanization using data from 1990 to 2020 for both the MINT and BRICS economies. A series of tests were performed for a robust analysis using second generation econometrics approaches before proceeding to investigate the long-run linkages between renewable energy and the duo of innovation and trade using the Prais-Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE). The Driscoll-Kraay standard errors test was applied for robustness checks. The results, firstly confirm the presence of heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and cointegration among the selected variables. Secondly, technological innovation as a renewable energy determinant demonstrated negative elasticities in both BRICS countries and the full sample, but a positive elasticity in the MINT countries. Thirdly, concerning trade liberalisation, negative elasticities were obtained for the full sample and MINT countries, while the elasticities were positive for the BRICS bloc. Fourthly, the roles of economic growth and environmental pollution reveal a negative impact on renewable energy consumption for all samples while urbanisation and industrial restructuring promote renewable energy developments only in the BRICS bloc. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the incorporation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Empowerment Theory into a robust construct within a Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). Utilizing a cross-sectional survey approach, the study focuses on selected rural communities of Northern Ghana. The research encompasses 613 respondents, with an initial pilot study involving 80 participants. The study yields notable findings, establishing statistically significant and positive correlations between empowerment and attitude within the rural Ghanaian context. Furthermore, it identifies a significant influence of purchase intention on the propensity to recommend renewable energy technologies among rural households. These outcomes align with the principles of the Empowerment Theory and are in congruence with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), particularly SDG-7 (universal access to energy) and SDG-12 (responsible production and consumption). The study's implications extend to policy recommendations, specifically tailored to the unique energy landscape of Ghana. These findings contribute to a deeper comprehension of renewable energy proliferation dynamics and emphasize their crucial role in advancing sustainable development objectives and fostering responsible energy practices. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic global warming strategies on carbon mitigation are driven by encouraging green innovation and using carbon taxes, yet an empirical model to validate this is non-existing. Moreover, the existing stochastic effects by regression on population, wealth, and technology (STIRPAT) model has been found to lack policy tools on taxes and institutions that cut carbon emissions. This study amends the STIRPAT model with environmental technology, environmental taxes, and strong institutional frameworks to create a new model STIRPART(stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, regulation, and technology) to understand the factors impacting carbon pollution using the emerging 7 economies. Using data from 2000 to 2020, the Driscoll-Kraay fixed effects are employed in this analysis to conduct evidential tests of the impacts of environmental policies, eco-friendly innovations, and strong institutions. The outcomes indicate that environmental technology, environmental taxation, and institution quality decrease E7's carbon emissions by 0.170%, 0.080%, and 0.016%, respectively. It is recommended that E7 policymakers should adopt the STIRPART postulate as the theoretical basis for policies favoring environmental sustainability. The key contribution is the amendment of the STIRPAT model and the enhancement of the market-based mechanisms, such as patents, strong institutions, and carbon taxes, to enable environmental policy to be carried out sustainably and cost-effectively. • The research analyzed how E7 economies reduced carbon emissions from 2000 to 2020 using environmental technology, environmental taxes, and robust institutional frameworks. • An expanded STIRPART model was conceptualized to assess factors impacting carbon pollution in E7 economies. • STIRPART model represents a pivotal contribution to carbon mitigation strategies in emerging economies. • Driscoll-Kraay fixed effects and method of moment quantile used to conduct evidential tests on impacts of environmental policies, eco-friendly innovations, and strong institutions. • Improvement of market-based mechanisms, such as patents, strong institutions, and carbon taxes, is necessary for sustainable and cost-effective environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the rising importance of energy transition in the environmental sustainability discussion, it is imperative to understand the roles of sustainable energy innovations and financialization to reach informed inferences for policy formulation. We examined the environmental quality performance in Sub-Sahara Africa using the case of the resource-rich Ghanaian state vis-à-vis the possible moderating influence of green innovations and financial development. The empirical analysis encompassed various estimation issues, including structural breaks, heteroscedasticity, and normality in data structure. We simulated with the dynamic autoregressive-distributed lag technique and confirmed that financialization, resource rents, and economic growth are significant positive determinants of pollutant emissions. However, green innovations decrease the rate of pollution in the nation. Moreover, the interaction between green innovations and financial development improves ecological quality, while that between natural resources and financial development spurs pollution in the ecosystem. Furthermore, causal connections in the series indicated unidirectional causalities from green innovations, financialization, natural resource rents, and economic growth to pollutant emissions. However, the interactive terms between green innovations and financial development and between natural resource rents and financial development are bi-directionally related to ecological pollution. Hence, the study essentially suggests that the net-zero emission agenda of the Paris Accord is achievable from higher investments in green innovations while harnessing the benefits of international financial flows to boost the sustainability capacity of the Sub-Saharan Ghanian economy. [Display omitted] • Moderating aspects of green innovations and financialization in environmental quality examined. • Green innovations significantly abate pollution while financialization is detrimental. • Interactive influence of innovations and financial development abates ecological depletion. • Policy frameworks for net-zero emission are achievable from green innovation perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]