The adoption of renewable energy towards environmental sustainability: Evidence from Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).

The effect of carbon emissions on the environment has made some of the Sustainable Development Goals difficult to achieve. Despite the efforts of international bodies, there is still a need to address the problem since the transition is not complete. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of globalization, economic growth, financial inclusion, renewable energy, and government institutions on carbon emissions from the period of 1998 to 2021. To be able to assess both the direct and indirect effects of the variables, the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling is employed, where renewable energy serves as the mediator, and the Two-Stage Least Squares is employed as the robustness check. The findings of the study reveal that globalization promotes the use of renewable energy, but financial inclusion has a negative effect on renewable energy use. Renewable energy has a direct positive and significant effect on carbon emissions. Financial inclusion has an indirect negative and significant effect on carbon emissions. The results imply that more enlightenment on financial inclusion will help a smooth transition, and globalization should be embraced when all environmental regulations are enforced.

A focus on Ghana's sustainable development: Examining the interplay of income inequality and energy poverty.

This study investigates how income inequality influences energy poverty alleviation in Ghana as it seeks to achieve a sustainable economy. Employing the Granger causality test on a dataset from 1990 to 2021, the results show that both Gini post-tax and post-transfer (Income inequality-ll1) and Gini pre-tax and pre-transfer (Income inequality-ll2) Granger-cause access to electricity and rural area access to electricity. Urban area access to electricity Granger-causes Gini post-tax and post-transfer. Similarly, an FMOLS test was carried out to introduce some controlling variables and results showed that GDP, trade liberation, urbanization, population growth, and financial development increase income inequality and access to clean fuels and technology, as well as access to urban energy, have a substantial impact on economic disparity. In addition, GDP, financial development, energy intensity, industrialization, trade liberalization, urbanization, population rise, and FDI all have varying implications on energy poverty. These results imply the need to include energy poverty reduction measures within income inequality reduction policies to enhance not just access to today's cutting-edge energy but also affordability to the minimal income receivers. Other reforms and levies on electricity consumption options in renewable energy support can contribute to addressing income inequality and energy poverty issues in Ghana.

The era of global warming mitigation: The role of financial inclusion, globalization and governance institutions.

Several efforts have been undertaken by environmentalists, nations, and various international organizations towards the fight against carbon emissions. The continuity of the environment has been one of the main concerns of the international system and state and non-state actors and government institutions are encouraged to play their roles effectively. Therefore, the study assesses the effect of financial inclusion, globalization, and government institutions on carbon emissions. The study used data from 1996 to 2021 and employed FMOLS model for the analysis. The findings of the study confirm the pollution halo hypothesis implying globalization promotes environmental sustainability. However, financial inclusion and government institutions have no significant effect on global warming mitigation. Nevertheless, institutional governance encourages global warming while political stability promotes the fight against global warming, the effect of economic governance is not significant. Renewable energy and economic growth exhibit positive and negative effect, respectively, on environmental sustainability. The findings suggest the encouragement of the rule of law, political stability, and an effective low carbon trading system as part of the policy implications.

Exploring the impact of renewable energy on economic growth and carbon emissions: Evidence from partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The concern for environmental sustainability comes along with sustainable energy for consumption. Therefore, this study aims to explore the direct and indirect effects of renewable energy on economic growth and carbon emissions by employing Partial Least Square Structure Equation Modeling and Granger Causality Test and the data for this study is from 1990 to 2021. The results from the Partial Least Squares Structure Equation Modeling indicate that renewable energy consumption causes carbon emissions and has no effect on economic growth. Financial inclusion and foreign direct investment have positive effects on carbon emissions. However, renewable energy has an indirect negative effect on carbon emissions through economic growth. Foreign direct investment affects economic growth positively. Furthermore, the results from the Granger causality test indicate that renewable energy has a unidirectional causality relationship with financial inclusion and foreign direct investment and has a feedback causality relationship with economic growth. In addition, there is a feedback causal effect between financial inclusion and carbon emissions, a unidirectional effect running from carbon emissions to foreign direct investment, and a causal effect from economic growth to foreign direct investment. This study has suggested comprehensive policy recommendations for policymakers based on the findings.

Achieving carbon neutrality in West Africa: The impact of financial development and good governance.

Achieving a net zero carbon has been one of the main agendas for all state and non-state actors. The political system of developing countries sometimes makes both internal and external actors question their efforts toward the agenda. Therefore, this study contributes to previous literature in analyzing the empirical effect of financial development and governance quality on carbon emissions. The study covers sixteen West African countries with data from 1996 to 2021. The study employs the Generalized Method of Moments for the analysis. Financial development in all the models contributes to carbon emissions. However, the effect of governance quality indicators varies depending on the model and the indicator(s) used. Nevertheless, economic governance and political governance in most models contribute to environmental pollution, but institutional governance helps promote environmental quality. Renewable energy and economic growth promote environmental quality through carbon mitigation. However, trade openness promotes environmental pollution by encouraging the release of carbon emissions. Finally, relevant policy implications are proposed based on the empirical findings of the study.

The mediating role of renewable energy, sectoral output and economic growth on greenhouse gas emissions: African regional perspective.

Global greenhouse gas emissions are increasing when they should be progressively reducing, given worldwide concerted emissions mitigation efforts and protocols. To effectively tackle emissions to foster a sustainable climate, the situation's complexity needs a sector- and region-specific approach, not a one-stop analysis. We must first understand where the emissions originate-which sectors contribute the most to them. This study employs a panel multiregional framework with advanced econometric techniques accounting for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneous slope coefficients to analyse GHG emissions (CO2 and CH4), sectoral output, economic growth and renewable energy dynamics across African regions from 2010 to 2019. The empirical findings are as follows: First, regional impacts of the economic sectors vary substantially, reflecting technological and socioeconomic differences leading to heterogeneous environmental patterns in the short and long term. Second, the estimated EKC turning points are uniformly lower, indicating slower environmental impact growth with sectoral development in African regions. Third, trade and urbanization are critical drivers of emissions in most regions and economic sectors, with a more pervasive impact on CO2 emissions than CH4 emissions. Finally, sectoral output imposes differential indirect CO2 and CH4 emissions effects via renewable energy, with East African manufacturing exhibiting the most significant emissions-reduction impact. Disaggregated, regional, and sectoral-specific strategies are recommended for designing green development pathways policies.

Employing the CGE model to analyze the impact of carbon tax revenue recycling schemes on employment in coal resource-based areas: Evidence from Shanxi.

Whether or not the carbon tax is conducive to alleviating the pressure on employment reduction in coal resource-based areas is a subject worthy of in-depth study. We take the province of Shanxi, a typical coal resource-based area in China, as an example, and use the dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate the impact of carbon tax on employment under various carbon tax revenue recycling schemes. We disaggregate the employment effect into demand effect, cost effect, factor-shift effect, and investment-pull effect to analyze the transmission path of the influence of carbon tax on employment. The results show that the carbon tax is conducive to alleviating the pressures on employment reduction in coal resource-based areas. Compared with the scenario of no carbon tax revenue recycling, the pressures on employment reduction under the scenario where carbon tax is returned to residents or enterprises in different forms, are allayed. More into detail, carbon tax has the least inhibiting effect on industry employment in case that tax revenue is returned to residents in the form of transfer payment. In addition, there is a prominent difference in the transmission path through which the carbon tax promotes employment, that is, the single effect, or the combination of demand effect, cost effect, factor-shift effect, and investment-pull effect. However, the carbon tax would obstruct employment principally through the demand effect.

The tug of war between local government and enterprises in reducing China's carbon dioxide emissions intensity.

The respective interests of local government and enterprises have led to a tug of war that may be affecting the level of carbon dioxide emission reduction intensity in China. In order to investigate the conflicts involved, we build a model to measure the influence of local government and enterprises on actual carbon dioxide emissions reduction levels based on a two-tier stochastic frontier analysis model. This can help identify the attitudes and practical action of Chinese local governments and enterprises towards carbon dioxide emission reduction, and find out the important factors that influence their attitudes towards carbon dioxide emission reduction. The results show that an overwhelming majority of local governments have a greater influence on carbon dioxide emission intensity reduction than enterprises do, with the reduction being driven by the local government, and enterprises generally facing the resulting pressure. In this context, enhancing the participation of enterprises in carbon dioxide emission intensity reduction has become the key to achieving China's reduction targets.