IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i13p6184-d1695582.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Transition Through Resource Efficiency: The Synergistic Role of Green Innovation, Education, Financial Inclusion, Economic Complexity and Natural Resources

Author

Listed:
  • Shoukun Li

    (Industry University Research Achievement Transformation Center, Geely University, Chengdu 641423, China)

  • Ali Punjwani

    (National Institute of Environment and Social Studies, Karachi 71500, Pakistan)

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate how key financial, educational, technological, and institutional drivers shape resource efficiency (RCE), a critical pillar of sustainable development—across major economies. Enhancing RCE is vital for ensuring long-term ecological and economic stability while meeting global sustainability targets. Using panel data from 2000 to 2022 for G20 countries, this research examines the dynamic effects of natural resources (NRSs), educational quality (EDQ), financial inclusion (FIN), green innovation (GRI), and economic complexity (ECC) on RCE. The Cross-Sectional Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) model is applied to capture both short- and long-term relationships and is validated by robustness checks using the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) estimators. The results show that EDQ and FIN exert a negative influence on RCE, suggesting that governance inefficiencies occur when aligning education systems and financial mechanisms with sustainability goals. In contrast, NRS, GRI, and ECC significantly enhance RCE, underscoring the value of resource stewardship, innovation-driven transitions, and complex economic structures in promoting efficiency. These findings have governance implications, emphasizing the need for institutional reforms that integrate sustainability into the education and financial sectors while supporting green innovation and economic diversification. Policymakers in G20 economies are urged to implement coherent strategies that redirect educational and financial frameworks toward inclusive, resilient, and resource-efficient development pathways, thereby advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Suggested Citation

  • Shoukun Li & Ali Punjwani, 2025. "Sustainable Transition Through Resource Efficiency: The Synergistic Role of Green Innovation, Education, Financial Inclusion, Economic Complexity and Natural Resources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-24, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:6184-:d:1695582
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6184/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6184/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Najia Saqib & Ivan A. Duran & Ilhan Ozturk, 2023. "Unraveling the Interrelationship of Digitalization, Renewable Energy, and Ecological Footprints within the EKC Framework: Empirical Insights from the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-21, July.
    2. Małgorzata Świąder & Szymon Szewrański & Jan K. Kazak & Joost Van Hoof & David Lin & Mathis Wackernagel & Armando Alves, 2018. "Application of Ecological Footprint Accounting as a Part of an Integrated Assessment of Environmental Carrying Capacity: A Case Study of the Footprint of Food of a Large City," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Feng Qin & Ali Imran, 2024. "Greening the Gulf: A Deep-Dive into the Synergy Between Natural Resources, Institutional Quality, Foreign Direct Investment, and Pathways to Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    5. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Abdulrasheed Zakari & Naoyuki Yoshino & Irfan Khan, 2023. "Leveraging On Energy Security To Alleviate Poverty In Asian Economies," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 68(04), pages 1063-1090, June.
    6. Xu, Jiaqi & She, Shengxiang & Gao, Pengpeng & Sun, Yunpeng, 2023. "Role of green finance in resource efficiency and green economic growth," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Khan, Irfan & Hou, Fujun & Zakari, Abdulrasheed & Tawiah, Vincent Konadu, 2021. "The dynamic links among energy transitions, energy consumption, and sustainable economic growth: A novel framework for IEA countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    8. Asif, M. & Muneer, T., 2007. "Energy supply, its demand and security issues for developed and emerging economies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(7), pages 1388-1413, September.
    9. Jianjun Li & Ali Imran, 2025. "Sustainable Transitions: Navigating Green Technologies, Clean Energy, Economic Growth, and Human Capital for a Greener Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-25, April.
    10. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    11. Xiaorong Yang & Jia Chen & Degui Li & Runze Li, 2024. "Functional-Coefficient Quantile Regression for Panel Data with Latent Group Structure," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 1026-1040, July.
    12. Ahmed M. Nassef & Abdul Ghani Olabi & Hegazy Rezk & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, 2023. "Application of Artificial Intelligence to Predict CO 2 Emissions: Critical Step towards Sustainable Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-27, May.
    13. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Vanessa Smith, L. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2013. "Panel unit root tests in the presence of a multifactor error structure," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 94-115.
    14. Guangya Zhou & Helian Xu & Chuanzeng Jiang & Shiqi Deng & Liming Chen & Zhi Zhang, 2024. "Has the Digital Economy Improved the Urban Land Green Use Efficiency? Evidence from the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone Policy," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-25, June.
    15. Lisa Craiut & Constantin Bungau & Tudor Bungau & Cristian Grava & Pavel Otrisal & Andrei-Flavius Radu, 2022. "Technology Transfer, Sustainability, and Development, Worldwide and in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-33, November.
    16. Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2011. "The impact of financial development on carbon emissions: An empirical analysis in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2197-2203, April.
    17. Lisa Craiut & Constantin Bungau & Paul Andrei Negru & Tudor Bungau & Andrei-Flavius Radu, 2022. "Technology Transfer in the Context of Sustainable Development—A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications in the Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Bosah, Philip Chukwunonso & Li, Shixiang & Ampofo, Gideon Kwaku Minua, 2024. "Natural resource rents and financial inclusion nexus: Evidence from Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Miao, Chenglin & Fang, Debin & Sun, Liyan & Luo, Qiaoling, 2017. "Natural resources utilization efficiency under the influence of green technological innovation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 153-161.
    20. Tong Liu & Ali Imran, 2024. "Green Economy Advancement: Evaluating the Role of Digitalization, Technological Innovation, and Natural Resources in Shaping Environmental Quality Amid Globalizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-22, December.
    21. Md. Tota Miah & Zoltán Lakner & Mária Fekete-Farkas, 2024. "Addressing Poverty through Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-31, January.
    22. Trinh, Hai Hong & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Vo, Diem Thi Hong, 2022. "Examining the heterogeneity of financial development in the energy-environment nexus in the era of climate change: Novel evidence around the world," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    23. Mao, Fengfu & Yuan, Yue & Zhang, Fan, 2025. "Firm-level perception of uncertainty, risk aversion, and corporate real estate investment: Evidence from China's listed firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1428-1441.
    24. Sharma, Gagan Deep & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Erkut, Burak & Mundi, Hardeep Singh, 2021. "Exploring the nexus between non-renewable and renewable energy consumptions and economic development: Evidence from panel estimations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    25. Li, Kunpeng & Cui, Guowei & Lu, Lina, 2020. "Efficient estimation of heterogeneous coefficients in panel data models with common shocks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 216(2), pages 327-353.
    26. Shahzad, Umer & Ferraz, Diogo & Nguyen, Huu-Huan & Cui, Lianbiao, 2022. "Investigating the spill overs and connectedness between financial globalization, high-tech industries and environmental footprints: Fresh evidence in context of China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    27. Carfora, Alfonso & Pansini, Rosaria Vega & Scandurra, Giuseppe, 2022. "Energy dependence, renewable energy generation and import demand: Are EU countries resilient?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 1262-1274.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Talan, Amogh & Rao, Amar & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Apostu, Simona-Andreea & Abbas, Shujaat, 2023. "Transition towards clean energy consumption in G7: Can financial sector, ICT and democracy help?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Zhao, Jun & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "How does financial risk affect global CO2 emissions? The role of technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    3. Yadav, Aneet & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2024. "Does renewable energy development reduce energy import dependency in emerging economies? Evidence from CS-ARDL and panel causality approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    4. Jianjun Li & Ali Imran, 2025. "Sustainable Transitions: Navigating Green Technologies, Clean Energy, Economic Growth, and Human Capital for a Greener Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-25, April.
    5. Ouyang, Yaofu & Li, Peng, 2018. "On the nexus of financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption in China: New perspective from a GMM panel VAR approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 238-252.
    6. Kangyin Dong & Yalin Han & Yue Dou & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2022. "Moving toward carbon neutrality: Assessing natural gas import security and its impact on CO2 emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 751-770, August.
    7. Xu, Deyi & Sheraz, Muhammad & Hassan, Arshad & Sinha, Avik & Ullah, Saif, 2022. "Financial development, renewable energy and CO2 emission in G7 countries: New evidence from non-linear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Sezard Timbi & Mohammadou Nourou & Zedou Abdala, 2024. "Governance Mediates the Effect of Remittances on Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2874-2894, March.
    9. Shahnazi, Rouhollah & Dehghan Shabani, Zahra, 2020. "Do renewable energy production spillovers matter in the EU?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 786-796.
    10. Shreya Pal, 2024. "The International Capital Flows and Domestic Savings–domestic Investment Nexus: A Comparative Evidence Between Heterogeneous Developing Regions," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 13(2), pages 169-212, December.
    11. Tian, Guixian & Zhang, Zhuo, 2023. "Exploring the impact of natural Resource utilization on human capital development: A sustainable development perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    12. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2020. "Corruption and equity market performance: International comparative evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Xu, Jiaqi & Zhao, Jingfeng & Liu, Wen, 2023. "A comparative study of renewable and fossil fuels energy impacts on green development in Asian countries with divergent income inequality," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    14. Westerlund, Joakim & Norkute, Milda, 2014. "A Factor Analytical Method to Interactive Effects Dynamic Panel Models with or without Unit Root," Working Papers 2014:12, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    15. Chunlian Chen & Babar Nawaz Abbasi & Ali Sohail, 2022. "Scientific Research of Innovation Ability of Universities in the United States of America and China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, November.
    16. Ben Cheikh, Nidhaleddine & Ben Zaied, Younes, 2024. "Understanding the drivers of the renewable energy transition," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 604-612.
    17. Sung, Bongsuk & Song, Woo-Yong & Park, Sang-Do, 2018. "How foreign direct investment affects CO2 emission levels in the Chinese manufacturing industry: Evidence from panel data," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 320-331.
    18. Peñasco, Cristina & del Río, Pablo & Romero-Jordán, Desiderio, 2017. "Gas and electricity demand in Spanish manufacturing industries: An analysis using homogeneous and heterogeneous estimators," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 45-60.
    19. Gandjon Fankem, Gislain Stéphane & Feyom, Cédric, 2024. "Does trade openness improve or worsen public governance in sub-Saharan Africa?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    20. Burak Sencer Atasoy, 2021. "The determinants of export sophistication: Does digitalization matter?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5135-5159, October.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:6184-:d:1695582. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.