Improving environmental quality is essential for achieving sustainable economic development when nations pursue growth. Although previous studies looked into different factors of sustainability, the precise effects of natural resource rents as well as renewable energy on CO₂ emissions are yet to be studied in depth. This dissertation attempts to fill the gap by looking at the relationship between economic growth, natural resource rents, renewable energy, and the level of financial development with the environmental quality in eleven regions of emerged and developing economies over the time period of 1990 to 2022. The findings from the Pedroni cointegration analysis reveal a long-run association among financial development, renewable energy, natural resource rents, economic growth, and carbon emissions. Further analysis using the method of moments quantile regression (MMQREG) indicates that renewable energy and natural resource rents significantly reduce CO₂ emissions, particularly at higher quantiles, enhancing environmental quality. Conversely, financial development exacerbates CO₂ emissions, negatively affecting environmental sustainability. Economic growth demonstrates a nonsignificant negative relationship with carbon emissions. The study highlights the critical contributions of renewable energy and natural resource rents to improving environmental quality, while emphasizing the adverse environmental effects of financial development. Policymakers are encouraged to prioritize investments in renewable energy and the effective management of natural resources to mitigate carbon emissions and achieve sustainability in these economies.

Energy poverty is a new issue in the world and the developing nations are no exception. The West African nations exhibit serious problems on the accessibility and affordability of energy in rural areas and in urban areas. The major concern is the conventional fuels that they widely use as alternatives once faced with energy access problems. These fuels damage the surroundings and deteriorate the health systems of people. Therefore, this study is motivated in addressing the energy poverty issues in West African nations and informing vigorous mechanisms that are essential in solving this crisis. The lack of studies and the lack of robust policies to inform ways that can be adopted to lower energy poverty in this region require new contemporary studies to be presented. Thus, this study examines the interplay of green finance, income and technology in reducing energy poverty in West African nations. The fourteen West African nations are therefore examined and their data for the period 2004 to 2020 are used. Data analysis methodologies adopted ensure the employment of the “method of moments quantile regression” technique to ensure that problems of “cross-sectional dependence” and “heterogeneity” are overcome. Our findings shows that energy poverty in West African nations could be lowered with advancements in technology, utilization of green finance and improvements in the income levels in this region by magnitudes of 17 to 21 units, 0.15 to 0.82% and 0.39 to 1.47 units, respectively. The income generated from the natural resources and foreign direct investment inflows fails to reduce energy poverty and worsens it by magnitudes of 0.33 to 0.48 units and 0.12 units, respectively. Therefore, we show that improvements in institutional quality and the adoption of green technological tools are key to reducing energy poverty.

The Gulf Cooperation Countries are rich in natural resources such as oil, yet they have serious environmental problems. These countries are also located in regions where there is abundance of sunshine, yet are not capitalizing on the use of solar energy—a clean source of fuel. They heavily rely on fossil fuels that are cheap and readily available in the region, causing serious environmental problems. This research investigates the role of trade, technology, and economic growth in improving environmental sustainability in this region; hence, covering the gap existing in the literature on how this region can address the problem of environmental sustainability. This research uses annual data of the Gulf Cooperation Countries for the period 1990 to 2022 and analyses it with the Methods of Moments Quantile Regression. The major findings presented in the research show the importance of technological innovations in ensuring the eradication of environmental deterioration. Technological innovation is observed to reduce environmental problems by 1.94 to 3.11 magnitude. The results also show that trade openness and natural resources rents fundamentally lower environmental deterioration in the long term by 0.02, and 0.05 to 0.09 magnitudes, respectively. However, the results show that economic growth, globalization, and financial development are harmful to environmental sustainability in this region. These factors tend to raise environmental damage by 0.14 to 0.24, 0.34 to 0.43, and 9.2 to 5.74 units on average, respectively. This research gives key policies towards advancing environmental sustainability through trade openness, natural resources rents, and technological innovation in the Gulf Cooperation Countries.

Central African nations, just like other African nations, have serious energy poverty problems, both in the rural and urban settings. With increased energy-accessibility problems, citizens have resorted to the use of conventional fuels, causing severe environmental degradation and affecting the health systems due to pollution. In this study, we address how energy poverty is alleviated with technology, natural resources and improved institutional quality. The interplay between these factors in improving energy accessibility is not widely understood; hence, key policies are lacking in the field. The data of Central African nations for the time period from 2004 to 2021 are utilized. The data are also analyzed with the ‘Methods of Moments Quantile Regression’ technique, ensuring the correction of ‘cross-sectional dependence’ and ‘heterogeneity’ that exists. The key findings depict that natural resource rent, government effectiveness and technology help in lowering energy poverty in Central African nations. Economic growth increases energy poverty, while green finance and foreign direct investment do not present a significant effect on energy poverty. Therefore, natural resources are a blessing in improving the accessibility of energy in this region, and this is also made possible with advancements in sustainable technology and proper institutional quality.

Developing nations, such as the Southern African nations, fail to achieve environmental sustainability because of bad governance and high levels of corruption. The misallocation and misuse of resources and green finance worsen environmental problems in such nations; hence, there is a need for correct policy reforms and improvements in institutional quality if the green transition is to be achieved. However, the literature lacks sound empirical evidence that could unlock this problem and direct us to the adoption of relevant policies. This research is an attempt to examine the role of institutional quality and green financial technology in promoting sustainable environments in Southern African nations with high environmental problems. Therefore, data from the seven Southern African nations from 2000 to 2022 are employed in the analysis. The research model is analyzed with the ‘Methods of Moments Quantile Regression’, which overcomes panel data-related problems such as ‘heterogeneity’ and ‘cross-sectional dependence’. The key findings of this research indicate the symmetric positive influence of institutional quality, green finance and renewable energy in supporting environmental sustainability. Additionally, financial development supports environmental sustainability, but its influence is asymmetric, where positive significant influence is in the lower quantile and weak negative effect in the top quantile. Nonetheless, technological innovation worsens environmental sustainability in the Southern African nations, calling for the need to leapfrog to cleaner technologies that have been adopted in developed nations.

The research delves into the connection between green finance, the digital economy, and energy consumption in ten (10) MENA region countries over a 40-year period, from 1983 to 2023. The research used panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) estimators to get rid of cross-sectional dependence and heteroscedasticity. According to the findings, the digital economy mainly contributes to cutting energy consumption, whereas green finance has a positive association which is likely due to the rebound effects and the embedded energy costs of green infrastructures. The control variables such as trade openness, technological innovation, and industrial structure are linked in a positive way to higher energy consumption. The findings imply a policy approach that has these two sectors as its main focus, in addition to emphases on digitalization for more efficient operation and green finance for the fostering of the transition of energy sources in the region.