Rapid modernization and industrialization have significantly intensified carbon emissions and worsened environmental sustainability around the globe. Despite the significant importance of green innovation, clean energy consumption, and education in every aspect of life, the role of all these variables in determining environmental sustainability has not been explored quite extensively in case of China. Under this premise, the present study aims to investigate the role of green innovation, clean energy investment, and education on environmental sustainability in highly polluted Asian economies for the period of 1991–2019 by employing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The findings infer that increase in green innovation reduces CO2 emissions in China, India, and Japan in the long-run. However, an increase in clean energy investment and education tends to decline CO2 emissions in Russia and Japan. The findings confirm that green innovation, clean energy investment, and education improve environmental sustainability in long-run, while short-run estimates are diverse. Thus, governments of highly polluted economies should increase investment in education, clean energy, and technology to mitigate CO2 emissions.
AdedoyinF. F.ZakariA. (2020). Energy consumption, economic expansion, and CO2 emission in the UK: the role of economic policy uncertainty. Sci Total Environ, 738, 140014.
3.
International Energy Agency (2013). Global energy trends to 2035: finding our way in a new energy world. World Energy Outlook2013.
4.
WeinaD.GilliM.MazzantiM., et al. (2016). Green inventions and greenhouse gas emission dynamics: a close examination of provincial Italian data. Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 18, 247–263.
5.
NikzadR.SedighG. (2017). Greenhouse gas emissions and green technologies in Canada. Environmental Development, 24, 99–108.
6.
OmriA. (2020). Technological innovation and sustainable development: does the stage of development matter?Environ Impact Assess Rev, 83, 106398.
7.
UllahS.OzturkI.MajeedM. T., et al. (2021). Do technological innovations have symmetric or asymmetric effects on environmental quality? Evidence from Pakistan. J Cleaner Prod, 316, 128239.
8.
AcemogluD.AkcigitU.HanleyD., et al. (2016). Transition to clean technology. Journal of Political Economy, 124, 52–104.
9.
UsmanA.OzturkI.UllahS., et al. (2021). Does ICT have symmetric or asymmetric effects on CO2 emissions? Evidence from selected Asian economies. Technol Soc, 67, 101692.
10.
Wang, Z., Yang, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2012). Relationships between energy technology patents and CO2 emissions in China: An empirical study. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 4(3), 031807.
11.
DoganE.OzturkI. (2017). The influence of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and real income on CO2 emissions in the USA: evidence from structural break tests. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 24, 10846–10854.
12.
Adedoyin, F. F., Ozturk, I., Bekun, F. V., Agboola, P. O., & Agboola, M. O. (2021). Renewable and non-renewable energy policy simulations for abating emissions in a complex economy: evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL. Renewable Energy, 177, 1408–1420.
13.
ShittuW.AdedoyinF. F.ShahM. I., et al. (2021). An investigation of the nexus between natural resources, environmental performance, energy security and environmental degradation: evidence from Asia. Resources Policy, 73, 102227.
14.
AdedoyinF. F.GumedeM. I.BekunF. V.,et al. (2020). Modelling coal rent, economic growth and CO2 emissions: does regulatory quality matter in BRICS economies?Sci Total Environ, 710, 136284.
LiX.UllahS. (2022). Caring for the environment: how CO2 emissions respond to human capital in BRICS economies?Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29, 18036–18046.
17.
YinY.XiongX.UllahS., et al. (2021). Examining the asymmetric socioeconomic determinants of CO2 emissions in China: challenges and policy implications. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 57115–57125.
18.
BanoS.ZhaoY.AhmadA.,et al. (2018). Identifying the impacts of human capital on carbon emissions in Pakistan. J Cleaner Prod, 183, 1082–1092.
19.
BalaguerJ.CantavellaM. (2018). The role of education in the Environmental Kuznets Curve. evidence from Australian data. Energy Economics, 70, 289–296.
20.
Barro RJ, Lee JW (2001) International data on educational attainment: updates and implications. Oxf Econ Pap, 53(3), 541–563.
21.
MankiwN. G.RomerD.WeilD. N. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. Q J Econ, 107, 407–437.
22.
JianL.SohailM. T.UllahS., et al. (2021). Examining the role of non-economic factors in energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China: policy options for the green economy. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 67667–67676.
23.
JohansenS. (1988). Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 12, 231–254.
24.
JohansenS.JuseliusK. (1990). Maximum likelihood estimation and inference on cointegration—with appucations to the demand for money. Oxf Bull Econ Stat, 52, 169–210.
25.
PesaranM. H.ShinY.SmithR. J. (2001). Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 16, 289–326.
26.
WeiL.UllahS. (2022). International tourism, digital infrastructure, and CO2 emissions: fresh evidence from panel quantile regression approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(24), 36273–36280.
27.
KhanZ.AliS.UmarM.,et al. (2020). Consumption-based carbon emissions and international trade in G7 countries: the role of environmental innovation and renewable energy. Sci Total Environ, 730, 138945.
28.
MercureJ. F.KnoblochF.PollittH.,et al. (2019). Modelling innovation and the macroeconomics of low-carbon transitions: theory, perspectives and practical use. Climate Policy, 19, 1019–1037.
29.
HsuC. C.ZhangY.ChP.,et al. (2021). A step towards sustainable environment in China: the role of eco-innovation renewable energy and environmental taxes. J Environ Manag, 299, 113609.
30.
LeiW.OzturkI.MuhammadH., et al. (2021). On the asymmetric effects of financial deepening on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption: insights from China. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 1–18.
31.
Bahmani-OskooeeM.UsmanA.UllahS. (2020). Asymmetric impact of exchange rate volatility on commodity trade between Pakistan and China. Global Business Review, 0972150920916287.
32.
ZhangD.OzturkI.UllahS. (2022). Institutional factors-environmental quality nexus in BRICS: a strategic pillar of governmental performance. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 1–13.
33.
AggeriF.HatchuelA. (1999). A dynamic model of environmental policies. The case of innovation oriented voluntary agreements. In Voluntary approaches in environmental policy (pp. 151–185). Springer, Dordrecht.
34.
PorterM. E.Van der LindeC. (1995). Toward a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9, 97–118.
35.
SunY.YesiladaF.AndlibZ., et al. (2021). The role of eco-innovation and globalization towards carbon neutrality in the USA. J Environ Manag, 299, 113568.
36.
TaoR.UmarM.NaseerA., et al. (2021). The dynamic effect of eco-innovation and environmental taxes on carbon neutrality target in emerging seven (E7) economies. J Environ Manag, 299, 113525.
37.
FethiS.RahumaA. (2020). The impact of eco-innovation on CO2 emission reductions: evidence from selected petroleum companies. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 53, 108–115.
38.
SuC. W.XieY.ShahabS.,et al. (2021). Towards achieving sustainable development: role of technology innovation, technology adoption and CO2 emission for BRICS. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18, 277.
39.
LiZ. Z.LiR. Y. M.MalikM. Y.,et al. (2021). Determinants of carbon emission in China: how good is green investment?Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 392–401.
40.
ShenY.SuZ. W.MalikM. Y.,et al. (2021). Does green investment, financial development and natural resources rent limit carbon emissions? A provincial panel analysis of China. Sci Total Environ, 755, 142538.
41.
Sachs, J. D., Woo, W. T., Yoshino, N., & Taghizadeh-Hesary, F. (2019). Importance of green finance for achieving sustainable development goals and energy security. In Handbook of Green Finance (pp. 3–12). Springer, Singapore.
42.
ZamanQ.WangZ.ZamanS., et al. (2021). Investigating the nexus between education expenditure, female employers, renewable energy consumption and CO2 emission: evidence from China. J Cleaner Prod, 312, 127824.
43.
ZafarM. W.QinQ.ZaidiS. A. H. (2020). Foreign direct investment and education as determinants of environmental quality: the importance of post Paris agreement (COP21). J Environ Manag, 270, 110827.
44.
HorbachJ. (2014). Do eco-innovations need specific regional characteristics? An econometric analysis for Germany. Review of Regional Research, 34, 23–38.
