IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05212-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic policy uncertainty and environmental quality: unveiling the moderating effect of green finance on sustainable environmental outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Xinyue Sun

    (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yi Dong

    (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Muhammad Nouman Shafiq

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University
    ILMA University)

  • Pilar Gago-de Santos

    (Complutense University of Madrid)

  • Seemab Gillani

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University
    ILMA University)

Abstract

Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) has become a prominent concern in recent years, especially in emerging economies, where policy shifts and regulatory volatility can have far-reaching implications for sustainable development. Environmental quality, a key indicator of long-term sustainability, is often vulnerable to such uncertainty, as it may lead to delayed or inconsistent environmental policies and investments. This paper inspects the effects of EPU on environmental quality in the BRICS nations from 2000 to 2023. The research demonstrates how green finance, through the application of advanced econometric methodology such as the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR), moderates the EPU-environment nexus. Findings indicate that environmental quality shows negative effects from EPU, while countries with weak environmental governance experience maximum degeneration of environmental quality. The study demonstrates that green finance operates as a substantial moderator, which enables the reduction of negative effects caused by EPU. Environmental sustainability investments in green finance serve to shelter negative economic conditions and improve ecological resilience. The study supports the argument that strengthening green financing represents an essential policy mechanism for improving environmental outcomes in unstable economic periods, particularly in developing nations.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinyue Sun & Yi Dong & Muhammad Nouman Shafiq & Pilar Gago-de Santos & Seemab Gillani, 2025. "Economic policy uncertainty and environmental quality: unveiling the moderating effect of green finance on sustainable environmental outcomes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05212-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05212-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05212-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-05212-0?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pedroni, Peter, 2004. "Panel Cointegration: Asymptotic And Finite Sample Properties Of Pooled Time Series Tests With An Application To The Ppp Hypothesis," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 597-625, June.
    2. Hashem Pesaran, M. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2008. "Testing slope homogeneity in large panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 50-93, January.
    3. Kao, Chihwa, 1999. "Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-44, May.
    4. Lin, Chia-Yang & Chau, Ka Yin & Tran, Trung Kien & Sadiq, Muhammad & Van, Le & Hien Phan, Thi Thu, 2022. "Development of renewable energy resources by green finance, volatility and risk: Empirical evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 821-831.
    5. Sun, Yunpeng & Li, Haoning & Andlib, Zubaria & Genie, Mesfin G., 2022. "How do renewable energy and urbanization cause carbon emissions? Evidence from advanced panel estimation techniques," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 996-1005.
    6. Wan-Jiun Paul Chiou & Shan-Heng Fu & Jeng-Bau Lin & Wei Tsai, 2025. "Exploring the Impacts of Economic Policies, Policy Uncertainty, and Politics on Carbon Emissions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 88(4), pages 895-919, April.
    7. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    8. Wang, Jialu & Mishra, Shekhar & Sharif, Arshian & Chen, Huangen, 2024. "Dynamic spillover connectedness among green finance and policy uncertainty: Evidence from QVAR network approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Huafang Huang & Sharafat Ali & Yasir Ahmed Solangi, 2023. "Analysis of the Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Environmental Sustainability in Developed and Developing Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Machado, José A.F. & Santos Silva, J.M.C., 2019. "Quantiles via moments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 145-173.
    12. Yan Su & Chien‐Chiang Lee, 2025. "Green finance, environmental quality and technological innovation in China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 405-425, January.
    13. Yu, Wanqing & Gan, Yufei & Zhou, Bingjun & Dai, Jiapeng, 2024. "Revisiting the economic policy uncertainty and resource rents nexus: Moderating impact of financial sector development in BRICS," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Wang, Chih-Wei & Wu, Yu-Ching & Hsieh, Hsin-Yi & Huang, Po-Hsiang & Lin, Meng-Chieh, 2022. "Does green bond issuance have an impact on climate risk concerns?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    15. Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Bouri, Elie & Azam, Muhammad & Azam, Rauf I & Dai, Jiapeng, 2024. "Economic growth and environmental sustainability in developing economies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    16. Bartleet, Matthew & Gounder, Rukmani, 2010. "Energy consumption and economic growth in New Zealand: Results of trivariate and multivariate models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3508-3517, July.
    17. Talal H. Alsabhan & Muhammad Tahir, 2024. "The Moderating Role of Income on the Complexity–Sustainability Nexus: Evidence from BRICS Members," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-12, November.
    18. Litu Sethi & Biswanath Behera & Narayan Sethi, 2024. "Do green finance, green technology innovation, and institutional quality help achieve environmental sustainability? Evidence from the developing economies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2709-2723, June.
    19. He, Feng & Ma, Yaming & Zhang, Xiaojie, 2020. "How does economic policy uncertainty affect corporate Innovation?–Evidence from China listed companies," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 225-239.
    20. Biswanath Behera & Puspanjali Behera & Narayan Sethi, 2024. "Decoupling the role of renewable energy, green finance and political stability in achieving the sustainable development goal 13: Empirical insight from emerging economies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 119-137, February.
    21. Joakim Westerlund, 2005. "New Simple Tests for Panel Cointegration," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 297-316.
    22. Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Adedoyin, Festus Fatai & Abbas, Jaffar & Hussain, Khadim, 2021. "The impact of energy depletion and renewable energy on CO2 emissions in Thailand: Fresh evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 1439-1450.
    23. Pasquale Marcello Falcone & Edgardo Sica, 2019. "Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges of Green Finance in Italy: An Analysis of the Biomass Production Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, January.
    24. Feng Wang & Seemab Gillani & Daniel Balsalobre‐Lorente & Muhammad Nouman Shafiq & Khush Dil Khan, 2025. "Environmental degradation in South Asia: Implications for child health and the role of institutional quality and globalization," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 399-415, February.
    25. Arshian Sharif & Najia Saqib & Kangyin Dong & Syed Abdul Rehman Khan, 2022. "Nexus between green technology innovation, green financing, and CO2 emissions in the G7 countries: The moderating role of social globalisation," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1934-1946, December.
    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. Tiwari, Sunil & Si Mohammed, Kamel & Guesmi, Khaled, 2023. "A way forward to end energy poverty in China: Role of carbon-cutting targets and net-zero commitments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Jin, Taeyoung, 2022. "The evolutionary renewable energy and mitigation impact in OECD countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 570-586.
    3. Yang, Xiuyun & Shafiq, Muhammad Nouman & Sharif, Arshian & Gillani, Seemab & Zeng, Xubin, 2024. "Balancing progress and preservation: analyzing the role of technological innovation in mitigating environmental degradation caused by energy consumption in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 391-409.
    4. Alexandra Horobet & Lucian Belascu & Magdalena Radulescu & Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente & Cosmin-Alin Botoroga & Cristina-Carmencita Negreanu, 2024. "Exploring the Nexus between Greenhouse Emissions, Environmental Degradation and Green Energy in Europe: A Critique of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-29, October.
    5. Han, Guixin & Cai, Xuesen, 2024. "The linkages among natural resources, sustainable energy technologies and human capital: An evidence from N-11 countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Ioannis Kostakis & Sarantis Lolos, 2024. "Uncovering the impact of cultural heritage on economic growth: empirical evidence from Greek regions, 2000–2019," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 73(3), pages 1209-1239, October.
    7. Brantley Liddle & Fakhri Hasanov, 2022. "Correction to: Industry electricity price and output elasticities for high-income and middle-income countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1321-1322, March.
    8. Annisaa Rizky Dwi Brintanti & Iqram Ramadhan Jamil & Usman Alhassan & Brama Yudha Kusmara & Yessi Rahmawati, 2025. "Inverted N-shape relationships: revisiting the dynamic effect of natural resources on poverty in Indonesia," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 83-105, March.
    9. Mamkhezri, Jamal, 2025. "Assessing price elasticity in US residential electricity consumption: A comparison of monthly and annual data with recession implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    10. Brantley Liddle & Fakhri Hasanov, 2022. "Industry electricity price and output elasticities for high-income and middle-income countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1293-1319, March.
    11. Viglioni, Marco Túlio Dinali & Calegario, Cristina Lelis Leal & Viglioni, Arthur Cesar Dinali & Bruhn, Nádia Campos Pereira, 2024. "Foreign direct investment and environmental degradation: Can intellectual property rights help G20 countries achieve carbon neutrality?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Zhengrong Yang & Prince Asare Vitenu-Sackey & Lizhong Hao & Yuqi Tao, 2023. "Economic freedom, inclusive growth, and financial development: A heterogeneous panel analysis of developing countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, July.
    13. Wang, Zhe & Chen, Huangxin & Teng, Yin-Pei, 2023. "Role of greener energies, high tech-industries and financial expansion for ecological footprints: Implications from sustainable development perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1424-1435.
    14. Zhang, Lu & Zhao, Huawei, 2024. "Sustainable development mechanism: The role of natural resources, remittance and policy uncertainty," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    15. Manel Ouni & Khaled Ben Abdallah, 2024. "Environmental sustainability and green logistics: Evidence from BRICS and Gulf countries by cross‐sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS‐ARDL) approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 3753-3770, August.
    16. Li, Zhiyuan & Patel, Nikunj & Liu, Jiayang & Kautish, Pradeep, 2023. "Natural resources-environmental sustainability-socio-economic drivers nexus: Insights from panel quantile regression analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    17. Śmiech, Sławomir & Karpinska, Lilia & Bouzarovski, Stefan, 2025. "Impact of energy transitions on energy poverty in the European Union," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    18. Yin, Yexing & Chen, Tingting & Pang, Jingtao & Hussain, Jamal, 2025. "The drivers of sustainable development goals in G-7 countries: Navigating the role of climate technology and renewable energy transition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    19. Quan Tran & Thao Tran & Duc Hong Vo, 2022. "Environmental regulation stringency and foreign direct investment," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 474-493, September.
    20. Jianmin Li & Farzan Yahya & Muhammad Waqas, 2025. "Exploring the nexus of globalization and natural resource scarcity in driving green technology innovation: Insights from advanced panel data techniques," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 1965-1995, May.

    More about this item

    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:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05212-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.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.