Using country-level data, this study examines the role of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and the contribution of economic growth variables such as foreign direct investment (FDI), energy consumption (EC), and GDP on the environment quality in BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa between 2000 and the year 2023. Analyzing the relationships with a focus on short- and long-run dynamics by using a set of the most advanced econometric techniques including cross-sectional dependence tests, the panel PMG-ARDL model, and robustness checks with FMOLS, The findings show that EPU improves environmental quality in the long run by reducing pollution-intensive activities in uncertain times. On the contrary, FDI and EC appear to have a non-negligible negative impact, indicating their role in increasing environmental degradation, especially in fossil fuel-dependent economies with weak environmental regulations. GDP has a more complicated relationship: it is a powerful measure of growth (of how the wealth of nations increases), but also of sustainability. An additional consideration the study highlights is that knowledge based on the creation of green investment is still insufficient in BRICS-alluding to the importance for these nations to adopt stringent environmental regulations, support clean energy, and finance green investments that promote decoupling economic development from environmental damage. Policy implications of these results are discussed in the context of achieving sustainable development in the face of global environmental change. More research is needed to tease out the heterogeneous impacts of such policy uncertainty, as well as to take into account sectoral variation in FDI flows to improve targeted policy response to such environmental type’s effects.

HRMARS is well established journal publisher based in Pakistan. It is publishing prominent journals in social sciences since 2011.

HRMARS is well established journal publisher based in Pakistan. It is publishing prominent journals in social sciences since 2011.

Under the scope of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, this study undertakes an empirical investigation of the different dimensions influencing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in Malaysia, including economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness (TO), and urbanization (URB), for the period from 2000 to 2022. The present study employs an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to evaluate the short- and long-run relationships between the respective variables and the hidden environmental effects of growth in Malaysia. Existing studies favour the EKC theory, which reveals a U-shaped GDP-CO₂ emissions nexus, indicating that emissions fall whilst growth stays minimal, and rise whilst earnings improve. Urbanization is proven to be the key contributor towards the growth of CO₂ emissions which signifies the environmental burden of Malaya's massive urbanization development. FDI and TON contribute to emissions: FDI has a negative impact on emissions in both the short and the long term, while TON demonstrates a significant impact only in the long term. The results of this study can be useful for Malaysia in designing economically guided sustainable development strategies that do not undermine the environment.