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Future hot topics and directions of green growth based on a hybrid method

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Abstract

This paper aims to conduct a systematic overview of green growth literature and reveal the evolution, hot topics, as well as future directions of this field. Given the dispersion of the existing related studies, the development and evolution process of green growth have yet to be comprehensively reviewed. The qualitative review cannot objectively and quantitatively screen out important keywords, possibly leading to bias. This study uses a hybrid method based on bibliometric analysis and the fuzzy Delphi method to review 806 papers from the Scopus database. The findings show that there is an exponential rise in publications with the leading authors, countries, and institutions concentrated in South Korea, China, and the USA. The contents of core literature are focused on pathways and influencing factors of green growth. Hot topics, including policy support, resource management, emission reduction, and the application of new technology, are summarized. The top 5 keywords for future directions are energy, economy, emission, development, and management. The findings offer some valuable contributions to both academic and practical investigations of green growth.

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Data Availability

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

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Funding

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72004019, 71974028), and the Provincial Natural Science Foundation Guidance Plan Project (2019-ZD-0140).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, No.2 Ling Gong Road, Dalian City, 116024, China

    Lingling Guo, Mengjun Lu, Miao Cui & Jingtong Luo

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  1. Lingling Guo
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  2. Mengjun Lu
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  3. Miao Cui
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  4. Jingtong Luo
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Contributions

Lingling Guo contributed to the conception of the study and writing the manuscript.

Mengjun Lu performed the data analysis and wrote the manuscript.

Miao Cui helped perform the data analysis.

Jingtong Luo helped collect the data.

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Correspondence to Lingling Guo.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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All the authors are from School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, No.2 Ling Gong Road, Dalian City 116024, China.

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Highlights

• A hybrid method is used to review green growth research.

• There is an exponential rise in publications.

• South Korea, China, and the USA make the main contributions.

• Pathways and influencing factors of green growth are the two main research topics.

• Policy support, resource management, emission reduction, and technical progress are hot topics.

• Energy, economy, emission, development, and management are future directions in green growth.

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Guo, L., Lu, M., Cui, M. et al. Future hot topics and directions of green growth based on a hybrid method. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 40462–40477 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19774-y

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