In the current era, economic growth is inevitable for global prosperity but achieving sustainable economic development is one of the significant challenges for the developing world. The present study explores the impacts of foreign direct investment, energy use, and technological innovations on the economic growth and environmental quality of BRICS countries for the period 1990–2018. We used the augmented mean group (AMG), the common correlated effects mean group estimator (CCEMG), and several other modern-day empirical techniques to analyze data. The findings show that foreign direct investment increases economic growth but harms the environmental sustainability of BRICS countries. Moreover, we have seen that energy use is directly proportional to economic growth and CO₂ emissions. This confirms that energy use is one of the factors which harms the environmental quality in BRICS economies. Likewise, economic growth increases CO₂ emissions. On the other hand, technology innovation has a direct relationship with economic growth but an inverse relationship with CO₂ emissions as it improves the environmental sustainability of the BRICS region. This research adds to the existing literature by exploring the interplay between FDI, innovation, energy use, economic growth, and environmental outcomes in the context of major emerging economies. The study’s findings provide empirical evidence on the role of these factors in shaping the environmental outcomes in the BRICS economies, and they have implications for policymakers and stakeholders in addressing environmental challenges such as global warming and climate change.

China is performing a dominant role in the world’s economic growth, but it has mainly been the commencement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has significantly increased its importance around the world. Recently, the emergence of the tourism industry has been considered as an alternative for sustainable economic and ecological development, which is ironic. Although China is promoting tourism in various regions under “The New Normal” phase, it needs to proactively address the challenges of dismantling, for the environment. The fundamental objective of the current study is to determine the long-term affiliation between tourism development, economic progress, transportation, energy consumption, value added hotel catering services, and environmental degradation (CO₂) for a panel of thirty (30) provinces of China over the period of 1995–2017. Primarily, we applied the CD test for investigating cross dependence; subsequently, conventional and CD based panel unit root tests (CIPS) were carried out to deal with the puzzle of the stationarity of the panel series. The results of the dynamics panel, DOLS, FMOLS, and PMG, indicated that transportation, energy consumption, and value added hotel and catering services have a strong positive association with carbon emission, but tourism development has mixed links with ecological degradation. Additionally, the causative based test revealed the bidirectional association of tourism development, transportation, economic progress, and energy consumption with environmental quality. The retrieved estimates conferred a few guidelines, concerning the presence of BRI projects, for the Chinese administration at the provincial and national level: initiating the renewable based energy projects and possibly wishing to decrease the use of fossil fuel based energy in the industry, transportation, and hotels and catering sectors. Furthermore, the prevalence of green investment in provinces may motivate economic progress and tourism development, without worsening the atmosphere.

This study aims to examine the impact of political instability, food prices, and the crime rate on tourism development in Pakistan over the semi-annual data from 1995 to 2019. To achieve the goal of this study, an asymmetric ARDL technique was used. The Asymmetric Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) aided in gaining access to both positive and negative shocks in political stability, crime rate, and food inflation. The findings showed that due to positive variations in the political conditions, tourism will increase by 0.12%, and if political instability prevails in the country, tourism will decrease by 23%. On the other hand, the magnitude of political stability is less than the negative variation of political instability on tourism. The study concludes that there is a considerable asymmetric association between political instability, crime rate, food prices, and tourism development in Pakistan. Based on these findings, it is advised that the government adopt proactive measures to establish and reinforce the political stability mechanism and terrorism control, as well as to improve the living standards of the general population. Moreover, establish a structure for adaptation efforts, focusing on the coordination of tourism expansion platforms for sustainable tourism in Pakistan to attract more foreigners for the sake of a surge in tourism proceeds.

The construction of hydropower projects is increasingly prevalent worldwide, particularly in the context of climate change mitigation. Community displacement resulting from the construction of these projects raises significant questions about the post-resettlement welfare and satisfaction of the individuals subjected to project-associated relocation and resettlement processes. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of physical resources, locational characteristics, the resettlement area, health facilities, housing facilities, communication, and the socio-cultural environment on the satisfaction of resettled people, along with two mediators: sustainable development and cultural resilience in the resettlement of the project-affected communities of the Barotha Hydropower Project (GBHP) in Pakistan. In this cross-sectional study, data are collected from 223 resettlers from three villages (Barotha, Eassa, and Feroze). The researchers examined sustainable development and cultural resilience as mediating factors that play a role in resettlers’ satisfaction. The physical resource results indicate that, in the GBHPP, resettled people are unsatisfied, while other variables such as locational characteristics, resettlement area, health facilities, housing facilities, communication, and socio-cultural environment play a significant role in resettlement satisfaction. The role of both mediators, sustainable development and cultural resilience, strengthen the relationship between the predictors and criteria in terms of their value and their contribution to the resettlers’ satisfaction. Through the analysis of these variables, this study offers a comprehensive understanding of these factors, which contribute to the satisfaction of resettlers. Additionally, the study seeks to provide insights that can inform the development of strategies that foster the creation of resilient and prosperous resettlement communities. The research conclusions will also aid in developing policies and community initiatives that support the happiness and wellbeing of resettled communities.