A pathway to a sustainable future: Investigating the contribution of technological innovations, clean energy, and Women's empowerment in mitigating global environmental challenges

Abstract

This study aims to provide insights into the pathway toward a sustainable future by investigating the factors contributing to environmental sustainability. In this pursuit, the current study empirically analyzes the role of economic growth, technological innovation, clean energy consumption, and women empowerment toward global environmental quality from 1991 to 2015. For empirical analysis, autoregressive distributive lag and fourier frequency domain causality models are employed to test the long-medium and short-run association between the selected variables. Fully modified ordinary least squares and canonical cointegration regression estimations are also applied for robustness. The empirics of this study reveal that economic growth deteriorates the environmental quality in the long and short run. However, technological innovation, clean energy consumption, and women's empowerment help improve environmental quality in the long and short run. In addition, the robust analysis also authenticates the long-run outcomes of the study. This study suggests policy recommendations aimed at a sustainable future by establishing strong regulatory policy instruments, enforcing environmental laws, promoting energy-efficient technologies in industries and households, implementing women's employment protection policies, and strong regulatory policy instruments to achieve emission reduction in the global perspective.