Early periods of history have demonstrated that enhanced economic development is fostered in instances where natural resources are abundant, hence averting the resource curse. In this vein, accelerated economic advancement is driven by a rigorous and proficient financial sector that efficiently utilises and allocates the economy’s natural resources. A strong financial system that transforms resources into advantages rests on an advanced technological innovation base, superior human capital, distinct foreign direct investment, powerful trade, and sustainable energy consumption. While this paper investigates the nexus of these factors, the specific purpose of this research is to examine the interactive impact of financial development and natural resource rents on carbon emissions in the new BRICS economies for the duration of 1990 to 2019. The panel data generalised least squares (GLS) and the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) techniques are adopted. The Dumitrescu and Hurlin technique is used to establish causality. The study found a U-shaped association between economic growth and emissions. The findings prove that the financial development of financial institutions and the financial development of financial markets’ relationships with emissions are significantly positive. Natural resource rents, energy consumption, and human capital create a significantly positive relationship with emissions (mostly just positive for technological innovation). Conversely, the connection involving trade and carbon emissions is significantly negative (but mostly just negative for FDI). The interaction (s) intervening financial development of financial institutions and financial development of financial markets with natural resource rent significantly lowers emissions, respectively. The interaction parameter (financial development of financial institutions, natural resource rent, and financial development of financial markets) mixed with trade significantly adds emissions (positively insignificant with energy consumption). Contrarily, this factor mixed with human capital and technological innovation, respectively, is significantly negative (just negative for FDI). The Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel Granger causality outcomes are also outlined.

This paper analyses the impact of corruption on environmental sustainability in all 16 countries in the Southern region of Africa from 2010-2017. The paper uses two proxies of corruption: the Corruption Index and Corruption Ranking. Using two econometric methods, namely, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) Granger causality test and the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) techniques this study found largely congruent results on both causation and relationships, respectively. Firstly, the two indicators of corruption harmoniously show that corruption Granger causes the existing state of environmental sustainability in Southern African economies, and vice-versa. Moreover, in the short-run corruption was also found to worsen environmental sustainability for both regression models deployed using the two corruption indicators. In the long-term, the two measures of corruption conflicted with their findings. In this regard, though the relationship is contradicting in the long-run the corruption negative (becoming bad) effect of corruption ranking surpasses the corruption positive (becoming clean) effect of corruption index by nearly three times. This show how detrimental corruptible actions are to the natural environment. Overall, this paper consent to global reports explaining how Southern African environments are gradually deteriorating by putting corruption as one central practice causing extensive damage.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of carbon performance on firm financial performance by using Republic of South Africa CDP company data from 2014 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach: The study considered 63 companies on the Republic of South Africa CDP database. Content analysis was used to extract both carbon performance data and firm financial data. The data were analysed using panel data analysis and partial derivative approaches. Findings: The findings indicate that carbon performance produces a positive relationship with return on equity (ROE) and return on sales (ROS). Conversely, it generates a negative relationship with return on investment (ROI) and market value added (MVA). Furthermore, the study highlights that carbon performance pays and that the relationship with financial performance (ROE, ROS, ROI and MVA) deepens as the corporate growth rate increases. Practical implications: Companies that integrate carbon performance initiatives reap substantial financial gains, and this relationship is strengthened as the company’s growth rate increases. Originality/value: The research questions and data collected from Republic of South African CDP firms are original and provide important evidence on the impact of carbon performance on firm financial indicators. Furthermore, many empirical studies focus on highly industrialised countries; this study examines this issue in the emerging South African economy which has experienced rapid growth of emissions in recent years. While most previous studies on the relationship between carbon performance and firm financial performance used a single class of corporate financial measures, this study used both accounting- and market-based indicators. It also investigated how firm growth moderates the association between carbon performance and diverse financial performance measures. Finally, pressure exerted by green stakeholders since the introduction of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s sustainability criteria in 2004, as well as government policies, has a profound impact on the South African business context; it is hence important to examine corporate environmental management activities in the context of the association between carbon performance and firm performance.

Whether corporate sustainability disclosure (CSD) affects profitability remains indistinct to many firms. This paper examines the relationship between corporate sustainability disclosure and return on investment. The sample of this study consisted of ten Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed mining companies, and the data was extracted from sustainability reports for a period of five years from 2010 to 2014. In this regard, data collection was undertaken by the adoption of a content analysis approach. A multi-regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between environmental disclosure and return on investment. The same statistical mechanism was employed to determine the association involving social disclosure and return on investment. Results show that there is a negative relationship between environmental disclosure and return on investment. On the other hand, the research reveals that there is also a positive association between social disclosure and return on investment. This implies that an increase in corporate reporting of social issues results in heightened financial performance through an increase in return on investment. This study recommends the adoption of corporate social disclosure as it will encourage firms to be socially responsible, while also generating financial benefits. Further studies can be conducted about the change from voluntary corporate social disclosure to mandatory disclosure.