Ecological Footprint, Public-Private Partnership Investment in Energy and Financial Development in Brazil: A Gradual Shift Causality Approach

Abstract

The present study aims to close this gap in the literature by exploring the effect of public-private partnerships in energy and financial development on Brazil’s ecological footprint by considering the impact of renewable energy and economic growth using data spanning from 1983 to 2017. The study utilized several techniques such as ARDL, FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR to examine the relationship between ecological footprint and the determinants, while the Gradual shift causality test was utilized to capture the causal linkage between the series in the presence of structural break. The outcome of the Maki Cointegration test revealed evidence of a long-run association among the variables of interest. Furthermore, the results of the ARDL, FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR tests revealed that economic growth and public and private investment in energy increase environmental degradation while both renewable energy and financial development mitigates it. Moreover, the Gradual shift causality test revealed a bidirectional causal linkage between ecological footprint and economic growth. The present study recommends establishing a forum that will foster public and private partnerships to enhance communication, which will create collaboration for new initiatives for green technological innovations. Additionally, the financial market can be assisted by the government by formulating a framework that would promote low carbon technology development.