IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v36y2025i8p3770-3793.html

Role of eco-innovation and financial globalization on ecological quality in China: A wavelet analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Huiwen Zhang
  • Khatib Ahmad Khan
  • Babatunde Sunday Eweade
  • Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo

Abstract

Today, pressing environmental concerns such as addressing climate change and countering global warming have taken center stage among policymakers and diverse organizations. The 2016 Paris Agreement underscores the urgency of decarbonization and the criticality of reducing CO 2 emissions for fostering sustainable development. Given that environmental policies can yield diverse impacts across short-, medium-, and long-term periods, it becomes pivotal for policymakers to grasp the underlying causes of ecological footprint by scrutinizing their effects across these different timeframes and periods. Consequently, our investigation delved into the correlation and lead/lag interrelationship between ecological footprint, financial globalization, urbanization, eco-innovation, and economic growth in China spanning from 1985q1 to 2022q4. Leveraging on series of wavelet tools, our study aimed at formulating precise policies. The economic perspective derived from the wavelet analysis indicated a negative correlation between urbanization and eco-innovation with the ecological footprint, whereas economic growth and financial globalization exhibited a positive correlation with the ecological footprint. Consequently, we advocate for the implementation of appropriate policy measures to ensure that the Chinese economy charts a course toward sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Huiwen Zhang & Khatib Ahmad Khan & Babatunde Sunday Eweade & Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo, 2025. "Role of eco-innovation and financial globalization on ecological quality in China: A wavelet analysis," Energy & Environment, , vol. 36(8), pages 3770-3793, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:36:y:2025:i:8:p:3770-3793
    DOI: 10.1177/0958305X241228518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958305X241228518
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0958305X241228518?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arif Dar & Amaresh Samantaraya & Firdous Shah, 2014. "The predictive power of yield spread: evidence from wavelet analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 887-901, May.
    2. Yaya KEHO, 2023. "Does Globalization Cause Environmental Degradation in Developing Economies? Evidence from Cote d Ivoire Using Ecological Footprint," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 455-466, July.
    3. Miao, Yang & Razzaq, Asif & Adebayo, Tomiwa Sunday & Awosusi, Abraham Ayobamiji, 2022. "Do renewable energy consumption and financial globalisation contribute to ecological sustainability in newly industrialized countries?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 688-697.
    4. Xia, Wanjun & Apergis, Nicholas & Bashir, Muhammad Farhan & Ghosh, Sudeshna & Doğan, Buhari & Shahzad, Umer, 2022. "Investigating the role of globalization, and energy consumption for environmental externalities: Empirical evidence from developed and developing economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 219-228.
    5. Maxwell Kongkuah & Hongxing Yao & Veli Yilanci, 2022. "The relationship between energy consumption, economic growth, and CO2 emissions in China: the role of urbanisation and international trade," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 4684-4708, April.
    6. Wang, Zhaohua & Rasool, Yasir & Zhang, Bin & Ahmed, Zahoor & Wang, Bo, 2020. "Dynamic linkage among industrialisation, urbanisation, and CO2 emissions in APEC realms: Evidence based on DSUR estimation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 382-389.
    7. Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Hussain, Khadim & Haddad, Akram Masoud & Salman, Asma & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2022. "The role of Financial Development and Technological Innovation towards Sustainable Development in Pakistan: Fresh insights from consumption and territory-based emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    8. Christophe Croux & Mario Forni & Lucrezia Reichlin, 2001. "A Measure Of Comovement For Economic Variables: Theory And Empirics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 232-241, May.
    9. Faisal Faisal & Ruqiya Pervaiz & Nesrin Ozatac & Turgut Tursoy, 2021. "Exploring the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, urbanisation and financial deepening for Turkey using the symmetric and asymmetric causality approaches," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 17374-17402, December.
    10. Mutascu, Mihai, 2018. "A time-frequency analysis of trade openness and CO2 emissions in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 443-455.
    11. Ahmed, Zahoor & Asghar, Muhammad Mansoor & Malik, Muhammad Nasir & Nawaz, Kishwar, 2020. "Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Zahoor Ahmed & Muhammad Mansoor Asghar & Muhammad Nasir Malik & Kishwar Nawaz, 2020. "Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China," Post-Print hal-03557938, HAL.
    13. Usama Al-Mulali & Sakiru Adebola Solarin & Ilhan Ozturk, 2016. "Investigating the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in Kenya: an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 1729-1747, February.
    14. Li, Rongrong & Wang, Qiang & Li, Lejia & Hu, Sailan, 2023. "Do natural resource rent and corruption governance reshape the environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint? Evidence from 158 countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    15. Appiah, Michael & Li, Mingxing & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Karim, Sitara, 2023. "Greening the globe: Uncovering the impact of environmental policy, renewable energy, and innovation on ecological footprint," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    16. Acheampong, Alex O. & Dzator, Janet & Dzator, Michael & Salim, Ruhul, 2022. "Unveiling the effect of transport infrastructure and technological innovation on economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    17. Ho Thuy Ngoc & Bui Anh Tuan & Nguyen Van Duy & Dao Trung Kien & Nguyen Ngoc Dat, 2021. "Impact of foreign direct investment and urbanisation on CO 2 emissions in Vietnam," International Journal of Business and Globalisation, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 27(3), pages 313-332.
    18. Ali Hassan & Juan Yang & Ahmed Usman & Ahmer Bilal & Sana Ullah, 2023. "Green growth as a determinant of ecological footprint: Do ICT diffusion, environmental innovation, and natural resources matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(9), pages 1-22, September.
    19. Rua, António, 2010. "Measuring comovement in the time-frequency space," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 685-691, June.
    20. Jahanger, Atif & Usman, Muhammad & Murshed, Muntasir & Mahmood, Haider & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel, 2022. "The linkages between natural resources, human capital, globalization, economic growth, financial development, and ecological footprint: The moderating role of technological innovations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    21. Ahmad, Mahmood & Dai, Jiapeng & Mehmood, Usman & Abou Houran, Mohamad, 2023. "Renewable energy transition, resource richness, economic growth, and environmental quality: Assessing the role of financial globalization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    22. Matthew A. Cole & Eric Neumayer, 2003. "Examining the Impact of Demographic Factors On Air Pollution," Labor and Demography 0312005, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 May 2004.
    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. Shabir, Maria & Pazienza, Pasquale & De Lucia, Caterina, 2023. "Energy innovation and ecological footprint: Evidence from OECD countries during 1990–2018," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    2. Wei, Shuxin & Wei, Wenshan & Umut, Alican, 2023. "Do renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and international integration enhance environmental sustainability in Brazil?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 172-183.
    3. Mutascu, Mihai & Sokic, Alexandre, 2021. "Okun's law in the US: New insights in time and frequency," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 207-222.
    4. Deka, Abraham & Efe-Onakpojeruo, Chioma Christiana & Ozdeser, Huseyin, 2025. "Capitalizing on technological innovations and natural resources rent in alleviating ecological footprint in the Sub-Saharan African countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Chen, Jie & Huang, Shoujun & Kamran, Hafiz Waqas, 2023. "Empowering sustainability practices through energy transition for sustainable development goal 7: The role of energy patents and natural resources among European Union economies through advanced panel," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    6. Opeoluwa Seun Ojekemi & Mehmet Ağa & Cosimo Magazzino, 2023. "Towards Achieving Sustainability in the BRICS Economies: The Role of Renewable Energy Consumption and Economic Risk," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Zheng, Shiyong & Irfan, Muhammad & Ai, Fengyi & Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2023. "Do renewable energy, urbanisation, and natural resources enhance environmental quality in China? Evidence from novel bootstrap Fourier Granger causality in quantiles," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    8. Aladejare, Samson Adeniyi, 2022. "Natural resource rents, globalisation and environmental degradation: New insight from 5 richest African economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Jahanger, Atif & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Usman, Muhammad & Chukwuma Onwe, Joshua, 2023. "Recent scenario and nexus between natural resource dependence, energy use and pollution cycles in BRICS region: Does the mediating role of human capital exist?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Dai, Jiapeng & Mehmood, Usman & Nassani, Abdelmohsen A., 2025. "Empowering sustainability through energy efficiency, green innovations, and the sharing economy: Insights from G7 economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    11. Appiah, Michael & Li, Mingxing & Sehrish, Saba & Abaji, Emad Eddin, 2023. "Investigating the connections between innovation, natural resource extraction, and environmental pollution in OECD nations; examining the role of capital formation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Elhadia Hassan Osman & Wagdi Khalifa & Opeoluwa Seun Ojekemi, 2025. "Rethinking Carbon Neutrality Pathways in MENAT: Unveiling the Roles of Social Globalization, Energy Intensity, and Human Capital Through the Environmental Kuznets Curve and STIRPAT Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-22, September.
    13. Zhou, Runyu & Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Salem, Sultan & Almulhim, Abdulaziz.I. & Alvarado, Rafael, 2022. "Do natural resources, economic growth, human capital, and urbanization affect the ecological footprint? A modified dynamic ARDL and KRLS approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Ali, Mumtaz & Joof, Foday & Samour, Ahmed & Tursoy, Turgut & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Radulescu, Magdalena, 2023. "Testing the impacts of renewable energy, natural resources rent, and technological innovation on the ecological footprint in the USA: Evidence from Bootstrapping ARDL," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    15. LI, Jiale & WANG, Shouyang & ZHANG, Xiaoxu & ZHU, Kunfu, 2025. "Thirty years of indian economic research: A bibliometric analysis of its evolution and global influence," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    16. Merigó, José M. & Gil-Lafuente, Anna M. & Kydland, Finn & Amiguet, Lluis & Vivoda, Vlado & Campbell, Gary & Lei, Yalin & Fleming-Muñoz, David, 2024. "50 years of Resources Policy: A bibliometric analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    17. Mohammed Musah, 2023. "Stock market development and environmental quality in EU member countries: a dynamic heterogeneous approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(10), pages 11153-11187, October.
    18. Javed, Asif & Shabir, Maria & Rao, Fabeha & Uddin, Muhammad Salah, 2025. "Effect of green technological innovation and financial development on green energy transition in N-11 countries: Evidence from the novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    19. Wang, Zihan & Chen, Xi & Ullah, Sami & Abbas, Shujaat, 2023. "Resource curse or blessing? Evaluating the role of natural resource, social globalization, and environmental sustainability in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    20. Daniel Balsalobre‐Lorente & Tugba Nur & Emre E. Topaloglu & Ladislav Pilař, 2025. "Do ICT and green technology matter in sustainable development goals?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 1545-1574, 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:sae:engenv:v:36:y:2025:i:8:p:3770-3793. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.