Accessing the efficacy of green growth, energy efficiency, and green innovation for environmental performance in top manufacturing nations in the framework of sustainable development

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, the quality of the environment has declined dramatically as a result of human activities, which threaten the sustainability of our ecosystem. In this context, a number of earlier studies have investigated the environmental problems through the lens of different environmental indicators such as ecological footprint and carbon dioxide emissions. However, it is possible that by taking these factors into account, the supply side of environmental quality will be neglected. This research seeks to address this deficiency by investigating the impact of green growth, energy efficiency, green technology innovation, economic growth, trade openness, and human capital on the level of load capacity factor. This indicator places equal emphasis on the supply and demand sides of the ecosystem by taking into account both ecological footprint and bio capacity. In this setting, the present study makes use of CS-ARDL model for the top 10 manufacturing countries from the years 1990 to 2019. The short- and long-run findings of the CS-ARDL model unveil that green growth, energy efficiency, green technology innovation, and human capital all positively influence the load capacity factor, suggesting that these factors help the top 10 manufacturing countries to improve their sustainability limits. In contrast, trade openness and economic expansion in underlying countries increase environmental degradation by lowering the level of LCF. These outcomes are also validated by the AMG and CCEMG approaches and the granger causality test. On the basis of the findings, important policy recommendations are presented with the aim of assisting the top 10 manufacturing economies in enhancing the quality of their environment and fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.