Do renewable energy consumption and financial development contribute to environmental quality in MINT nations? Implications for sustainable development

Abstract

Maintaining a balance between the well-being of the economy and the environment has become a top priority for governments globally. In the contemporary age, world economies, particularly the emerging ones like MINT nations, highlight the need for eco-friendly economic expansion. The MINT nations are thriving economically but are having difficulty reducing their Ecological footprint (EF). This paper aimed to determine if factors such as population density, renewable energy, foreign direct investment, economic growth, and financial development impact ecological footprint in the MINT countries between 1990 and 2018. The study applied ample advanced econometrics such as method of moments quantile regression (MMQR), augmented mean group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG). The overall results indicated that the variables are integrated at the first difference and are cointegrated. The AMG, CCEMG and MMQR results reveal that economic growth deteriorates ecological well-being by promoting the EF while foreign direct investment, population density and renewable energy assists in enhancing it by mitigating the EF in the MINT nations. In addition, financial development does not exert a significant effect on EF. The Dumitrescu Hurlin Panel Causality results show unidirectional causality from economic growth, financial development, population density, and renewable energy to EF. Based on these results policy recommendations are suggested.

A time-varying approach to the nexus between environmental related technologies, renewable energy consumption and environmental sustainability in South Africa

“…This result complies with the studies of 50 , 51 . However, this study contradicts 23 , 52 , who highlighted that with low-interest loans, financial development increases the spending power of the general public. This enables people to buy opulent goods like houses, cars, and air conditioners, all of which put a burden on the environment.…”

“…Besides, an insignificant linkage exists between financial development and emissions, suggesting that Malaysia financial section is still young. Moreover, the study of 23 for the MINT economies using data between 1990 and 2019 reported that an upsurge in financial development and economic expansion lessens the sustainability of the ecosystem while renewable energy and FDI inflows lessen ecological dilapidation. Furthermore, several studies in energy and environmental literature have reported significant various drivers of ecological quality such as economic growth, financial development, renewable energy, innovation, trade and globalization 24 – 26 .…”

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“…As the negative consequences of ecological degradation, such as climate change and global warming, become more palpable, it raises environmental consciousness globally and compels nations to take action to lessen this devastation. 1 The inevitability of ecological deterioration due to economic expansion makes it difficult for policymakers to put environmental regulations into action rapidly. 2,3 As a result, economists focus their attention on the connection between macroeconomic and ecological indicators whereas policymakers keep searching for environmental measures with the least negative effects on economic indicators.…”

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“…The relationship between energy, the environment, and economic growth has received widespread attention in scientific research in recent years (Naeem et al, 2022;Duan et al, 2023a;Naeem et al, 2023;Ren et al, 2023), yet environmental sustainability remains a global issue. The development of renewable energy (Zhang and Wang, 2019;Adebayo et al, 2022), green technology innovation (Du et al, 2019;Habiba et al, 2022), and regulatory policy mechanisms (Abbas et al, 2021;Annamalaisamy and Vepur Jayaraman, 2023) contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting environmental sustainable development. Xu et al (2023) found that green technology innovation and environmental regulation are the most effective ways to achieve zero emissions.…”