Dynamic effects of sports and physical activities and public health spending on sustainable environmental performance? New evidence from 50 U.S. states

Environmental-friendly behaviours are increasingly imperative in the current era to diminish the speed of environmental degradation and its damaging impacts. Increased sports and physical activities entail positive health outcomes, as well as having the potential to reduce vehicle-related carbon emissions. Therefore, the present study investigates the impact of sports and physical activities and public health spending on environmental performance in 50 U.S. states for the period 2010–2019. The system of the generalised method of moment (G.M.M.) and feasible generalised least squares (F.G.L.S.) are employed in the present analysis. The results reveal that sports and physical activities are significantly increases environmental performance in U.S. Similarly, health expenditures are negatively and significantly associated with air pollution and encourage overall environmental performance. However, economic growth contributes to higher emissions and therefore impede environmental performance. The interaction term of health expenditures and sports activities indicate that the combination of higher health expenditures with sports activities puts a profound effect on environmental quality. These findings signal the need to retrace health care spending programs and sports activities to accomplish zero-carbon targets and better environmental performance.