Environmental quality has been decreasing in most countries in the world. With poverty is the primary attribute of most developing countries, this study aims to examine the effect of poverty on environmental deterioration by using panel data of 50 developing countries for the period between 2001 and 2014. Utilizing the generalized method of moments, findings establish that poverty is among the principal sources of environmental damage across the countries. Therefore, the efforts to reduce environmental degradation must be comprehensive enough and the priority of environmental policies should in the first place, targeting poverty reduction.

Digital transformation refers to the process of utilizing digital technology to develop new or enhance current business processes, organizational culture, and customer experiences to satisfy changing business and market requirements. Taking all non-financial Chinese A-share firms from 2010 to 2018 as the research sample, we investigate the impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) on corporate digital transformation. Evidence shows that EPU has a significantly positive impact on corporate digital transformation. This result still holds after a series of robustness tests, such as employing alternative measures of key variables, controlling for various fixed effects, including possibly omitted variables and adopting estimation of instrumental variables in the 2SLS approach. In addition, market competition provides the primary channel through which EPU influences corporate digital transformation. Finally, the above EPU effect is more pronounced in firms with small size, non-SOEs, and firms with weak corporate governance. Overall, our results provide a novel explanation for the behaviour of corporate digital transformation in the emerging capital markets.

Limited by ecological conditions, in order to improve the innovation efficiency concerning energy, a change from “extensive” to “green” is required. The development of sustainable technology is the most important productive force. Economic development is centered on finance. Only by mutual penetration and interaction can China’s energy innovation be effectively promoted. “Green GDP (Gross Domestic Product)” is the main direction of China’s current economic development. A sustainable green digital economy is the primary condition for promoting energy efficiency, and it is the key to improving energy efficiency in China to achieve a green transition. Green finance for sustainable development refers to economic finance centered on energy conservation, environmental protection and technological innovation. Attention is constantly paid to the financial industry in China, and we are trying to combine the concept of environmental protection with financial development to promote the continuous development of China’s environmental protection economy. A company’s economic and environmental benefits will be improved from the point of view of improving resource conservation and reducing the environmental impact of equipment and processes. To achieve this goal, the “efficiency effect” of the financial system needs to be fully exploited to maximize energy efficiency. An empirical study about the relationship of financial performance and energy efficiency in the green sector is carried out while considering the environmental constraints. The results show that the expansion of the financial scale and the adjustment of the financial structure have increased the energy utilization efficiency by more than 15% from the past to the present and reduced the pollution of the ecological environment by more than 10% nationwide, realizing the effective allocation of resources. Digital finance is a new generation of financial services that combines the Internet and information technology with traditional financial service formats. Including Internet payment, mobile payment, online banking, financial service outsourcing and online loans, online insurance, online funds and other financial services. Therefore, the sustainable development of all aspects of finance has a huge catalytic effect on the doubling of energy utilization efficiency.

Purpose: Remittances to developing countries, especially less developed countries, have been growing tremendously as compared to the past few decades. Nevertheless, whether they can be a critical source of poverty alleviation in developing countries is yet to be conclusively studied. Therefore, this study investigates the implications of remittances on poverty in 44 developing countries from 2006 to 2014. Design/methodology/approach: A dynamic panel estimator is applied to examine remittances – poverty nexus. Findings: The results provide strong evidence that the level of poverty tends to be lower in countries with a higher flow of remittances. This may be because of the increase in the household incomes of the poor by virtue of the remittance, and/or the money remitted might be channeled to more productive activities, indicating the powerful role of remittances to maintain a sustainable reduction in poverty. Originality/value: Although there is no direct policy applicable to remittances, several areas might be good to be assisted and improved by the government.