IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v217y2025ics0040162525001660.html

The relationship between artificial intelligence, geopolitical risk, and green growth: Exploring the moderating role of green finance and energy technology

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Xiyue
  • Chen, Hui
  • Li, Baoxi
  • Jia, Danning
  • Ahmad, Mahmood

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI), viewed as a driver of progress in modern societies, is accompanied by uncertainties regarding its impact on green growth within the intricate background of geopolitical risk (GR). This study examines the relationship between AI, geopolitical risk and green growth, further exploring the moderating roles of green finance and energy technology on geopolitical risks affecting green growth. Using panel data from 20 OECD countries spanning from 1993 to 2021 and advanced econometric techniques, we find that the impact of AI on green growth exhibits a “U”-shaped trajectory, initially inhibiting but ultimately fostering growth. Additionally, GR exerts a negative influence on green growth, however, this adverse effect can be mitigated by green finance and energy technology, which drive green development. We also applied a suite of methodologies, including Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), quantile regression, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), to assess the robustness of the results. The findings of this study underscore the critical importance of incorporating artificial intelligence into the green growth agenda of OECD nations. Moreover, OECD countries should proactively address geopolitical risks by expanding green finance initiatives and intensifying investments in energy technology to strengthen their green growth frameworks.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Xiyue & Chen, Hui & Li, Baoxi & Jia, Danning & Ahmad, Mahmood, 2025. "The relationship between artificial intelligence, geopolitical risk, and green growth: Exploring the moderating role of green finance and energy technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:217:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525001660
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162525001660
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124135?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    2. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    3. Ma, Mengjuan & Zhu, Xiao & Liu, Meishan & Huang, Xiaodong, 2023. "Combining the role of green finance and environmental sustainability on green economic growth: Evidence from G-20 economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 128-136.
    4. Zhang, Hongyuan & Ding, Yibing & Niu, Jing & Jung, Samuel, 2024. "How artificial intelligence affects international industrial transfer — Evidence from industrial robot application," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Nepal, Rabindra & Liu, Yang & Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin, 2024. "How does green finance promote renewable energy technology innovation? A quasi-natural experiment perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. Qiang Wang & Yuanfan Li & Rongrong Li, 2024. "Ecological footprints, carbon emissions, and energy transitions: the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Li, Yaya & Zhang, Yuru & Pan, An & Han, Minchun & Veglianti, Eleonora, 2022. "Carbon emission reduction effects of industrial robot applications: Heterogeneity characteristics and influencing mechanisms," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Gyamerah, Samuel Asante & Agbi-Kaiser, Henry Ofoe & Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko, 2024. "Do climate policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk transmit opportunity or threat to the green market? Evidence from non-linear ARDL," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    9. Liu, Xiaoyu & Zhao, Ti & Li, Ran, 2023. "Studying the green economic growth with clean energy and green finance: The role of financial policy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    10. Liu, Yajun & Zhang, Xiuwu & Shen, Yang, 2024. "Technology-driven carbon reduction: Analyzing the impact of digital technology on China's carbon emission and its mechanism," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    11. Hashem Pesaran, M. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2008. "Testing slope homogeneity in large panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 50-93, January.
    12. Long, Guoren & Duan, Dingyun & Wang, Hua & Chen, Shaojian, 2024. "The impact of industrial robots on low-carbon green performance: Evidence from the belt and road initiative countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Qiang Wang & Xinhua Wang & Rongrong Li, 2024. "Geopolitical risks and energy transition: the impact of environmental regulation and green innovation," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.
    14. Razzaq, Asif & Sharif, Arshian & Ozturk, Ilhan & Skare, Marinko, 2023. "Asymmetric influence of digital finance, and renewable energy technology innovation on green growth in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 310-319.
    15. Scholten, Daniel & Bosman, Rick, 2016. "The geopolitics of renewables; exploring the political implications of renewable energy systems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 273-283.
    16. Zhou, Guangyou & Zhu, Jieyu & Luo, Sumei, 2022. "The impact of fintech innovation on green growth in China: Mediating effect of green finance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    17. Wang, Jianlong & Wang, Weilong & Liu, Yong & Wu, Haitao, 2023. "Can industrial robots reduce carbon emissions? Based on the perspective of energy rebound effect and labor factor flow in China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Gloria Cicerone & Alessandra Faggian & Sandro Montresor & Francesco Rentocchini, 2023. "Regional artificial intelligence and the geography of environmental technologies: does local AI knowledge help regional green-tech specialization?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(2), pages 330-343, February.
    19. Li, Yuchun & Durani, Farah & Syed, Qasim Raza & Abddel-Jalil Sallam, Osama Azmi, 2024. "Role of minerals rent, geopolitical risk, and economic policy uncertainty in achieving green growth: Evidence from novel wavelet quantile correlation approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    20. Yuxin Fang & Hongjun Cao & Jihui Sun, 2022. "Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Regional Green Development under China’s Environmental Decentralization System—Based on Spatial Durbin Model and Threshold Effect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-27, November.
    21. Yaya Li & Yuru Zhang & An Pan & Minchun Han & Eleonora Veglianti, 2022. "Carbon emission reduction effects of industrial robot applications: Heterogeneity characteristics and influencing mechanisms," Post-Print hal-04522085, HAL.
    22. Feng, Yanchao & Pan, Yuxi & Lu, Shan & Shi, Jiaxin, 2024. "Identifying the multiple nexus between geopolitical risk, energy resilience, and carbon emissions: Evidence from global data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    23. Faruk Balli & Gazi Salah Uddin & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, 2019. "Geopolitical risk and tourism demand in emerging economies," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(6), pages 997-1005, September.
    24. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    25. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "Low-Skill and High-Skill Automation," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(2), pages 204-232.
    26. Fu, Tong & Qiu, Zhaoxuan & Yang, Xiangyang & Li, Zijun, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence on green technology cycles in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    27. Gu, Xiao & Shen, Xi & Zhong, Xiangming & Wu, Tong & Rahim, Syed, 2023. "Natural resources and undesired productions of environmental outputs as green growth: EKC in the perspective of green finance and green growth in the G7 region," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    28. Song, Yuegang & Wang, Ziqi & Song, Changqing & Wang, Jianhua & Liu, Rong, 2024. "Impact of artificial intelligence on renewable energy supply chain vulnerability: Evidence from 61 countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    29. Elia, A. & Kamidelivand, M. & Rogan, F. & Ó Gallachóir, B., 2021. "Impacts of innovation on renewable energy technology cost reductions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    30. Su, Chi-Wei & Khan, Khalid & Tao, Ran & Umar, Muhammad, 2020. "A review of resource curse burden on inflation in Venezuela," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    31. Xie, Pinjie & Shu, Yalin & Sun, Feihu & Li, Pin, 2024. "Decoupling economic development from carbon emissions: Insights from Chinese provinces," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    32. Jo Thori Lind & Halvor Mehlum, 2010. "With or Without U? The Appropriate Test for a U‐Shaped Relationship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(1), pages 109-118, February.
    33. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    34. Qiang Wang & Tingting Sun & Rongrong Li, 2025. "Does Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhance green economy efficiency? The role of green finance, trade openness, and R&D investment," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, December.
    35. Zhou, Wei & Zhuang, Yan & Chen, Yan, 2024. "How does artificial intelligence affect pollutant emissions by improving energy efficiency and developing green technology," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    36. Li, Jiaman & Dong, Kangyin & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Wang, Kun, 2022. "3G in China: How green economic growth and green finance promote green energy?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1327-1337.
    37. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    38. Islam, Md. Monirul & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Ahmed, Faroque, 2024. "Robot race in geopolitically risky environment: Exploring the Nexus between AI-powered tech industrial outputs and energy consumption in Singapore," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    39. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    40. Srivastava, Praveen Ranjan & Mangla, Sachin Kumar & Eachempati, Prajwal & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2023. "An explainable artificial intelligence approach to understanding drivers of economic energy consumption and sustainability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    41. Satar Bakhsh & Md Shabbir Alam & Wei Zhang, 2024. "Green finance and Sustainable Development Goals: is there a role for geopolitical uncertainty?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1-30, August.
    42. Yan, Zheming & Zou, Baoling & Du, Kerui & Li, Ke, 2020. "Do renewable energy technology innovations promote China's green productivity growth? Fresh evidence from partially linear functional-coefficient models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    43. Yang, Siying & Liu, Fengshuo, 2024. "Impact of industrial intelligence on green total factor productivity: The indispensability of the environmental system," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chao Gao & Jiayu Fang, 2025. "The Green Effect of Digital Intelligence in Chinese Cities: An Empirical Investigation Based on Big Data and Machine Learning Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-20, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bergougui, Brahim, 2025. "Industrial robots for a sustainable future: Uncovering the asymmetric effects of AI on ecological quality in G7 economies," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Fu, Tong & Qiu, Zhaoxuan & Yang, Xiangyang & Li, Zijun, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence on green technology cycles in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    3. Wang, Shan & Chen, Haiqian & Yu, Donghua, 2025. "How robot application empowers industrial low-carbon development: A study based on the perspective of carbon reduction and efficiency enhancement," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    4. Zhang, Fuyu & Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2025. "How does clean energy reshape the relationship between artificial intelligence and carbon emissions? Evidence from renewable and nuclear energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Dian, Jie & Li, Shanmin & Song, Tian, 2025. "Achieving the synergy of pollution and carbon emission reductions: Can artificial intelligence applications work?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Lin, Boqiang & Xu, Chongchong, 2024. "The effects of industrial robots on firm energy intensity: From the perspective of technological innovation and electrification," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    7. Su, Chi-Wei & Sun, Tiezhu & Ahmad, Shabbir & Mirza, Nawazish, 2021. "Does institutional quality and remittances inflow crowd-in private investment to avoid Dutch Disease? A case for emerging seven (E7) economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Zhang, Zhenhua & Zhao, Mingcheng & Zhang, Xinyu & Huang, Zhaohan & Feng, Yanchao, 2025. "What is the causal relationship among geopolitical risk, financial development, and energy transition ? Evidence from 25 OECD countries," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA).
    9. Mubasher Zaman & Muhammad Sheraz & Quande Qin & Muhammad Zubair Mumtaz, 2025. "Pursuing the Roadmaps to SDG 13: How Climate Change Technology Moderates the nexus Between Digital Finance and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 5470-5486, August.
    10. Qiang Wang & Tingting Sun & Rongrong Li, 2025. "Does artificial intelligence promote green innovation? An assessment based on direct, indirect, spillover, and heterogeneity effects," Energy & Environment, , vol. 36(2), pages 1005-1037, March.
    11. Chunqiao Song & Qamar Ali & Muhammad Rizwan Yaseen & Muhammad Tariq Iqbal Khan, 2025. "The nexus between tourism and social capital development: The role of institutional quality and globalization," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 1219-1237, May.
    12. Liu, Tie-Ying, 2025. "Do industrial robots optimize the energy structure? Evidence from fossil energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    13. Mumtaz Ali & Peter Oluwasegun Igunnu & Mehdi Seraj & Ali Raza, 2025. "Effect of green finance and institutional quality on economic growth: an evidence from novel MMQR approach," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 5(10), pages 1-26, October.
    14. Han, Wang-Zhe & Zhang, Yi-Ming, 2024. "Carbon reduction effect of industrial robots: Breaking the impasse for carbon emissions and development," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 3(3).
    15. Wang, Chenguang & Qiao, Cuixia & Ahmed, Rahil Irfan & Kirikkaleli, Dervis, 2021. "Institutional Quality, Bank Finance and Technological Innovation: A way forward for Fourth Industrial Revolution in BRICS Economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    16. Lee, Chien-Chiang & He, Zhi-Wen & Yuan, Zihao, 2023. "A pathway to sustainable development: Digitization and green productivity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    17. Chi, Mingyuan & Ping, Wang, 2024. "Resources abundant economies and sustainability of economic growth: A novel panel evidence of high resources economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    18. Saqib, Najia & Ozturk, Ilhan & Sharif, Arshian & Cichoń, Dariusz, 2024. "Enhancing sustainable energy: Mineral exports, financial development, and foreign investment can build a greener future?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Francisco García-Lillo & Eduardo Sánchez-García & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Pedro Seva-Larrosa, 2023. "Renewable Energies and Sustainable Development: A Bibliometric Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    20. Umut Uzar, 2022. "The connection between freedom of the press and environmental quality: An investigation on emerging market countries," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(1), pages 21-38, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:217:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525001660. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.