Do Financial Regulation and Technology Matter in Fostering Green Growth?

Green energy as a new determinant of green growth in China: The role of green technological innovation

Digital finance provides a premises guarantee for green technology innovation, and effective environmental regulation helps to achieve green and sustainable development. This article selects Chinese urban panel data from 2011 to 2019 to explore the impact mechanism of the influence of digital finance and environmental regulation on the innovation capacity of green science and technology. It is found that extensive financing channels and the strong information-matching ability of digital finance have a significant promoting effect on local green science and technology innovation. Moreover, government environmental regulation not only facilitates the development of green technology innovation locally and in nearby regions, but also strengthens the utility of digital finance in driving green science and technology innovation. Further research found that the influence of digital finance and environmental regulation on the ability of green science and technology innovation has regional heterogeneity, and only digital finance in Central China can promote green science and technology innovation in both local and adjacent areas. Therefore, the government should continue to promote the development of digital finance, optimize environmental regulations by increasing environmental protection subsidies and creating a green innovation environment, and further stimulate willingness to innovate green technologies. At the same time, it is also important to note the coordinated development and governance with neighboring regional governments.

Green Gross Domestic Product (GGDP) is an economic indicator designed to measure the environmental losses caused by economic growth. It takes into account factors such as the value of ecosystem services, environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources, thus providing a more comprehensive way of assessing economic development. Green growth is a special strategy for sustainable development, which provides a way to solve environmental problems and use natural resources.First, we investigate the impact of green technologies and growth on environmental factors in gross domestic product (GDP) in multiple countries from 2000 to 2020. In addition, it explores the linear and nonlinear effects of green GDP growth. The results show that the linear effect of GGDP has a positive effect on green growth. Conversely, the nonlinear effects of GDP have a negative impact on green growth.We then used the Bayer-Hanch cointegration test on a sample of G7 countries to study the impact of technological innovation (green patents) on green growth (e.g. EAMFP). Through indicators such as green growth, GDP, energy consumption, green technology innovation and pollution emissions, a multivariate linear model is established to estimate its impact on global climate change mitigation. Finally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the model, leaving room for further study.

Addressing the geographical relocation of the pollution-intensive gray side of low-carbon green production, our study analyzes potential determinants of green and gray growth performance of industrialized/developed countries (IDCs) and industrializing/emerging economies (IEEs) over the 1996–2015 period. We define green growth by low-carbon output, while we link gray growth to comparative advantages of pollution havens. Green and gray growth models include such predictors as domestic income and foreign direct investment (FDI) together with composite indices for globalization, environmental policy stringency (EPS), industrialization, and control of corruption. Considering non-stationarity, cross-section dependency, endogeneity, and heterogeneity concerns, we employ bootstrap and residual-based cointegration analyses followed by long-run estimations using the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimators and causality examination through Dumitrescu-Hurlin and Emirmahmutoglu-Kose tests. The key findings of the study are as follows: (i) income is positively associated with green growth for both IEEs and IDCs, whereas the income-gray growth nexus is negative for IEEs. (ii) Although inward FDI stocks are positively related to green and gray growth of IEEs and outward FDI stocks are negatively associated with green and gray growth of IDCs, these relationships are mediated by EPS. (iii) Globalization encourages both green and gray growth for IDCs. (iv) Even though EPS inhibits green growth and encourage gray growth in IEEs, these direct effects widely depend on the indirect effects of control of corruption. (v) IEEs’ higher gray growth performance is substantially explained by their increased industrial competitiveness, whereas the link is negative for IDCs. (vi) Control of corruption fosters both green and gray growth in IEEs. Overall, “growing gray” does not necessarily mean “not growing green” and vice versa. Globally, the low-carbon benefits of greening countries may be counterbalanced by the environmental costs of graying economies. From a policy perspective, IEEs need to reinforce environmental policies by green efficiency, green industrialization, and anti-corruption plans to decouple economic growth from carbon dioxide emissions.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-13127-x.

To realize green, low-carbon, and high-quality development, scientific and technological innovation is the key, but green technological innovation is costly and risky, and the effectiveness of single-principle innovation is very low. The green technology innovation ecosystem led by the government, supported by financial institutions, and with enterprises as the main body of innovation can provide policy leadership, financial guarantee, and technical support for green technology innovation, share the risk of green technology innovation on a single subject, and promote the rapid generation of green science and technology innovation results and their transformation into benefits. However, the stability of the system platform is constrained by the influence of a variety of factors, in order to promote the development of green technological innovation and to ensure the stable development of the system, this paper explores the government, financial institutions and enterprises tripartite green science and technology innovation system, establishes the tripartite evolutionary game model, and adopts numerical simulation methods to carry out the stability analysis of the system, and the results of the study show that: (1) the stability of government, financial institutions and enterprises of green science and technology co-innovation is subsidized by the government’s policy guidance, innovation benefits, high-end greenness of technology, technology spillover and other factors，strong governmental guidance on the willingness of financial institutions and enterprises to cooperate; (2) financial institutions synergistic strategy is susceptible to external factors, financial institutions subsidies to enterprises should be assessed according to the benefits of technology, degree of difficulty and the ability of enterprises; (3) the greener and higher-end technological innovations, the more the main body of each party will protect the technology, the higher the exit cost, the higher the synergistic innovation bundles; (4) the risk of green technology spillover risk is high and has a greater impact on the stability of collaborative innovation, the government should establish corresponding laws and regulations to protect intellectual property right.

Internal mechanism analysis of the financial vanishing effect on green growth: Evidence from China

In the era of green economic development, green finance serves as a crucial catalyst for green technological innovation, and both may significantly drive the upgrading of industrial structures. This study combines green finance, green technological innovation, and industrial structure into a research framework, analyzing data from 29 Chinese provinces (2003–2020) to empirically assess their impacts on China’s industrial structure using a two-way fixed-effects model. The results show the following: first, green finance and green technological innovation can significantly promote the upgrading of China’s industrial structure directly and synergistically, a finding corroborated by various robustness tests. Secondly, heterogeneity analysis reveals that there is a “path-dependency effect” in the development of green finance and technology innovation: in areas with higher population density, more developed technological markets, and lower fiscal pressure, the synergistic promotion of the upgrading of industrial structure is stronger. Thirdly, further research indicates that green finance and technology innovation impact the upgrading of industrial structure variably under command-and-control, market-incentive, and voluntary environmental-regulation tools. The most effective policy is the voluntary regulation tool, which involves higher levels of public participation. This study offers valuable insights for fostering green technology innovation, refining environmental policies, and enhancing the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure.

Road map from dirty growth to sustainable green growth in Turkiye: Management of trade and financial processes?

This study investigates the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) uncertainties, human capital development, and technological innovation on green growth in the USA and the United Kingdom. Employing advanced econometric techniques, this study applies Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Fourier ADF, Perron-Vogelsang, Bayer-Hanck cointegration, Maki cointegration, Fourier ARDL, Fourier NARDL, and Fourier Toda-Yamamoto causality tests to analyse data spanning from 2000 to 2022. The results indicate that ESG uncertainty negatively affects green growth, discourages sustainable investment, and policy stability. Human capital development significantly enhances green growth by fostering innovation and adaptation to sustainable technology. Technological innovation has a positive impact on sustainable development, also known as green growth. Still, it exhibits asymmetric effects across economies, with short-term benefits being more pronounced in the USA and stronger long-term impacts in the UK. This study finds robust cointegration among green growth, ESG uncertainties, human capital, and technological innovation, implying a long-term equilibrium relationship. Political stability and economic freedom further facilitate green growth, underscoring the importance of stable governance and market-oriented policies. This study develops an ESG-Based Sustainability Uncertainty Index (ESGUI) to fill a research gap by quantifying sustainability-related uncertainties. Unlike prior studies, which broadly discuss the economic determinants of green growth, this study systematically integrates uncertainty measures to provide a more comprehensive understanding. Additionally, it highlights the asymmetric role of technological innovation and human capital in mitigating sustainability risks. This study offers a more nuanced understanding of green growth dynamics by examining the interplay between technology, policy frameworks, and skills. Governments should enhance policy predictability to reduce sustainability-related uncertainty. Investment in human capital is crucial for fostering the adoption of green technology. Policymakers should prioritise stable institutional frameworks and market-friendly reforms to sustain green growth and ensure long-term economic and environmental resilience.

In the context of today’s global environmental challenges, manufacturing enterprises are gradually taking green technology innovation as a strategy to enhance sustainable development ability. This study discusses the application of hybrid intelligent technology in promoting green technology innovation decision-making in manufacturing enterprises. Through data preprocessing and model construction, it is found that energy consumption, emissions, standard compliance, environmental quality and market response are closely related to the green technology innovation score of enterprises. The results show that efficient energy management and active compliance with environmental standards have a significant impact on improving the environmental performance and technological innovation of enterprises. The market’s positive response to green technology has significantly promoted the rapid development and application of the technology. This study not only provides manufacturing enterprises with strategy and decision support for green technology innovation, but also provides policy makers with insights for promoting sustainable development. Through in-depth analysis, this paper emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of comprehensive application of hybrid intelligent technology in the process of green technology promotion.

Under the guidance of a high-quality development strategy, upholding the long-term concept of green development is the foundation allowing polluting companies to resist external environmental threats and retain their legitimate business statuses. However, the top managers of companies do not always hold long-term perspectives. To this end, we investigate the impact of management myopia on green technological innovation and its mechanism of action for heavy polluters using zero-inflated Poisson regression analysis for 2007–2020 for A-share listed heavy polluters. The empirical results show that the logarithmic value of green technological innovation decreases 1.251 units for each 1-unit increase in the management myopia level demonstrated by heavily polluting enterprises. Moreover, these results are more significant in heavily polluting enterprises with high management shareholding and those that receive more government subsidies. However, managerial myopia is suppressed in heavily polluting firms with many independent directors and institutional investors. A further study found that managerial myopia had the most significant negative impact on green technological innovation for heavy polluters in the central region, and each 1-unit increase in the managerial myopia level decreased the firm’s green technology innovation level by 3.577 units. The findings of this paper have important implications for heavily polluting firms seeking to improve their senior management appointments and governance structures, promote green technology and technological innovation, and achieve high-quality corporate development.

Does the coupling of digital and green technology innovation matter for carbon emissions?

Based on the panel data of 283 cities in China from 2009 to 2018, this paper analyzes the effect of urban green scientific and technological innovation enhancement on hazardous air pollutants using the GS2SLS method, which simultaneously controls for model endogeneity and spatial spillover effects and reveals the transmission mechanism of urban green scientific and technological innovation level. It was found that (1) There is a significant spatial spillover effect of hazardous air pollutants between regions, both in China as a whole and in the eastern, central, and western parts of the country, and the spatial spillover effect of hazardous air pollutants is significantly greater in the eastern and central parts of China than in the western parts. (2) Green technological innovation has a significant inhibitory effect on hazardous air pollutants in cities in eastern and central China. An extended study found that the improvement in green technology levels in innovative cities has a better effect on controlling hazardous air pollutants than in non-innovative cities. (3) The energy- saving and green economy effects have a mediating influence on the effect of green technological innovation on hazardous air pollutants in cities, and the simultaneous occurrence of these two effects in green technological innovation serves to enhance the transmission of hazardous air pollutants in order to facilitate the long-term management of haze.

Effect of financial development and technological innovation on green growth—Analysis based on spatial Durbin model

Amid growing environmental concerns and an increasing push for sustainable development, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have taken proactive steps toward green growth, energy transition, and technological innovation. As a result, this study examines the effects of green growth, energy transition, technological innovation, financial inclusion, and urbanization on environmental sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Moreover, this study breaks new ground by exposing the hidden environmental costs of financial inclusion, urbanization, and technological innovation in the MENA region’s development trajectory, thereby providing compelling evidence for rethinking sustainability through an integrated approach that aligns economic ambition with ecological responsibility. Data for the studied variables were sourced from the World Bank database covering the period 1990 to 2021. The results show that green growth and energy transition significantly reduce CO2 emissions, supporting the idea that economic expansion aligned with environmental priorities can contribute to ecological improvement. However, the impact of technological innovation is statistically insignificant, indicating that innovation in the region has not yet translated into meaningful environmental gains, possibly due to the dominance of non-green or industrial-focused innovation. Financial inclusion is found to increase CO2 emissions, likely by facilitating greater access to credit and financial services that fuel energy-intensive consumption and production activities. Similarly, urbanization also contributes to rising emissions, reflecting the unsustainable nature of urban growth in many MENA region. Based on this study, we advocate for a coordinated regional approach to climate and energy policy, underpinned by shared governance and collective action.