The asymmetric effect of global value chain on environmental quality: Implictaions for environmental management.

This study examines the dynamic relationship between global value chain integration, and carbon emissions, in 57 developing economies from 2000 to 2018. Our results show a multipart link between GVC involvement and carbon emissions. Specifically, forward participation, which involves domestic content in foreign exports, offers the potential to reduce emissions, whereas backward participation, defined by foreign content in domestic exports, typically increases emissions. This imbalance draws attention to the dual nature of using mineral resources, which can contribute to and mitigate environmental damage depending on the extent of GVC engagement. The NARDL model employed in the study also reveals the dynamic and nonlinear responses of carbon emissions to variations in the utilization of mineral resources within GVCs. Our findings show that positive shocks to mineral resources use within GVCs negatively influence carbon emissions, while adverse shocks have less impact. The results have significant policy implications, indicating that developing nations should prioritize environmental sustainability while planning their GVC participation. This entails promoting value-added mining resource use initiatives and pushing for strict environmental regulations in GVCs. Our results also highlight the significance of implementing customized measures to mitigate economic activity's asymmetric and nonlinear impacts on environmental quality. It enlightens policymakers in developing nations on balancing environmental conservation and economic growth in a global economy that is becoming more interconnected.

Environmental pollution and officials' promotion: How China's green attention matters.

With the growing emphasis on sustainable development, green policies have become a crucial factor influencing both environmental pollution and the career progression of officials in China and other countries. However, the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear. This paper aims to enhance the understanding of how environmental pollution impacts official promotion by analyzing the performance of provincial leaders in China and their incentives to address pollution. Using provincial panel data from 1998 to 2020 and a probit model, our study uncovers significant findings. We demonstrate that the intensified green attention by China's central government has notably reduced the promotion prospects for provincial officials with poor environmental protection records, particularly since 2013. Furthermore, our research extends the analysis of micro-level mechanisms, illustrating how the central government's political incentives effectively influence local environmental governance. This study underscores the central government's capability to leverage its personnel system to achieve desired outcomes in sustainable development.

Investigating the environmental externalities of digital financial inclusion and the COVID-19 pandemic: an environmental sustainability perspective.

Financial inclusion enhances economic growth by facilitating businesses and individuals to access financial resources. Financial inclusion also contributes to environmental sustainability; however, very few studies have explored the link between financial inclusion and the environment. Also, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental performance remains unexplored. From this perspective, this study probes the objective of whether financial inclusion and environmental performance co-move in COVID-19 in highly polluted economies. This objective is tested with the help of 2SLS and GMM approaches. The study also gets assistance from a panel quantile regression approach for empirical tasks. The results show that financial inclusion and the COVID-19 pandemic have a negative impact on CO2 emissions. Based on these findings, the study suggests that highly polluted economies should promote financial inclusion and assimilate environmental policies with financial inclusion policies to attain environment-related goals.

From COVID to conflict: Understanding the deriving forces of environment and implications for natural resources.

In the contemporary world, the importance of natural resources is increasing day by day especially due to extraordinary circumstances, i.e., COVID-19 and global conflicts. The abundance of natural resource is considered competitive advantage and crucial for sustainable development. However, the role of natural resources can be questionable especially if its impact on the economy is negative. Sustainable use of natural resources is currently the biggest challenge for governance. Following these footprints, the study aims to revisit a novel perspective of natural resources in the context of global conflicts using data from Asian economies for the period of 1996-2020. In this pursuit, this study investigates how governance balances macroeconomic variables with sustainable development to account for effective climate change adaptation, mitigation efforts and integral to control conflicts. The second-generation test of CIPS and CADF are used to deal with cross-sectional dependence issues and Westerlund cointegration to estimate long-run relationships. Furthermore, the long-run coefficients are estimated by the PMG estimator using dynamic panel ARDL approach. The findings confirm that surpassing the threshold level of governance is essential to promote environmental quality and preservation of natural resources. The region needs to promote steward policy for resources. This can take the form of nationalizing resource assets, increasing taxes and royalties on resource extraction to ensure sustainable development. The handlers need to design polices supportive to renewable energy consumption, endorse IT based industry solution, encourage high-tech inward FDI, promote green financing and support sustainable development.

Towards Achieving Sustainable Development: Role of Technology Innovation, Technology Adoption and CO2 Emission for BRICS.

In the digital era, technology innovation and adoption trigger economic growth and enhance CO2 emissions through productivity, which places it in the mainstream policy debate. For BRICS economies, this paper uses the first method proposed in the literature to quantify their information and communication technology (ICT) and innovatively links each country to their information technology adoption rate, as a surrogate indicator for measuring information and communication technology. Environmental Kuznets curve evidence is also examined, using technology innovation, technology adoption, and trade openness as the control variables for sustainable development. The results show that two out of three technology innovation instruments, fixed telephone, and broadband subscriptions increase CO2 emissions. Simultaneously, mobile cellular subscriptions have a lowering effect on CO2 emission in BRICS. The technology adoption indicators, high-technology exports, and electric power consumption also cause an upsurge in CO2 emission. Moreover, trade openness also enriches the level of CO2 emission in the BRICS regions. There is a need to devise technology innovation and adoption policies to better use technology and to ensure a green environment.