How do financial inclusion and education increase resource efficiency?

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluate the associations between financial inclusion, education, and resource efficiency for the case of five BRICS countries from 1995 to 2021. According to the ARDL-PMG findings, the level of literacy does not exhibit a positive effect on increasing the efficiency of energy resources. However, the implementation of the financial inclusion policy, both in the short term and in the long term, emerges as the driving factor towards the goal of increasing the efficiency of energy resource exploitation. It is worth noting that financial depth has a beneficial effect on the efficiency of energy resource exploitation, while households' electricity consumption has an adverse impact on the efficiency of energy resources. As a result of these findings, there are critical policy implications for the BRICS members, which include the expansion of the green growth discourse and the development of sustainable power generation through green financing tools.