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How does environmental policy stringency affect clean energy justice? The role of digital infrastructure

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  • Zheng, ShiYong
  • Ding, MengLing
  • Li, Qing
  • Sohail, Sidra
  • Ullah, Sana

Abstract

The 7th goal of the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 for sustainable development emphasizes the significance of the fair and equitable distribution of energy resources to different factions of society, particularly the poor and marginalized. Thus, finding the factors that can impact clean energy justice is crucial. However, the empirical literature in this regard is in its infancy. To plug this gap, we aim to investigate the impact of environmental policy stringency and digital infrastructure on clean energy justice in BRICS economies from 2000 to 2022 by employing the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), pooled mean group-autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL), and dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE). The long-run estimates state that environmental policy stringency and digital infrastructure are crucial factors in fostering clean energy justice. In addition, the natural resource rent also proves favorable in enhancing clean energy justice in the long run, while the remaining controlling factors are insignificant. On the other hand, environmental policy stringency, digital infrastructure, political stability, and trade boost clean energy justice in the short run, whereas economic growth hurts clean energy justice. The policymakers should design a comprehensive clean energy justice policy, with digital infrastructure and stringent environmental policies as its main pillars.

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  • Zheng, ShiYong & Ding, MengLing & Li, Qing & Sohail, Sidra & Ullah, Sana, 2025. "How does environmental policy stringency affect clean energy justice? The role of digital infrastructure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:318:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225004426
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.134800
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