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.

This article investigates the nexus between bank-specific risks and the financial stability of the banks for a panel data set of 15 scheduled banks in Pakistan over a 12-year period from 2009 to 2020. Using the fixed-effect model, the study result shows that bank-specific risks, i.e., credit risk and liquidity risk are detrimental to bank stability, whereas funding risk has no significant impact on bank stability. Besides these, bank size has also a negative impact on bank stability, whereas the return on assets (ROA) revealed a positive influence. To ensure stability, bank management should establish policies that confirm secure loan granting and timely reimbursement from customers to minimize the credit risk. Besides this, management should keenly observe the liquidity position and should also effectively mobilize the customer deposits to attain financial stability.

The concept of digital financial inclusion (DFI) has gained considerable attention in recent years due to its emergence as a prominent development strategy in several nations. While environmental sustainability is one of the biggest aims of the earth today. This study examines the impact of DFI on the environmental sustainability of the South Asian region (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) from 2011 to 2021. Using STATA, the study employed the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique, and the empirical evidence demonstrates that DFI has a significant negative impact on environmental sustainability by increasing CO2 emissions. In addition, study indicates that the growing number of internet users and renewable energy consumption have a substantial adverse effect on CO2 emissions per capita. This suggests that the increased use of the internet and renewable energy consumption contribute to environmental sustainability. On the other hand, Population growth also has a significant negative impact on CO2 emissions per capita and GDP growth and industrialization has no significant impact on environmental sustainability. These findings indicate that policymakers in the South Asian region should design policies that promote DFI and the use of new technology in such a way that stimulate business activities and achieve environmental sustainability.