This study examines the stock market reaction to the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme notified by the Indian government on 28 June 2023. We use an event study methodology on 365 firms across nine obligated energy-intensive sectors to evidence a significant negative cumulative impact of -2.04
Improving environmental quality through carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction has emerged as a global priority, taking into account the sustainability of both environmental and economic development. In light of this, the present study investigates the nexus between CO2 emissions, environmental protection expenditure (EPE), foreign direct investment (FDI), urban population growth, forest area, gross domestic products (GDP) and energy price in Bangladesh. EPE is a crucial way for local authorities to improve environmental quality since it provides financial resources for environmental remediation and promotes effective energy use. The present study employed time series data from 2001 to 2016. This study applied the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test methodology to capture the cointegration among the variables. The research findings revealed that, in the long run, forest area and FDI contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions, confirming a noticeable improvement in environmental quality. Conversely, in the long run, EPE, urban population growth, GDP, and energy prices have a significant positive impact on CO2 emissions, demonstrating a detrimental influence on environmental quality. In addition, in the short run, EPE, FDI and GDP have a statistically significant impact on environmental pollution. These findings inform a series of policy recommendations tailored to Bangladesh’s specific context, such as attracting environmentally responsible foreign investors, implementing sustainable forest management practices alongside proper urban planning and responsible family planning initiatives to alleviate the environmental strain from urban population growth, and prioritizing the development of renewable energy-based infrastructure, making clean energy a competitive and accessible alternative to fossil fuels. Additionally, EPE requires more accurate and organized distribution to mitigate institutional inefficiencies, poor enforcement, and uneven allocation of resources which may reduce the positive impact of EPE to environmental degradation.
Reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere to combat climate change is a global challenge. Direct air capture (DAC) incorporates a new set of technologies that directly remove CO2 from the air; therefore, DAC can address emissions from any source. This paper begins by reviewing the literature on negative emission technologies (NET) to summarize the most recent technological developments. Further, a life cycle assessment (LCA) on one of the most recently developed technologies, the direct air capture and utilization (DAC-U) system is undertaken. DAC-U systems, like photovoltaic systems, can be installed in various locations, including homes, offices, and industrial settings, resulting in a compact, on-site system that may be suitable for modular and distributed deployment. Based on the LCA results, this article presents the CO2 capture and reduction potential of the DAC-U system, with a focus on installations in households, and examines the willingness to adopt the system in Japan. Results demonstrate that DAC-U functions as a NET and, when deployed at the household scale, offers a non-trivial capture and reduction potential within the residential sector.
Geopolitical shocks complicate climate governance and may heighten climate vulnerability, but the magnitude, channels, and the offsetting role of green policy remain unclear. In this context, this study uses panel data for 41 countries from 1995 to 2021 and uses the European Green Deal (EGD) as a policy example to examine how policy intervention shapes the relationship between geopolitical risk and climate vulnerability, employing a two-way fixed-effects model. The main findings are: (1) geopolitical risk exacerbates climate vulnerability, primarily through negative impacts on food, water, health, and ecosystems; (2) the green transition and green investment effectively mitigate the adverse impact of geopolitical risk on climate vulnerability; and (3) by reinforcing these transition and investment channels, the EGD further reduces climate vulnerability associated with geopolitical conflicts. Based on these findings, policy should speed the green transition, mobilize private capital, and strengthen regional coordination to reduce the impact of geopolitical conflicts and enhance climate resilience.
This paper evaluates emission taxes, absolute standards, and tradable emissions policies in vertically related markets with downstream pollution. Using a three-stage game, we explore the impact of these three policies on economic and environmental outcomes when downstream firms engage in cross-ownership. The paper finds that (i) when downstream firms enhance their output coordination by increasing their equity share with each other, the environmental quality increases regardless of the government’s chosen policy. (ii) Emission taxes reduce the input price and increase industry output. (iii) Under emission taxes, Downstream firms’ profit is relatively higher, whereas upstream firms’ profit is relatively lower. (iv) Emission taxes result in greater consumer and society benefits than absolute standards and tradable emissions. The latter two environmental regulations yield equivalent economic and environmental outcomes. (v) Environmental damage is relatively lower under both absolute standards and tradable emissions. Our study shows that while emission taxes provide greater benefits to consumers and downstream firms by fostering abatement, increasing output, and enhancing welfare, absolute standards and tradable emissions are equally effective in reducing environmental damage while ensuring higher upstream profits. Our results have welfare implications for the choice of environmental policies between taxes, standards, and permits in vertical markets with downstream cross-ownership.
This study explored the impact of geopolitical risks, political risks, income, and renewable energy consumption on CO₂ emissions in Poland. The analysis covered the period from 1993 to 2020, employing Autometrics, a machine learning–based econometric approach. The estimation results demonstrated that both geopolitical risk and income exert a positive and statistically significant effect on CO₂ emissions. Specifically, a 1
Previous studies found that households’ energy use and consumption of goods and services contribute greatly to increasing carbon emissions. This study estimated household carbon footprints, including direct and indirect emissions. Using the 2019 Taiwan Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, we investigated the heterogeneous relationship between household income and carbon emissions. Income sources were divided into six categories: compensation of employees, entrepreneurial income, property income, imputed rent income, transfer income, and miscellaneous income. Our results indicate that the income–emission elasticity for household total emission, direct emission, and indirect emission are 0.62, 0.37, and 0.84, respectively. Household income is positively associated with household carbon footprint, especially among households with higher imputed rent income. The proportion of household indirect emissions rises as income increases. Household income exhibits a stronger relationship with indirect carbon emissions than with direct carbon emissions. These findings suggest an important avenue for reducing the carbon footprint of high-income households: promoting energy-saving measures and encouraging the use of low-carbon footprint goods and services. Examples include those produced with recycled materials or low-carbon energy sources.
South Asia is a climate change-vulnerable region which comprises several countries that are often at high risk of experiencing climate change-induced socioeconomic and environmental problems. Therefore, this study evaluates whether developing internet-based infrastructure and enhancing internet accessibility rates across this region can enable selected South Asian countries to reduce their annual carbon footprint levels in due course. Besides, the internet development-carbon footprint nexus is examined by adopting both linear and quadratic panel data modelling approaches, particularly for exploring how different phases of internet development may impact carbon footprints across South Asia. Overall, for the entire panel of South Asian countries, empirical results show that internet development initially enhances carbon footprint levels. But the results also endorse that once the chosen South Asian countries ensure that around half of their respective populations are using internet services, further internet accessibility improvement can enable these countries to reduce their carbon footprints. Accordingly, the internet development-carbon footprints nexus is deemed to be inverse U-shaped. Thus, these findings stress the importance of sustainably enhancing internet penetration rates so that the chosen South Asian countries do not lag behind the threshold level of internet development beyond which a complementarity between internet development and carbon footprint reduction can be established. Among other key findings, financial globalization is found to account for higher carbon footprints, which, in turn, affirms the pollution haven hypothesis. Conversely, consuming renewable energy instead of fossil fuels is found to exert carbon footprint-reducing impacts across South Asia. However, the above findings are heterogeneous when analyses are conducted separately for South Asian countries with relatively low, moderate, and high annual carbon footprint levels. For instance, the inverse U-shaped nexus between internet development and carbon footprints is verified only for relatively more polluted South Asian countries. Besides, the development of financial markets and institutions is witnessed to exert carbon footprint-surging effects, mostly for the relatively more polluted countries from this region. Furthermore, irrespective of the relative pollution levels, renewable energy transition, urbanization, and good governance are found to be associated with lower carbon footprints, albeit the magnitudes of these impacts vary across the three different pollution cohorts considered in this study. Therefore, the aforementioned findings can be regarded as critically important for South Asian policymakers to design mechanisms through which economies from this region can be made more climate change-resilient in the future.
Can artificial intelligence help us decide whether digitalization is ultimately a climate asset or a liability? This paper tackles that question for MENA countries using an explainable, fuzzy-based AI approach. We build a country–year panel from the World Development Indicators (2000 to the latest available year for each economy) and construct a Fuzzy Net-Sustainability Gain (FNSG) index that weighs what ICTs enable against what they cost. On the “enabler” side, the index captures efficiency gains, inclusion and dematerialization; on the “footprint” side, it reflects energy use, material intensity, e-waste, and the associated pressures on natural capital through resource extraction and waste externalities. A transparent fuzzy inference system produces the FNSG scores, while an interpretable machine-learning layer is used to pick up nonlinearities and interactions in the data. Feature-importance and partial-dependence tools then help adjust membership functions, refine the rule base and identify distinct regimes characterised by electricity mix and access conditions. The evidence is clear: ICTs do not have a uniform effect on sustainability. In country–years where power systems are cleaner and access to electricity and digital services is broad and reliable, ICTs are associated with sizeable positive FNSG values. Where grids remain carbon-intensive or access is constrained, much of this potential is dissipated. A Tunisia case study applies the same machinery to actual levels, recent trajectories and simple counterfactual scenarios; joint gains in fixed broadband and the renewable share of electricity deliver the strongest improvements. Taken together, the results show how standard WDI indicators can be reorganised into an interpretable, policy-oriented tool for “greening the digital stack” while making better use of the enabling role of ICTs, and for linking digital transitions to the preservation of natural capital.
Carbon taxes are a key instrument for mitigating global warming, yet their political feasibility remains contested. A vast literature examines public acceptability, but findings often diverge due to varying elicitation methods, policy designs, and contextual factors such as timing, reduction targets, and revenue use. These inconsistencies complicate interpretation and challenge the validity of reviews and meta-analyses. This article systematizes major differences in measurement approaches and policy attributes and illustrates their implications through an extensive within-subject case study (n = 1415) that controls for timing, sample, and national context. Results show that carbon tax acceptability depends strongly on the elicitation method. Explicit survey formats yield lower acceptability than implicit model-based measures; a substantial gap exists between preferred and maximum acceptable tax levels; and revenue recycling proves essential as acceptability declines sharply without it but rises when revenues are returned as rebates or earmarked for public transport and climate protection. These findings highlight that methodological choices substantially affect measured acceptability and that policymakers should rely on context-specific evidence rather than meta-analyses alone. Careful survey design and transparent revenue use can meaningfully enhance public acceptability of carbon taxation.
In the context of recent global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, this study employs Systemic Risk Theory to explore the potential of clean funds as a diversification strategy amidst financial instability. By analyzing the interconnectedness of commodities, world stock market, and clean funds through advanced econometric time varying connectedness and machine learning models, we assess how clean assets might mitigate contagion effects during turbulent periods. Our findings indicate that green funds, particularly TAN, ICLN, and CNRG, offer significant diversification benefits, exhibiting lower contagion from commodity markets compared to global stock indices. The insights gained from this study contribute to understanding how sustainable investments can enhance portfolio resilience in times of crisis, providing valuable guidance for investors and policymakers traversing complex economic challenges.
This study examines how Circular Information Sharing (CIS) advances circular-economy performance in global manufacturing, emphasizing its relevance for environmental governance and policy-driven supply-chain transitions. By improving transparency, traceability, and visibility across material flows, CIS strengthens Circular Supply Chain Management (CSCM) and supports firm-level alignment with emerging regulations on resource efficiency, responsible sourcing, and verifiable sustainability reporting. Drawing on Stakeholder Theory and the Resource-Based View, the research develops and empirically tests a structural model using data from manufacturing firms operating in global value chains. The findings show that CIS provides the informational infrastructure needed to implement circular practices, enhance operational responsiveness, and adopt Augmented Supply Chain Workforce Solutions (ASCWS) such as AI-assisted decision systems and real-time analytics. Responsible Marketing (RM) mediates these effects by converting CIS-derived insights into credible sustainability communication, increasing organizational legitimacy among regulators, supply-chain partners, and civil-society stakeholders. This legitimacy facilitates broader acceptance of digitally enabled workforce transformation. Overall, the study highlights data-driven transparency as a strategic and policy-relevant mechanism for advancing circular-economy transitions. It positions CIS as a critical resource that supports circular business models, environmentally responsible digitalization, and trustworthy sustainability communication, offering guidance for managers, policymakers, and researchers.
This study explores dynamic volatility connectedness among traditional (Brent, WTI, Natural Gas), transitional (LPG, LNG), and clean energy markets (S P Clean Energy Index) over 2018–2024 using a TVP-VAR framework. The Geopolitical Risk Index (Caldara and Iacoviello 2022) is incorporated to capture global tensions. Results show that oil benchmarks dominate in transmitting volatility, while transitional fuels and clean energy mostly absorb shocks. LNG acts as a net transmitter aligned with oil, whereas LPG is a net receiver sensitive to residential demand in emerging economies. Incorporating GPR lowers overall interconnectedness, highlighting its ability to distinguish geopolitical influences from market-specific dynamics. Systemic vulnerabilities intensify during crises, underscoring transitional fuels’ intermediary role between fossil and clean energy. These findings carry implications for policymakers and investors, stressing the need to integrate geopolitical risk, diversify energy portfolios, and address energy justice as volatility spillovers disproportionately affect developing economies.
We propose an innovative spatial-based multivariate Generalized Poisson regression model to explain the number of outdoor recreation trips to protected areas. The innovation consists of capturing the impact of geographical and environmental similarities across destinations. As a proof of concept, the approach is applied to data obtained from an online survey with 794 respondents sampled from across Italy between October and November 2022. The attention is placed on assessing travellers’ preferences for four popular Italian National Parks: the Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi, the Parco Nazionale dell’Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre, and the Parco Nazionale dell’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise. The results corroborate the existence of strong spatial and environmental correlation patterns across the nature sites under assessment. Further, the multivariate approach enhances the predictive accuracy of trip count frequencies relative to simpler models used for comparison.
As agriculture confronts mounting pressure to enhance sustainability and resource efficiency, circular bioeconomy (CBE) practices—particularly the reuse of agro-waste—offer a promising solution. However, widespread implementation remains hindered by numerous barriers that are not yet fully understood in their interconnections and influence. This study investigates these challenges through a systematic literature review (SLR) and an expert-based Weighted Influence Non-linear Gauge System (WINGS) analysis. The SLR identifies and categorises critical supply- and demand-side barriers, while the WINGS approach evaluates their relative strength and influence. Key barriers include the lack of government regulations and incentives, limited knowledge and skills for effective agro-waste reuse, and an underdeveloped market for bio-based products. These barriers exhibit strong causal relationships, indicating their central role in delaying CBE adoption. By revealing the interdependencies among barriers, the study provides a structured roadmap for policymakers and stakeholders to prioritise interventions. The findings underscore the need for coordinated policy support, capacity-building initiatives, and market development strategies to accelerate sustainable agro-waste reuse in agriculture.
This paper investigates the effects of a free trade agreement (FTA) with environmental provisions between northern and southern countries. We explicitly consider clean technology transfers from the North to the South and the enforcement levels of adopting clean technology in the South, which have not been discussed so far. Southern producers benefit greatly from having unimpeded access to a northern market, but they are reluctant to use new high-cost, clean technology provided by the North. We investigate how environmentally conscious northern countries could design an FTA in which southern countries are provided with sufficient membership benefits but follow tighter enforcement requirements. We provide a quantitative evaluation of FTA policies using a numerical example.
This study explores how environmental regulation affects the link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 39 developed and emerging economies from 1990 to 2020. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method and panel Granger causality tests, we confirm the pollution haven hypothesis in emerging economies and the pollution halo hypothesis in developed economies. In the long run, we find that stricter environmental regulations strengthen the negative impact of FDI on CO2 emissions in developed economies. However, this moderating effect is not significant in emerging economies. In the short run, environmental regulation does not appear to influence the FDI–CO2 relationship in both emerging and developed economies.
This paper identifies and reviews climate policies that protect vulnerable populations in Asia–Pacific low and middle-income economies while also improving their livelihoods. It focuses on three such “climate-poverty hotspots” in the region: small-island developing states (SIDS), the less-favored agricultural areas (LFAAs) of landlocked countries, and rural low-elevation coastal zones (LECZs) of other Asia–Pacific countries. Three policies are proposed aimed at reducing the poverty and climate vulnerability of these populations, including off-grid renewable energy investments, nature-based solutions and targeted investments. The paper explains both the opportunities and challenges for implementing such policies, as well the possible use of market-baed instruments, repurposing subsidies and redistributing the revenues raised or saved. A key issue is the additional financial and technical support required, and how both the international community and national governments could provide such support. If Asia–Pacific countries demonstrate a commitment to adopting such a strategy, including mobilizing domestic resources, they should become a priority for international financial and technical assistance.
We exist in the known economy. The production and dissemination of knowledge are essential for solving climate change and environmental sustainability issues, reducing global poverty, and solving other global problems. Through a comparative analysis between developed and developing countries, the main purpose of this research is to study the participation of innovation in the three pillars of sustainable development (economic growth, human development, and environmental quality) in 21 developing countries and 19 developed countries from 1994 to 2018. By using the Panel Vector Error Correction Model, empirical results show that the innovations of these countries have a positive contribution to the economic and social aspects of sustainable development, while their contribution to the environment is negative. It also discussed the limitations and future research directions, as well as some management and policy implications for innovative activities in sustainable development.
