Causes Of Environmental Degradation Research Articles

Environmental Degradation: Causes, Effects and Solutions

Environmental degradation is a pressing global issue with far-reaching consequences for ecosystems, human health, and sustainable development. This comprehensive article explores the various causes of environmental degradation, ranging from poverty and urbanization to industrialization, deforestation, pollution, natural disasters, population growth, climate change, unrestricted development, soil damage, energy use, unsustainable agriculture, and landfills. It examines the various effects of environmental degradation, including impacts on human health, biodiversity loss, global warming, ozone layer depletion, atmospheric changes, scarcity of natural resources, loss of the tourism industry, and economic recession. Moreover, the article suggests a wide array of solutions to address environmental degradation, encompassing tree plantation, regenerative farming, spiritual renewal, pollution control, reduced fuel consumption, waste management strategies, water conservation, sustainable initiatives, public awareness campaigns, social movements, government policies and international cooperation through UN initiatives.

The Role of Digital Management and Smart Technologies for Sports Education in a Dynamic Environment: Employment, Green Growth, and Tourism

ABSTRACT Digitalization management, sports education, tourism and smart urban technologies are crucial for urban energy systems and environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is a critical global challenge, and countries emphasize combating the rising environmental issues. Undoubtedly, the globe has proposed several initiatives to address rising ecological matters, but the problem remains intact. This study shows a new pattern, including problems and vital solutions with fresh insights. Despite countries launching initiatives to combat environmental degradation (ED), ecological concerns continue to persist. Empirical research has considered income, urbanization, digitization, sports employment, tourism, and green energy as core sustainability determinants in selected European economies (2010–2021). Applying a series of estimators, we determined that income, urbanization, sports, and tourism are the leading causes of ED, while digitization and green energy contribute significantly to sustainable development. Additionally, digitization plays a significant mediating role in sustaining urban energy systems. The study offers helpful implications for achieving desired sustainability levels.

Cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of interior floor material alternatives in Egypt

AbstractThe building materials sector has a major environmental impact and is one of the main causes of environmental degradation in the construction industry. An Environmental Impact Assessment of several interior floor material options, such as ceramic, marble, and parquet tiles, is conducted in this study using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Due to the shortage of LCA applications in Egypt and the unavailability of the inventory database for the materials industries, the study uses a case study of a new city in Egypt to assess the environmental effects of various floor materials. The LCA approach uses SimaPro software V9.50 and its integrated Ecoinvent database V3.0 to define the objective and scope, conduct an inventory analysis, evaluate the impact, and interpret the results. According to the LCA findings, ceramic tiles, followed by marble tiles and parquet tiles, have the lowest negative environmental impacts. Regarding the singles score, results (midpoint method) have revealed that the marble tiles have hit the highest adverse environmental impacts by 2.24 pt, followed by parquet by 1.21 pt, and finally, the ceramic tiles by 0.594 pt. The global warming potential of ceramic tiles is 0.539 kg CO2, which is less than 74% of the global warming potential of marble tiles (2.01 kg CO2). The non-renewable energy impact of the marble tiles is (38.70 Mj primary), which is higher by 78% of the non-renewable energy of ceramic (8.46 Mj primary). Finally, the human health impact has recorded the highest numbers in the marble industry by 1.12E−5 DALY, which means the marble industry needs a high amount of energy. Ultimately, the findings of this study can potentially improve the sustainability and energy efficiency of construction projects by assisting decision-makers in selecting and applying environmentally friendly building materials.

Sustainable futures: from causes of environmental degradation to solutions

The impacts of climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution influence the living experiences of the various members of communities that rely on agriculture, shaping the adaptation responses to those phenomena and actions towards sustainable development. This study aims to understand how members of rural communities in Morocco perceive the causes of environmental degradation and the solutions meant to support the reduction of the vulnerabilities by applying a sustainable development lens. To achieve those objectives, this empirical study collects qualitative data by conducting semi-structured interviews on the local population's perceptions of environmental degradation causes and impacts, vulnerabilities, and solutions to adapt or cope with those impacts. The study includes a critical analysis of the proposals presented by the community members by addressing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of their implications for development. The most common issue identified was water management, underscoring the water stress affecting several regions. However, several solutions presented would lead to further depletion of non-renewable water sources, which endangers the pursuit of genuinely sustainable development. The study's conclusions highlight the importance of contextualising the communication and adaptation responses that address local perceptions, namely the low prevalence of perceptions attributing anthropogenic causes to environmental degradation, leading to sentiments of helplessness among members of the rural communities.

Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and the Environmental Degradation in Asian Countries

Environmental pollution is an emerging issue in Asian countries. It affects quality of life and is dangerous for human life. It has been observed that carbon emissions from Asian countries are speedily increasing. The major factors causing environmental degradation are GDP per capita, industrialization, urbanization, and energy use. This study is an effort to highlight the causes of environmental degradation in eight Asian countries by using 10 years of data. Moreover, the study has used the fixed effect method to highlight the significance of major causes of environmental degradation in the concerned economies. Results show that urban population, energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development increase carbon emission CO2 (i.e., environmental degradation) in Asian countries. The result suggested that the Government must reduce the carbon emission level in these countries and must provide a better environment to the population.

Water Quality Modelling with Industrial and Domestic Point Source Pollution : a Study Case of Cikakembang River, Majalaya District

Rapid industrial development is one of the leading causes of environmental degradation. The textile industries and the domestic activities in Majalaya District produce wastewater directly discharged into the Cikakembang River. As a result, the Cikakembang River’s water quality has decreased to the point that the water quality cannot be used for daily needs. This study modeled three main parameters in water quality modelling, namely Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Using MATLAB, the three-water quality governing equations originating from the Advection-Dispersion Equation were solved using the Runge Kutte-4 discretization scheme. The numerical modelling was carried out along 2.36 km of the Cikakembang River. All water quality coefficients, such as the DO Saturation (DOsat), the Reaeration Rate (ka), the Dispersion Coefficient (D), the Deoxygenation Rate (kd), and the Decomposition Rate (kc), for the Cikakembang River were estimated using equations developed by existing studies. The estimation of ka and D coefficients requires hydraulic parameters, which in this study were estimated using the HEC-RAS simulation. Meanwhile, kd and kc values were obtained from the calibration and verification process. The Relative Root Mean Square Error (RRMSE) objective function was used to evaluate the results of water quality modelling at three sampling points. In the calibration process, the resultsof water quality modelling produced RRMSE values for the DO, BOD, and COD parameters of 1.99%, 0.36% and 0.92%, respectively. Meanwhile, for the verification process, the RRMSE values for the DO, BOD, and COD parameters are 1.95%, 1.02% and 1.86%. All water quality parameters produce small RRMSE values in the calibration and verification processes. Hence, the water quality model created has good accuracy and stability.

Advances in Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Function on Plant Growth Facilitation and Their Mechanisms

In modern times, agriculture has been a major cause of environmental degradation due to both natural and artificial factors. However, there is a silver lining in the form of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), a beneficial microbial community present in the rhizosphere soil of plants. PGPR can adjust soil pH, reduce the burden on plants, and accelerate their growth, making it an excellent choice for sustainable agriculture. This article delves into the mechanism of how PGPR promotes plant growth and highlights its impact under different environmental conditions. The aim is to promote the use of PGPR biofertilizers, which could revolutionize the field of agriculture and pave the way for a greener future.

Embedding sustainability education into hospitality, tourism, and events management curricula - a preliminary best practice model

With over seventy percent of millennials preferring to spend disposable income on experiences rather than consumer goods, organizations operating in the tourism, hospitality, and events sectors are predicted to see increasing demand. Despite being recognized as a major contributor to economic activity, these sectors have been criticized for being a root cause of environmental degradation, acculturation, economic leakage, and migration. The recent collapse of international travel firms with far-reaching consequences for employees, suppliers, and destinations has highlighted the vulnerability of organizations to volatility in the business environment and calls for a reassessment of business and leadership models. Since the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, sustainability initiatives are becoming more embedded into corporate strategies with an increasing focus on the triple bottom line. Following the creation of the Global Reporting Initiative Standards and sector-specific standards, there is a growing expectation that organizations demonstrate accountability for their sustainability initiatives. In Western societies, this reflects a shift away from the liberalist notion of the “Theory of the Firm” towards the sustainability paradigm. The purpose of this exploratory paper is to propose a preliminary framework for embedding innovative sustainability education in undergraduate degree programs. The paper first reviews UK-based guidelines for sustainability education at the university level. It then proposes a framework for the development of a corresponding curriculum audit tool that assesses how comprehensively sustainability education is embedded into undergraduate curricula. The University of Gloucestershire’s degree programs in International Hospitality and Tourism Management and Event Management are used as case studies to demonstrate how an audit tool design based on relevant principles can be used in practice for assessing and enhancing sustainability education. The paper recommends the further development of the tool into a best practice model integrating graduate attributes, key learning outcomes and skills, and an appropriate learning and teaching infrastructure. Transferability across subjects and transnationally is identified as an area for further research.

Asymmetric role of green energy, innovation, and technology in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions: evidence from India.

The primary cause of environmental degradation, which poses a danger to the long-term viability of the ecosystem, is the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). For this reason, the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26) established a decarbonization goal in response to this ecological concern, for which all economic players have a responsibility. India is among the participants who have a target set for them to decarbonize their economies by the year 2060 via the use of green energy and the advancement of science and innovation. Nevertheless, the asymmetrical effect of green energy, technology, and innovation on India's decarbonization program was not sufficiently explored in the prior study; hence, this research aims to fill this literature vacuum by considering India's GHG emissions from 1990 to 2020 by leveraging the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The findings reveal the asymmetric influences of variables of interest on GHG emissions during the short and long term and under positive and negative shocks. Regarding the positive shock, long-term findings demonstrate that innovation and technical know-how grow GHG emissions and accelerate environmental degradation. However, a negative shock in innovations and technological know-how is opposed to a positive shock and improving environmental conditions. Further, positive shocks in green energy boost environmental effectiveness by reducing GHG secretions in India. In contrast, the negative shock in green energy deteriorates the environment by triggering GHG releases. These factual findings compel the Indian government to prioritize green technologies in addition to green energy generation to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and meet rising energy demands.

Urban unemployment, environmental preservation and trade policies in a small open economy with open access renewable resources

This study presents a two-sector dynamic analytical model that examines the impact of trade policies on urban poverty reduction and resource conservation, given that institutionally fixed high urban wages are assumed in the context of the Harris-Todaro model. Rural resource-good and urban manufacturing activities generate simultaneous environmental pressures that can detrimentally impact environmental preservation in a small, open economy. Moreover, this study assumes that the polluting manufacturing sector is the primary cause of environmental degradation and represents a relatively more industrialized developing country. The study finds that raising the import tax on rural resource goods can reduce urban unemployment but worsen environmental quality under dynamic resource conditions. Given institutional distortions, the most efficient policy is to implement a rural income subsidy combined with an urban wage subsidy at a lower rate; alternatively, if the income inequality between regions is sufficiently high, an income tax on urban manufactured goods could be considered. Finally, when considering the endogenous resolution of institutional distortions, an increase in the import tax on rural resource goods can resolve rural institutional distortions, shifting from poorly defined resource management to a perfect private management system. In contrast, implementing an export tariff policy on urban manufactured goods reduces the incentive for rural institutional reform while addressing urban institutional failure.

Beet pulp of sugar production and prospects for its use

Due to the latest scientific achievements new opportunities have appeared for deeper processing of not only raw materials, but also by-products of the country's agro-industrial complex. Beet sugar production is a source of a number of by-products such as beet pulp, molasses and filter cake. Domestic sugar production refers to material-intensive industries, since the volume of vegetable raw materials, as well as by-products formed in the technological process, is several times higher than the yield of finished products – white sugar. Insufficient attention to the problems of more complete processing of by-products of sugar beet production may be the cause of environmental degradation. Currently, not only the regulatory documentation regulating the quality indicators of raw materials used and finished products of the industry has been updated, but also the definition of by-products of sugar production, formed in the production of white sugar, has been clarified. In particular, by-products of the sugar beet industry can be used to extract useful components from them, suitable for the production of new food products with increased nutritional value. The main attention in the paper is paid to promising areas for the use of beet pulp for the production of new types of food products. A method has been developed for the production of sugar syrup enriched with pectin extract of beet pulp. The addition of beet pulp pectin extract to the syrup not only increases the nutritional value, but also improves its technological properties while expanding the range of new types of food products and their properties.

The dynamic relationship between resources, finances, and sustainable development: An in-depth analysis

The expansion of the economy and the use of natural resources have been identified as the main causes of environmental degradation. As a result, there is a need for sustainable and environmentally-friendly growth. However, the concept of "pollution havens" is becoming increasingly relevant, with businesses relocating to developing countries in search of more lax environmental regulations. This could lead to higher-than-desirable rates of pollution and environmental damage. To address this issue, this study assesses the role of natural resources (NTR), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Financial Development (FDT), and Green Finance (GFN) using QARDL analysis. The study found that NTR, FDI, and FDT increased CO2 emissions, while GFN reduced them in the short and long run. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, who can use the information to develop policies that promote economic growth while reducing environmental pollution. Additionally, the study highlights the need to prevent businesses from exploiting lax environmental regulations in developing countries. Overall, the findings of this study underscore the importance of balancing economic development and environmental sustainability and call for the prioritization of green initiatives in policy development.

Environmental Sustainability of Inland Freight Transportation Systems in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is committed to perform on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and prioritizing climate change issues to create a safe living and working environment for all. Transport has an enormous contribution to society in functioning our daily life also a cause of environmental degradation. More than 95% of containerized cargo are moving from/to Chattogram Port by using road mode that is liable for Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, congestion, and high transport cost. Rail intermodal is facing capacity constraints in Dhaka rail Inland Container Depot (ICD), and river intermodal is under-utilized for the shortage of hinterland logistics facilities, the mindset of users, and poor terminal productivity. This research applied the quantitative method to analyze the port throughput of Chattogram Port and its hinterland connectivity by nodes to get innovation and sustainability to identify environmental factors in international freight movement economically. On the basis of a literature review, and explored research gaps before data analysis, it is clear that environmental factors including SDGs are not considered in the inland freight transportation systems of Bangladesh. The research findings alerted that people in the freight movement system do not present a wide awareness of their activities and due diligence to environmental sustainability in creating a wider room for the next generations. The quantitative analysis of port throughput data indicated to increase in the share of intermodal especially river intermodal which has a wider scope to use available river ports in all parts of the country naturally. The practical impact of the research is to formulate a long-term environmental strategy in freight transport, corporate execution by all transport business-oriented companies/organizations, and enabling technologies in inland freight operations and monitoring. Overall, this paper provides a conceptual framework for the environmental sustainability of inland freight transportation systems in Bangladesh in doing international shipping and trade.

Investigation of resource curse hypothesis: the role of renewable energy and urbanization in realizing environmental sustainability in China.

This research investigates the resource curse hypothesis and environmental sustainability by integrating China's natural resources, renewable energy, and urbanization. However, the EKC N shape describes the complete picture of the EKC hypothesis for the growth-pollution relationship. The findings of FMOLS and DOLS show that economic expansion positively drives carbon dioxide emissions in the beginning, then negatively so after the target level of growth is reached. Continuing economic expansion in China does not maintain the intended level and again has a beneficial impact on the country's carbon dioxide emissions. However, the EKC U, inverted U, and N shapes persist in the growth-pollution connection over the long term. Although adopting renewable energy and urbanization help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the formation of fixed capital worsens environmental conditions. Natural resource rents are a major cause of environmental degradation and the resource curse that has plagued China. Economic growth, as well as its square and cube, has a causal effect on CO2 emissions, as shown by the frequency domain causation. Carbon dioxide emissions at frequencies of 0.05, 1.50, and 2.50 are momentarily predicted by the use of renewable energy and urbanization. The investigation recommends switching to renewable energy sources owing to low cost and the potential to limit the overuse of non-renewables. To balance the overdo of natural resources and ensure continued long-term growth-environment sustainability, technological advancement is recommended as a countermeasure as a mitigating mechanism.

The impact of energy efficiency in reducing environmental degradation: does renewable energy and forest resources matter?

The vast utilisation of energy sources in promoting economic growth has been identified as the major cause of environmental degradation (through carbon emission). Therefore, the efficient utilisation of energy ensuring the minimisation of any wastages is vital in reducing environmental degradation. The current research aims to investigate the importance of energy efficiency, forest resources, and renewable energy in reducing environmental degradation. The major novelty of the research is that it seeks to investigate the impact of forest resources and energy efficiency on carbon emissions. Literature shows that there is still a dearth on the association of forest resources and energy efficiency, with carbon emissions. We employ data of the European Union countries for the time frame ranging from 1990 to 2020. The CS-ARDL technique depicts that raising GDP by 1% raises carbon emissions by 5.62% in the short run and 2.93% in the long run, raising renewable energy by 1 unit reduces carbon emissions by 0.098 and 0.03 units in the short and long run, respectively, whilst raising energy efficiency by 1% reduces carbon emissions by 6.29% and 3.29% in the short and long run, respectively. The Fixed Effect and Random Effect tools support the outcomes of the CS-ARDL tool on the negative effect of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and the positive effect of GDP on carbon emissions, and also depict that raising non-renewable energy by a single unit raises carbon emissions by 0.07 and 0.08 units, respectively. Forest resources, in this present research, do not significantly impact the emissions of carbon amongst the European nations.

Assessment of ecological capacity for urban planning and improving resilience in the European framework

The basic idea underlying this research is that urban planning is one of the main causes of environmental degradation. Despite its relevance in impacting ecosystems, the current methodological assessments across Europe still fail to include spatial planning as a relevant factor. This paper aims to formulate an innovative methodology for the evaluation of ecosystems for protecting land at risk of degradation. This methodology is exemplified by the case of Spanish spatial planning applied in the Community of Madrid, being also capable to be employed in other European State Members after a cartographic adaptation. The proposed methodology specifically implements a European approach to the scale of regional and local spatial planning based on the “Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services” (MAES) project. Among the main results, four outcomes stand out. The first is the novelty to provide a methodology capable of dealing with natural values at regional and municipal levels based on a spatial-planning-based scale (1:20,000). The second result regards the incorporation of new attributes tied to existing ecosystems during the drafting of spatial plans, thus improving the quality of the information to make better decisions in terms of environmental protection. The third result is the more accurate environment assessment due to the inclusion of a new element of direct pressure on ecosystems, while the fourth outcome is that the proposed methodology detects the impacts of the drivers of change in the Community of Madrid. Although the cartographic information is defined at the regional scale, the results obtained can be linked to the municipal planning scale. The proposed methodology can be a much more useful tool for regional spatial planning for three main reasons: it works at the same scale as regional planning (1:20,000), it incorporates the environmental information necessary for the correct identification of natural values and impacts at the municipal level, and it works with geographic information systems. These reasons allow an easier and quicker incorporation of ecosystems in spatial planning tools by simultaneously interpreting and comparing different land protection issues such as ecosystem loss and ecosystem services.

Nükleer Enerjinin Karbon Ayak İzini Azlatmadaki Rolü Hayati mi? En Yüksek Nükleer Enerji Tüketen On İki Ülke İncelemesi

The crucial problem in the last few decades is environmental degradation unquestionably. The main cause of environmental degradation is burning fossil fuels, and they dominate the energy sector. Besides, energy demand has been increasing, and this situation forces policymakers to make a decision on economic development versus climate change. Also, the Paris Agreement put pressure on the countries to reduce CO2 emissions, so it accelerated countries' transition to clean energy resources. At this point, nuclear energy comes to the forefront as it is classified as clean energy status. On the other hand, the notion of nuclear energy is clean or not is a matter of debate. In case of a nuclear accident, it becomes the most environmentally damaging resource. Thus, this study aims at investigating the role of nuclear energy on the axis of reducing carbon footprint. For this purpose, the values and the shares of nuclear energy in the World and the top twelve nuclear energy consumption countries, and also their CO2 emissions are examined by using descriptive analysis. The results should be interpreted as the CO2 emissions avoided by using nuclear energy is not vital for these countries. Moreover, the emissions could be provided by renewable energy resources.

Clean Energy as an Alternative: Identification of Factors Determining the Willingness of Slum Dwellers

Increasing trends towards globalization and modern lifestyle are going to deplete, energy resources rapidly. Increasing trends towards energy use directly harness the environment and ecosystem of the earth, depicting that energy will be one of the most important future problems of the world. Clean and sustainable energy alternatives are required to meet this demand in order to combat the antagonistic environmental problems. Renewable energy sources have the potential to fulfill the energy gaps without affecting the ecosystem and the greenhouse gases emittance. The transformation of people causes the generation and creation of slum areas in the cities due to ever-increasing urbanization. Presently around one billion people are residing in slum areas. Most slum dwellers are found in less economically developed countries, which makes it 30% of the total population. The inhabitants of slum dwellers are more likely to be increased by two billion by 2030 and to three billion by 2050. Pakistan is facing a severe energy deficiency. The energy gap between energy supply and demand is widening with time. Limited fossil fuel resources allow the country to import nonrenewable energy resources to fill this gap. Gas connection problems and energy shortfalls compel urban households to use nonrenewable energy resources. The need of the hour is to diversify the energy resources like biogas, hydropower, solar, and wind to overcome the energy shortfall in the country. Fossil fuel usage for an energy source in households is the major cause of environmental degradation in urban households. Owed to bad smoke and insufficient ventilation, health-related problems like respiratory issues, stomach problems, and other contagious diseases are associated. The smoke that is caused by the combustion of biofuels impacts residents health badly, especially respiratory problems. The primitive aim of this research is an assessment of energy sources being used and to dig out reasons for their impacts on the health conditions of residents of slum dwellers in Pakistan stratified random sampling is used for data collection and correlation analysis was performed to find out the result.

Dynamic Effects of Economic Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, and Trade Openness on Environmental Quality: Evidence From Asian Economies

The main purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), and trade openness (TO), and the Asian and global financial crisis on environmental quality based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis on panel data of 32 Asian economies over the 1991–2019 period. Our study supports the EKC hypothesis, implying that economic growth increases emissions to a certain point, after which growth helps reduce carbon emissions. By employing several panel data econometric estimation techniques (such as ordinary least squares, fixed effects models, and difference-generalized method of moments estimations), the study also shows robust findings that FDI could reduce carbon emissions in the Asian region by welcoming environmentally friendly technology and know-how into the economy. However, though the study finds that financial crises reduce emissions in Asian countries, the increase of TO in this region leads to an increase in emissions and causes of environmental degradation. Thus, to ensure environmental sustainability, Asian policymakers should formulate lucrative policies to attract FDI, and trade policies should also be revised.

Evaluating a pathway for environmental sustainability: the role of energy mix and research and development in European countries.

Within the European Union (EU), the majority of countries are considered developed, and the level of economic activity is rising. As a result, carbon dioxide emissions have increased. If the European Union wants to maintain long-term, sustainable growth, it must act quickly to find solutions to pollution. Population, wealth, renewable energy, nuclear energy, and research and development (R&D) are all factored into the STIRPAT model to determine their respective environmental impacts. Slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence are explored in panel data for 30 European nations from 1990 to 2021 using a newly developed Cross Section Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) method. The study found that population growth and the continued use of fossil fuels are major causes of environmental degradation. Alternately, employing renewable and raising incomes both have the potential to significantly cut pollution over the long run. Likewise, investments in R&D assist lessen the damage done to the environment. The nuclear energy coefficients, however, are insignificant. However, fossil fuels have negative effects on the ecosystem. If the EU wishes to stop the degradation of the environment, the analysis demonstrates that renewable energy is the best way to do it. The time has come for the EU to make a gradual transition away from fossil fuels and toward more environmentally friendly alternatives. Economic growth should be matched by decreased CO2 emissions, and increasing investment in R&D can serve as a catalyst for environmental sustainability. The results were reviewed using three different estimators: the augmented mean group (AMG), the mean group (MG), and the common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG). Important policy recommendations for a sustainable European environment are also suggested by the research.