The male and female genders have crucial roles to play in economic advancement. Thus, the main reason for this research is to pinpoint the causal link between gender inequality (GPIN), financial development (FIDX), inflation (INFL), and economic growth (GDPC) in Nigeria from the year 1980–2020 utilizing the Spectral Granger and Pairwise Granger causality methods and “Residual Augmented Least Square (RALS) cointegration. The RALS result show confirms the stationarity properties of the variables. The Spectral Granger causality outcomes show that GPIN granger causes GDPC in the long, medium, and short–term. In addition, the FIDX granger causes GDPC in the long and short–term, while the medium–term impact is insignificant. For INFL, causality only occurs in the long–term. On the other hand, the Pairwise Granger causality results show that GPIN and FIDX granger cause GDPC, while INFL is insignificant. Therefore, if GPIN and FIDX can predict economic expansion, policymakers need to create policies that can reduce diverse forms of inequalities, promote financial development, and reduce inflation to the barest minimum.

The increasing risks posed by climate change have turned CO₂ emissions into a pressing global issue, prompting the widespread adoption of sustainable development policies. This study investigates the empirical drivers of CO₂ emissions across 15 of the world’s highest carbon-emitting countries from 2000 to 2021, using a range of advanced panel data techniques. The core explanatory variables include green energy transition (GET), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), financial development (FD), mineral resource consumption (MRC), energy intensity (EI), and information and communication technology (ICT). By employing cross-sectional dependence tests, CIPS and CADF unit root tests, cointegration techniques (Westerlund and Dickey-Fuller), and Driscoll-Kraay standard error (DKSE) estimators, the study ensures robust and reliable inference. The findings reveal that a 1% increase in GET and FD leads to a 1.59% and 4.51% decrease in CO₂ emissions, respectively, while higher energy efficiency (EI) also significantly reduces emissions. In contrast, greater use of fossil fuels, mineral resources, and ICT expansion contributes positively to emissions. These results demonstrate the critical role of financial systems, clean energy investments, and energy efficiency in mitigating environmental degradation. The study offers targeted policy insights for countries aiming to balance economic growth with climate goals and highlights the need for enhanced technology transfer and financing mechanisms in low- and middle-income countries.