Maxwell Chukwudi Udeagha

In terms of policy, the BRICS region has prioritized achieving environmental sustainability. Environmental problems are mostly caused by the area's continuous reliance on fossil fuels to meet its energy requirements. It is also challenging to significantly reduce the region's reliance on fossil fuels because historically, the region has been a big importer of fossil fuels. As a result, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rates of the BRICS countries have been rising over time. Furthermore, the area has enormous untapped reserves of renewable energy sources that can be exploited to produce electricity without negatively impacting the ecosystem. In light of this, this research analyses, while controlling for energy innovation, economic growth, and natural resource rent, the combined effects of green finance (GFN) and financial technology (fintech) in reaching the region's carbon neutrality goals from 1990 to 2020. The findings for the BRICS economies, which are consistent with the EKC theory, imply that environmental sustainability is promoted by GFN, fintech, and energy innovation (ENI). NRR (natural resource rent) and GDP (economic growth) compromise environmental quality, nevertheless. It has also been demonstrated that there is a two‐way causal relationship between CO₂ emissions and GFN, fintech, and NRR. However, it has been demonstrated that GDP and ENI have a one‐way causal relationship with CO₂ emissions. It is recommended that the BRICS nations speed up the development of green financial products and increase the capacity of banks and financial institutions to offer green credit facilities based on the empirical findings. The basic study of how green finance solutions might be used while lowering the related risks should receive more funding.

The Paris Accord has brought the world's governments together to begin implementing plans for their individual economies to become carbon‐free. The goal of attaining low‐carbon growth is not, however, as simple as it would appear since the world economies, which are dependent on fossil fuels and are fast expanding, are concentrated on accelerating economic expansion at the price of worse environmental effects. In light of this, the study aims to investigate the combined effects of the composite risk index (CRI), green innovation (GINOV), and environmental policy stringency (EPS) on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the context of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries while controlling for gross domestic product (GDP) and renewable energy research and development (RERD) over the period from 1960 to 2020. The research addresses the problems of cross‐sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity in the data set used for analysis by using the second‐generation cross‐sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags framework to evaluate long‐ and short‐run models. The corresponding findings show cointegrating relationships between the research variables. Additionally, the results of the regression demonstrate that EPS, GINOV, and RERD contribute to a long‐term decrease in CO₂ emissions. CRI and GDP, however, increase CO₂ emissions. It is suggested that environmental policies be tightened, GINOV and RERD expenditures be promoted, political stability and institutional quality be maintained, and clean economic growth strategies be adopted in order to help the BRICS countries reduce sectoral risks, create a sustainable environment, and decarbonize their respective economies.

The world governments have come together under the Paris Agreement to begin the decarbonization and transition to a zero-carbon economy. The goal of attaining low-carbon growth is not as simple as it may appear, however, because the fast developing and fossil fuel-dependent global economies are concentrated on accelerating economic expansion at the expense of catastrophic environmental repercussions. In light of these circumstances, this study aims to investigate the combined implications of composite risk (CRI), green innovation (GINOV), and environmental policy stringency (EPS) on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the context of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS), while controlling for economic growth (GDP) and renewable energy research and development (RERD) over the period from 1960 to 2020. The study addresses the problems of cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity in the data set used for analysis by using the second-generation cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) framework to evaluate long- and short-run models. The accompanying findings confirm cointegrating relationships between the research variables. Additionally, the results of the regression demonstrate that EPS, GINOV, and RERD contribute to a long-term reduction in CO₂ emissions. CRI and GDP, however, increase CO₂ emissions. In light of these important conclusions, it is suggested that the BRICS nations prevent environmental deterioration by strengthening the stringency of environmental policies and promoting renewable energy research and development. In addition, the BRICS authorities should encourage the use of renewable energy sources and ecologically beneficial technologies to improve environmental quality and achieve carbon neutrality target.

Reaching decarbonization goals has become a top focus for several industrialized and emerging economies globally. The greatest effect of human behavior is global warming. Utilizing fiscal decentralization (FDST), export diversification (EDI), and environment‐related technological innovation (ERTI) may be necessary to address global pollution and accomplish environmental sustainability goals. Additionally, these strategies could aid various levels of government and nations in pursuing what they define as sustainable development. This study evaluates the combined benefits of FDST, EDI and ERTI in meeting the environmental sustainability goals of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa ( BRICS ) economies from 1970 to 2020. Using the augmented mean group method, the long‐run dynamic equilibrium between the chosen variables is examined. The findings demonstrate that while the adoption of ERTI and renewable energy (REC) benefits the environment, EDI, FDST, and economic growth exacerbate environmental deterioration. Our findings suggest that the BRICS countries should proceed cautiously when adopting FDST and EDI plans. The adoption of ERTI and REC should be promoted by the government to increase environmental sustainability.