Murad Abdurahman Bein

This manuscript investigates the impact of Climate Policy Uncertainty (CPU), the Climate Concern Index (CCI), carbon pricing, and global clean and conventional energy returns on global CO ₂ emissions. Using quantile‐on‐quantile connectedness, we estimated direct and reverse relationships under extreme and normative economic conditions. Key findings reveal that reverse‐related connectedness in CCI is more pronounced than direct relatedness with respect to global CO ₂ emissions, whereas CPU exhibits the opposite trend. CCI persistently transmits shocks across all CO ₂ emission quantiles, while CPU primarily receives shocks from CO ₂ emissions. These results indicate that societal engagement with climate issues plays a critical role in mitigating environmental degradation, exerting a more significant impact than the uncertainties inherent in climate policy transitions. The interplay between carbon pricing and CO ₂ emissions shows a reverse relationship, particularly at high carbon prices and low CO ₂ activity. Under average market conditions, carbon pricing predominantly acts as a shock transmitter. The findings here highlight the imperative of carbon trading mechanisms to effectively harness the mitigation of climate change. Furthermore, renewable energy serves as an information conduit to CO ₂ levels, except when both variables are in the uppermost quantile, where renewable energy becomes a recipient. Results from dynamic Total Connectedness Indices (TCI) indicate that interconnections are significantly shaped by pivotal events, such as climate summits and national renewable energy legislation. These findings align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and offer substantial implications for climate change mitigation and sustainability initiatives.

The regulatory framework in the United Kingdom plays a vital role in promoting investor trust and transparency by mandating that enterprises disclose their social and environmental impacts. This makes the UK an appropriate setting for this study. This research examined how sustainable finance influences investor trust in the London Stock Exchange. The study employed purposive sampling along with specified inclusion and exclusion criteria to assess 17 years of data (2007–2023) from 334 non-financial institutions obtained from Thomson Reuters Eikon DataStream. To mitigate cross-sectional dependence and endogeneity concerns in the data, several estimation methods were used, including the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG), fixed effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors, and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The findings revealed that corporate emission reduction policies, environmental expenditures, and green bond issuances had a positive and significant impact on investor trust. Additionally, the moderating effect of regulatory quality on emission reduction policies further enhanced investor trust. Based on these findings, companies are encouraged to strengthen their environmental practices by implementing robust emission reduction policies, increasing environmental investments, and issuing green bonds to support sustainable projects. These efforts should be clearly communicated to investors to highlight the company’s commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility.

The aim of our research is to analyze the impact of size on the association between liquidity management and sustainable profitability of BRICS financial enterprises from 2000 to 2022. The analysis specifically focusing on banks listed on the BRICS stock market. This research investigated how the size of BRICS financial businesses affects the link between liquidity management (LR), return on assets (ROA), and Tobin’s Q. The research used two analytical techniques, namely GMM and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), to assess the moderating impact of size on the association between liquidity and sustainable profitability. The study’s conclusions showed that the relationship between LR and profitability was statistically significantly impacted by size. Organizational scale plays a crucial role in shaping the dynamics of financial performance, as evidenced by the substantial positive moderating effect of size on the relationship between sustainable profitability and liquidity ratio. The LR evaluates a company’s ability to use liquid assets to meet short-term obligations, whereas sustainable profitability indicates how well BRICS financial firms generate profits by using their assets. Moreover, this analysis provides valuable information and assists bank management in making strategic choices. Enhancing their comprehension of the impact of size on the interplay between liquidity and profitability might enable managers to adopt more efficient financial strategies, thereby gaining a greater competitive advantage.

Industrialization and economic growth in high-income countries have considerably increased consumption-based CO₂ emissions (CCO₂), adversely affecting environmental sustainability and contributing to climate change. This study assesses the impacts of Environmental Policy Stringency (EPS), World Uncertainty (WU), and Technological Innovation (TI) on environmental sustainability, aiming to guide the development of balanced policies that foster growth. Utilizing panel data from 1990 to 2021 across high-income countries, we employed the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) to capture the varying effects of these factors at different levels of CCO₂ emissions. Our findings reveal that WU consistently and significantly reduces CCO₂ emissions across all quantiles, while the effects of EPS are minimal and largely insignificant. Similarly, TI demonstrates a weak and statistically non-significant impact, indicating that technological advancements alone are insufficient for meaningful improvements in environmental sustainability. Importantly, renewable energy consumption (REC) significantly lowers CCO₂ emissions, while economic growth (GDP) has a strong tendency to increase emissions, particularly at lower quantiles. These insights highlight the necessity for high-income countries to adopt comprehensive fiscal and environmental policies to mitigate emissions and enhance sustainability, with a focus on prioritizing renewable energy, encouraging innovation, and strengthening policy measures to achieve long-term ecological objectives.

This study investigates the impact of uncertainties on the non-performing loans/ finance (NPL/NPF) of conventional and Islamic banks in the MENA region using data from 2005 to 2022. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and the purposive sampling technique, 92 banks were selected from 13 MENA countries, 42 of which are Islamic and 50 of which are conventional banks. The study used two estimation methods: Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and two-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to estimate the relationship between uncertainty and NPL/NPF. These estimation methods were chosen for their ability to provide unbiased results in the presence of cross-sectional dependence and deal with endogeneity. The study revealed that world pandemic uncertainty had a negative and significant influence on the NPL of conventional banks while showing a positive and significant influence on the NPF of Islamic banks. US trade policy uncertainty was found to have a negative and significant influence on the NPL of conventional banks. In contrast, it exhibited a positive and significant influence on the NPF of Islamic banks. We discovered a positive and significant influence of US sovereign debt risk uncertainty on the NPL/NPF of conventional and Islamic banks in the MENA region. The findings revealed a negative and significant influence of oil price uncertainty on the NPL/NPF of conventional and Islamic banks in the MENA regions. These findings reassure us that bank in the MENA region should adopt and tailor risk strategies based on sector-specific responses, engage in proactive risk monitoring, and maintain loan quality amid economic uncertainties.

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of corporate governance on the financial choices of non-financial companies operating in the Australian Securities Exchange. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select a total of 113 firms representing 14 sectors listed in the Australian Securities Exchange during the period from 2008 to 2021. The findings of the study revealed a positive and significant relationship between the size of the board, gender diversity among board members, board member affiliation and board compensation with the financial decisions of the corporations. Additionally, the study identified that the presence of experienced and non-executive board members had a negative and significant impact on internally generated funding. Furthermore, it was observed that board gender diversity, board size, board member affiliation and board compensation displayed a positive and significant association with debt financing, internally generated financing and equity financing. Most organisations displayed a preference for internal and debt financing over equity funding. Aligning governance with financial decisions enhances firms’ cost of capital. Governance quality affects capital market access, debt and equity costs. Effective governance leads to favourable financing terms.

The study aimed to compare the effect of sound corporate governance on manufacturing companies in South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana on financial performance. The study used a purposive sampling method to select 60 manufacturing companies, of which twenty-nine (29) were from South Africa, 17 were from Nigeria, and 14 were from Ghana. The study employed GMM and FMOLS to estimate the effect of corporate governance on the firm’s financial performance. According to the study, South Africa has the longest average board tenure at 7.85 years, followed by Nigeria at 4.7 years and Ghana at 3.9 years. The average board tenure was found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on the return on invested capital (ROIC) of the firms in South Africa and Ghana, and a positive and statistically insignificant effect was found for the firms in Nigeria. The study indicated that the firms in South Africa have the highest percentage of female directors at 24.26%, followed by Ghana at 17.8% and Nigeria at 17.3%. The study showed that female representation on the corporate board has a positive and statistically significant effect on all firms’ return on net operating assets (RONOA). The study provides policy implications for shareholders, boards of directors, and other stakeholders by enabling them to build confidence in the corporate governance structure of manufacturing companies in the three countries.