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Green financial investment and its influence on economic and environmental sustainability: does privatization matter?

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Abstract

Green financial investment and privatization have been widely used as policy tools to promote economic growth and efficiency in many countries. However, their effects on environmental sustainability have been less explored. This study utilizes autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) techniques to explore the effects of green financial investment and privatization on economic and environmental performance in China. Using data from 1995 to 2021, we analyze the impact of green financial investment and privatization on economic performance, measured by GDP per capita, and environmental performance, measured by CO2 emissions based on green finance and privatization theories. Our findings reveal that green financial investment has a beneficial effect on both economic and environmental performance. On the other hand, privatization has a positive impact on long-term economic performance, while also having negative consequences on environmental performance. These findings can inform evidence-based policies and strategies that promote both economic and environmental performance.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Hunan Provincial New Liberal Arts Research and Reform Practice Project in 2021, Digital Intelligence Empowerment and Cross-Chain Integration - Innovative Practice of Collaborative Education Mechanism of New Business, Science, Government, Industry and Research (Xiangjiaotong[2021]NO.94-51).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Foreign Languages, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan, 411104, Hunan, China

    Shen Zhongping & Xu Yunbao

  2. De La Salle University Dasmarinas, DBB-B, 4115, West Ave, Dasmarinas, Cavite, Philippines

    Shen Zhongping

  3. School of Economics and Management, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou, 545006, Guangxi, China

    Guan Yongjun & Xu Qifeng

  4. Department of Economics, Science and Technology, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Zubaria Andlib

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  1. Shen Zhongping
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  2. Guan Yongjun
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  3. Xu Yunbao
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  4. Xu Qifeng
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Contributions

Shen Zhongping: Idea, software, Methodology, Writing-Original draft preparation, Reviewing and Editing; Methodology; Guan Yongjun: Investigation, Reviewing and Editing; Xu Yunbao: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-Original draft preparation; Xu Qifeng & Zubaria Andlib: Methodology, Reviewing and Editing.

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Correspondence to Xu Yunbao.

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Table 6

Table 6 Wald test results
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Zhongping, S., Yongjun, G., Yunbao, X. et al. Green financial investment and its influence on economic and environmental sustainability: does privatization matter?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 91046–91059 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28520-x

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