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Sustainable environment, energy and finance in China: evidence from dynamic modelling using carbon emissions and ecological footprints

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Abstract

This study investigates sustainable finance along with sustainable economic factors on both carbon emissions and ecological footprints in China. A novel Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique is applied; results revealed sustainable finance exerts positive/negative influence on carbon emissions in the long and short run, respectively. Results are robust with ecological footprints that sustainable finance placed a lucrative cause to preserve the environment. Sustainable economic factors show a positive impact on carbon emissions in the long run, whilst economic growth, energy consumption and exports improve environmental quality. Conversely, in the short run, urbanisation supports the environment whilst economic development, energy use and exports exert a positive impact. In addition, this study suggests useful policy implications for the stakeholders.

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Data availability

The data will be provided upon a reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Notes

  1. These events can disrupt the natural resources, infrastructure, agricultural land and, most importantly, human lives.

  2. China’s CO2 emissions have increased from 0.94 in 1970 to 7.18 metric tons per capita in 2016, representing an almost seven times increase (World Bank 2018).

  3. The reason behind this is twofold. Firstly, China is the largest populated country, and this massive population demands more natural resources and energy consumption. Secondly, it is the largest manufacturer and exporter worldwide.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lahore Business School, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Rizwan Ali, Mubeen Abdur Rehman & Ramiz Ur Rehman

  2. School of Business Administration, ILMA University, Karachi, Pakistan

    Mubeen Abdur Rehman

  3. Faculty of Business, Sohar University, Sohar, Oman

    Ramiz Ur Rehman

  4. Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Collins G. Ntim

Authors
  1. Rizwan Ali
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  2. Mubeen Abdur Rehman
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  3. Ramiz Ur Rehman
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  4. Collins G. Ntim
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Contributions

Conceptualization, R.A.; methodology, R.A., M.A.R., and R.U.R.; software M.A.R., and R.U.R.; validation, R.A., and C.G.N.; investigation, R.A., and M.A.R.; data curation, M.A.R.; writing—original draft, M.A.R., and R.A.; writing—review and editing, R.A., R.u.R., and C.G.N; project administration, M.U.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mubeen Abdur Rehman.

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Highlights

• Robust results explained that sustainable finance places a lucrative cause to preserve the environment.

• A novel Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (D-ARDL) technique is applied.

• Annual data is collected for China from 1970 to 2017.

• In the long run, sustainable economic factors positively impact CO2 emissions, whereas economic growth, energy consumption and exports improve the ecosystem.

• However, in the short run, urbanisation supports the environment whilst economic development, energy use and exports positively impact the environment.

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Ali, R., Rehman, M.A., Rehman, R.U. et al. Sustainable environment, energy and finance in China: evidence from dynamic modelling using carbon emissions and ecological footprints. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 79095–79110 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21337-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21337-0

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