Impacts of mineral resources, economic growth and energy consumption on environmental sustainability: Novel findings from global south region

This study investigates the dynamic effect of mineral markets, economic growth, urbanization, financial development, non-green and green energy consumption on environmental sustainability. In this context, CS-ARDL, QLARDL, and Dumitrescu Hurlin Panel Causality approaches are used to estimate the panel data collected from seven Global South countries from 1992 to 2019. Results suggested that the mineral market, green energy and green financial development positively impact environmental sustainability at various quantile levels. On the contrary, urbanization and energy consumption have a negative impact on LCC, but these effects are statically insignificant in the short run, while green energy improves environmental quality in the long run. At the same time, financial development and economic growth have significant negative impacts on LCP, in the long run, reporting how the financial development in the world is not concerned about environmental issues. Moreover, the circular economy plays a crucial role in maintaining environmental sustainability by balancing mineral markets, economic growth, financial development, urbanization and energy consumption. Based on the empirical findings, several policy implications are suggested to selected global south countries to improve environmental sustainability through green energy transition and financial development without halting economic growth.