IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/natres/v50y2026i1p275-304.html

The dynamics of green technological innovation and environmental policy stringency for sustainable environment in BRICS economies

Author

Listed:
  • Nudrat Fatima
  • Zheng Yanting
  • Ni Guohua
  • Muhammad Kamran Khan

Abstract

The continuous rise in global economic growth (EG) and human activities has contributed to the release of CO2, emphasizing the crucial role of environmental policy stringency (EPS) in encouraging green innovation to lower CO2 emissions levels and achieve environmental sustainability. This study aims to analyze the direct impacts of geopolitical risk (GPR), renewable energy consumption (RE), EPS, green technical innovation, and EG on CO2 emissions in Brazil Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies on the dataset spanning from 1990 to 2020 using dynamic ordinary least square, fully modified ordinary least square, and method of moment quantile regression approach. The results demonstrate that stringent environmental regulations and the adoption of green technology are negatively associated with CO2 emissions. Further, the interaction of INV*EPS also demonstrates a negative impact on CO2 emission. In contrast, GPR and EG have a positive effect on CO2 emissions. These findings suggest that it is imperative for the policymakers of BRICS economies to implement measures that effectively encourage the adoption of green innovative technologies through the adoption of robust policy initiatives. In general conclusion, the long‐term viability depends on the implementation of green innovations by enacting strict environmental regulations in the sample countries. Based on these findings study suggests that there is a need to prioritize the consumption of renewable energy sources, the adoption of rigorous environmental regulations, and the utilization of climate‐friendly technology to attain extensive and sustainable economic development. Furthermore, this study urges the attention of government officials and policymakers in these economies to redesign more effective strategies to address these potential challenges and safeguard the environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Nudrat Fatima & Zheng Yanting & Ni Guohua & Muhammad Kamran Khan, 2026. "The dynamics of green technological innovation and environmental policy stringency for sustainable environment in BRICS economies," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(1), pages 275-304, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:50:y:2026:i:1:p:275-304
    DOI: 10.1111/1477-8947.12563
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-8947.12563
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1477-8947.12563?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. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    2. Pata, Ugur Korkut & Caglar, Abdullah Emre, 2021. "Investigating the EKC hypothesis with renewable energy consumption, human capital, globalization and trade openness for China: Evidence from augmented ARDL approach with a structural break," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Georgatzi, Vasiliki V. & Stamboulis, Yeoryios & Vetsikas, Apostolos, 2020. "Examining the determinants of CO2 emissions caused by the transport sector: Empirical evidence from 12 European countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 11-20.
    4. Alsagr, Naif, 2023. "How environmental policy stringency affects renewable energy investment? Implications for green investment horizons," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Li, Zeyun & Kuo, Yen-Ku & Mahmud, Abdul Rahman & Nassani, Abdelmohsen A. & Haffar, Mohamed & Muda, Iskandar, 2022. "Integration of renewable energy, environmental policy stringency, and climate technologies in realizing environmental sustainability: Evidence from OECD countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1376-1384.
    6. Xinhui Dong & Ridwan Lanre Ibrahim & Ilhan Ozturk & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al‐Faryan, 2024. "Exploring the roles of natural resources on sustainability blueprint in G7 countries amidst green energy, technological innovation, and carbon‐tax intervention," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(1), pages 120-153, February.
    7. Festus Victor Bekun, 2022. "Mitigating Emissions in India: Accounting for the Role of Real Income, Renewable Energy Consumption and Investment in Energy," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(1), pages 188-192.
    8. Wang, Kai-Hua & Xiong, De-Ping & Mirza, Nawazish & Shao, Xue-Feng & Yue, Xiao-Guang, 2021. "Does geopolitical risk uncertainty strengthen or depress cash holdings of oil enterprises? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Muhammad Khalid Anser & Qasim Raza Syed & Hooi Hooi Lean & Andrew Adewale Alola & Munir Ahmad, 2021. "Do Economic Policy Uncertainty and Geopolitical Risk Lead to Environmental Degradation? Evidence from Emerging Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, May.
    10. Riti, Joshua Sunday & Shu, Yang & Riti, Miriam-Kamah J., 2022. "Geopolitical risk and environmental degradation in BRICS: Aggregation bias and policy inference," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    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. Bashir, Muhammad Farhan & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Malik, Muhammad Nasir & Ma, Beiling & Wang, Jianming, 2023. "Energy transition, natural resource consumption and environmental degradation: The role of geopolitical risk in sustainable development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    13. Qian, Lihua & Zeng, Qing & Li, Tao, 2022. "Geopolitical risk and oil price volatility: Evidence from Markov-switching model," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 29-38.
    14. 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.
    15. Jiahao Shen & Ridwan Lanre Ibrahim & Kazeem Bello Ajide & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2024. "Tracking environmental sustainability pathways in Africa: Do natural resource dependence, renewable energy, and technological innovations amplify or reduce the pollution noises?," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(1), pages 88-112, February.
    16. Wang, Guoyu & Gu, Xiao & Shen, Xi & Uktamov, Khusniddin Fakhriddinovich & Ageli, Mohammed Moosa, 2023. "A dual risk perspective of China's resources market: Geopolitical risk and political risk," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Niu, Xiaodong & Niu, Xiaoqin & Ibrahim, Ridwan Lanre & Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2023. "Do the asymmetric effects of natural resource dependence and financial development amidst green policies make or mar sustainability agenda in E7 countries?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    18. 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.
    19. Syed Abdul Rehman Khan & Arshian Sharif & Hêriş Golpîra & Anil Kumar, 2019. "A green ideology in Asian emerging economies: From environmental policy and sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(6), pages 1063-1075, November.
    20. Bouoiyour, Jamal & Gauthier, Marie & Bouri, Elie, 2023. "Which is leading: Renewable or brown energy assets?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    21. Bai, Xiao & Wang, Kuan-Ting & Tran, Trung Kien & Sadiq, Muhammad & Trung, Lam Minh & Khudoykulov, Khurshid, 2022. "Measuring China’s green economic recovery and energy environment sustainability: Econometric analysis of sustainable development goals," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 768-779.
    22. Chen, Zhonglu & Umar, Muhammad & Su, Chi-Wei & Mirza, Nawazish, 2023. "Renewable energy, credit portfolios and intermediation spread: Evidence from the banking sector in BRICS," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 561-566.
    23. Peter Pedroni, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 653-670, November.
    24. Feng, Yanchao & Sabir, Saeed Ahmad & Quddus, Abdul & Wang, Jianxin & Abbas, Shujaat, 2024. "Do the grey clouds of geopolitical risk and political globalization exacerbate environmental degradation? Evidence from resource-rich countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    25. Pan, Lijun & Wang, Yangjie & Sun, Xiaofei & Sadiq, Muhammad & Dagestani, Abd Alwahed, 2023. "Natural resources: A determining factor of geopolitical risk in Russia? Revisiting conflict-based perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    26. Fatemeh Dehdar & Nuno Silva & José Alberto Fuinhas & Matheus Koengkan & Nazia Nazeer, 2022. "The Impact of Technology and Government Policies on OECD Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    27. Sharif, Arshian & Sofuoglu, Emrah & Kocak, Sinem & Anwar, Ahsan, 2024. "Can green finance and energy provide a Glimmer of hope towards sustainable environment in the midst of chaos? An evidence from Malaysia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    28. Lu, Yin & Tian, Tian & Ge, Chen, 2023. "Asymmetric effects of renewable energy, fintech development, natural resources, and environmental regulations on the climate change in the post-covid era," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    29. Umair Kashif & Junguo Shi & Snovia Naseem & Shanshan Dou & Zohaib Zahid, 2024. "ICT service exports and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: the moderating effect of regulatory quality," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-17, June.
    30. Bildirici, Melike, 2017. "CO2 emissions and militarization in G7 countries: panel cointegration and trivariate causality approaches," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 771-791, December.
    31. Yao, Shun & Li, Tongxin & Li, Ying, 2023. "Promoting sustainable fossil fuels resources in BRICS countries: Evaluating green policies and driving renewable energy development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    32. Hashem Pesaran, M. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2008. "Testing slope homogeneity in large panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 50-93, January.
    33. 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).
    34. Pesaran M.H. & Schuermann T. & Weiner S.M., 2004. "Modeling Regional Interdependencies Using a Global Error-Correcting Macroeconometric Model," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 22, pages 129-162, April.
    35. Destek, Mehmet Akif & Aslan, Alper, 2020. "Disaggregated renewable energy consumption and environmental pollution nexus in G-7 countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1298-1306.
    36. Liu, Fangying & Su, Chi Wei & Qin, Meng & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2023. "Winner or loser? The bidirectional impact between geopolitical risk and energy transition from the renewable energy perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    37. Dogan, Eyup & Hodžić, Sabina & Šikić, Tanja Fatur, 2023. "Do energy and environmental taxes stimulate or inhibit renewable energy deployment in the European Union?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1138-1145.
    38. Chaofeng Li & Yasir Ahmed Solangi & Sharafat Ali, 2023. "Evaluating the Factors of Green Finance to Achieve Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Targets in China: A Delphi and Fuzzy AHP Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, February.
    39. Dong, Chunlong & Wu, Hao & Zhou, Jianwen & Lin, Huifang & Chang, Lei, 2023. "Role of renewable energy investment and geopolitical risk in green finance development: Empirical evidence from BRICS countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 234-241.
    40. Ding, Tao & Li, Hao & Tan, Ruipeng & Zhao, Xin, 2023. "How does geopolitical risk affect carbon emissions?: An empirical study from the perspective of mineral resources extraction in OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    41. Sachan, Anshita & Sahu, Udit Kumar & Pradhan, Ashis Kumar & Thomas, Ronny, 2023. "Examining the drivers of renewable energy consumption: Evidence from BRICS nations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1402-1411.
    42. Funda Hatice Sezgin & Yilmaz Bayar & Laura Herta & Marius Dan Gavriletea, 2021. "Do Environmental Stringency Policies and Human Development Reduce CO 2 Emissions? Evidence from G7 and BRICS Economies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-13, June.
    43. Guan, Zepeng & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Sheikh, Muhammad Ramzan & Khan, Zeeshan & Gu, Xiao, 2023. "Unveiling the interconnectedness between energy-related GHGs and pro-environmental energy technology: Lessons from G-7 economies with MMQR approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    44. 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.
    45. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:653-70 is not listed on IDEAS
    46. Du, Yuqiu & Wang, Wendi, 2023. "The role of green financing, agriculture development, geopolitical risk, and natural resource on environmental pollution in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    47. Chris Belmert Milindi & Roula Inglesi-Lotz, 2022. "The role of green technology on carbon emissions: does it differ across countries’ income levels?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(29), pages 3309-3339, June.
    48. Wan, Qilong & Miao, Xiaodong & Afshan, Sahar, 2022. "Dynamic effects of natural resource abundance, green financing, and government environmental concerns toward the sustainable environment in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    49. Bohuang Pan & Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo & Ridwan Lanre Ibrahim & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2023. "Does nuclear energy consumption mitigate carbon emissions in leading countries by nuclear power consumption? Evidence from quantile causality approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(7), pages 2521-2543, November.
    50. Jing Yi Yong & Mohd‐Yusoff Yusliza & Thurasamy Ramayah & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Simone Sehnem & Venkatesh Mani, 2020. "Pathways towards sustainability in manufacturing organizations: Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 212-228, January.
    51. Badi H. Baltagi & Espen Bratberg & Tor Helge Holmås, 2005. "A panel data study of physicians' labor supply: the case of Norway," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(10), pages 1035-1045, October.
    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. Jialin Li, 2026. "How natural resource consumption, trade, energy transition, and geopolitical risk drive sustainable development in G20 nations?," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(1), pages 659-684, February.
    2. Voumik, Liton Chandra & Ghosh, Smarnika & Rashid, Mamunur & Das, Mihir Kumar & Esquivias, Miguel Angel & Rojas, Omar, 2024. "The effect of geopolitical risk and green technology on load capacity factors in BRICS," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Tiwari, Sunil & Mentel, Grzegorz & Si Mohammed, Kamel & Rehman, Mohd Ziaur & Lewandowska, Anna, 2024. "Unveiling the role of natural resources, energy transition and environmental policy stringency for sustainable environmental development: Evidence from BRIC +1," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Chien-Chiang Lee & Farzan Yahya & Asif Razzaq, 2023. "Greening South Asia with Financial Liberalization, Human Capital, and Militarization: Evidence from the CS-ARDL Approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(6), pages 1957-1981, September.
    6. Khalid M. Kisswani & Mohammad I. Elian & Amine Lahiani & Salma Mefteh-Wali, 2026. "The role of climate policy uncertainty, renewable energy use, and geopolitical risk towards low-carbon emission: Evidence from selected ASEAN countries," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 28(1), pages 219-247, January.
    7. Feng, Yanchao & Sabir, Saeed Ahmad & Quddus, Abdul & Wang, Jianxin & Abbas, Shujaat, 2024. "Do the grey clouds of geopolitical risk and political globalization exacerbate environmental degradation? Evidence from resource-rich countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Khaddage-Soboh, Nada & Safi, Adnan & Faisal Rasheed, Muhammad & Hasnaoui, Amir, 2023. "Examining the role of natural resource rent, environmental regulations, and environmental taxes in sustainable development: Evidence from G-7 economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    9. Dong, Ziguang & Zhou, Zheng & Ananzeh, Mohammed & Hoang, Khai Nguyen & Shamansurova, Zilola & Luong, Tuan Anh, 2024. "Exploring the asymmetric association between fintech, clean energy, climate policy, natural resource conservations and environmental quality. A post-COVID perspective from Asian countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Olfa Zarrad & Hamdi Becha & Maha Kalai & Kamel Helali, 2026. "Geopolitical risk and financial development: nonlinear effects on renewable energy in emerging economies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 6973-7025, April.
    11. 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).
    12. Lu, Yin & Tian, Tian & Ge, Chen, 2023. "Asymmetric effects of renewable energy, fintech development, natural resources, and environmental regulations on the climate change in the post-covid era," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    13. Khan, Zeeshan & Chatti, Walid & Zhu, Xufeng, 2024. "Public energy R&D spending and green energy for sustainable development: COP28 perspective of G7 economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    14. Yasmeen, Rizwana & Shah, Wasi Ul Hassan, 2024. "Energy uncertainty, geopolitical conflict, and militarization matters for Renewable and non-renewable energy development: Perspectives from G7 economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    15. Ivan D. Trofimov, 2024. "Is there a Kuznets curve for cropland use? The evidence from international panel data," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(1), pages 232-256, February.
    16. Chu, Lan Khanh, 2024. "Towards achieving energy transition goal: How do green financial policy, environmental tax, economic complexity, and globalization matter?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    17. Eibinger, Tobias & Deixelberger, Beate & Manner, Hans, 2024. "Panel data in environmental economics: Econometric issues and applications to IPAT models," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. Rongrong Li & Qiang Wang & Xueting Li, 2025. "Geopolitical risks and carbon emissions: the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Dao, Ngoc Bich & Truong, Huong Hoang Diep & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Chu, Lan Khanh, 2024. "The impacts of natural resources rents diversification, uncertainty, and environmental technologies on ecological sustainability: Empirical evidence from OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Mahmoud Hassan & Marc Kouzez & Ji-Yong Lee & Badreddine Msolli & Hatem Rjiba, 2025. "Can increasing environmental policy stringency promote financial development? Evidence from developed economies," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 347(1), pages 197-216, April.

    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:wly:natres:v:50:y:2026:i:1:p:275-304. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-8947 .

    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.