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The BRICS region has considered achieving environmental sustainability a top priority in terms of policy. Environmental distress is mostly brought on by the region's continued reliance on fossil fuels to supply local energy needs. Besides, the region has historically been a significant importer of fossil fuels, making it difficult to substantially reduce the region's reliance on them. As a result, the BRICS nations' greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rates have steadily increased over time. Moreover, the region offers vast untapped amounts of renewable energy sources that may be used to generate power without adversely harming the environment. In light of this, this paper examines the combined effects of green finance (GFN) and financial technology (fintech) in achieving the region's carbon neutrality goals from 1990 to 2020, while controlling for energy innovation, economic growth and natural resources rent. The results for the BRICS economies, which are supported by the EKC hypothesis, suggest that GFN, fintech and energy innovation (ENI) promote environmental sustainability. However, natural resources rent (NRR) and economic growth (GDP) degrade environmental quality. Additionally, it has been shown that the bidirectional causality exists between CO2 emissions and GFN, fintech, and NRR. However, GDP and ENI have been shown to exhibit unidirectional causality with CO2 emissions. Based on the empirical findings, it is suggested that the BRICS countries should speed up the development of green financial products and expand the ability of banks and financial institutions to provide green credit facilities, and put into the research on the usage of GFN solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the technological, economic and environmental impacts of disruptive innovations in the transportation mobility market. Design/methodology/approach: The paper gathered data from World Bank and 13 open sources in an exploratory, descriptive and applied investigation on potentially disruptive transport innovations outcomes in G7 and BRICS (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) economies, businesses and societies. Findings: The results suggest positive implications for technological leapfrogging of electric vehicles (EV), autonomous vehicles (AVs) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOLs), such as gains in energy consumption, infrastructure improvement, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, economic growth and the opportunity for new disruptive technologies to improve or even revolutionize the transportation ecosystem. Research limitations/implications: This study has clear limitations as it compares G7 and BRICS hypothetical scenarios where internal combustion vehicles were replaced by new technologies, ceteris paribus. Even so, as theoretical implications, the study presents market scenarios for EVs, AVs and eVTOLs technologies, bringing benefits to the disruptive innovation theory by expanding the understanding of the subject and also opening avenues of investigation by exploring new technological, economic and environmental possibilities. Practical implications: This study emphasises potentially disruptive technologies' technological, economic and sustainable benefits to countries through technological leapfrogging. The organizations can delve into results to investigate forthcoming markets and seek advantageous positions. Economic and social gains from leapfrogging could motivate government bodies to finance research focusing on EVs, AVs and eVTOLs diffusion. Originality/value: The paper's originality resides in aggregating multiple data sources to compare technological leapfrogging in G7 and BRICS transportation. The different views allowed for exploring the potential outcomes of EVs, AVs and eVTOLs on economic, sustainability and market dimensions in developed and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their economic success, the BRICS countries have yet to achieve environmental sustainability. On the other hand, these countries will not be able to maintain their economic expansion if they do not protect the natural environment. In this regard, this paper intends to assess the effects of financial integration (globalization) on ecological footprint. The paper also considers other ecological footprint drivers, including economic expansion, urbanization, renewable energy and technological innovation. The research utilizes a dataset spanning from 1990 to 2018. The study employed the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) approach, which is robust to cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity issues. The outcomes from the MMQR disclose that the effect of financial globalization on ecological footprint is positive across all quantiles (0.1–0.90), thus validating the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in the BRICS nations. Furthermore, both renewable energy and technological innovation curb ecological footprint across all quantiles (0.1–0.90). Moreover, technological innovation is proven to impact the environment positively across all quantiles (0.1–0.90) via the path of urbanization. As a result, technological innovation is projected to help the BRICS nations achieve sustainable urbanization. The DOLS, FMOLS, FE-OLS outcomes also validate the outcomes of MMQR. Based on these results, policies were proposed. • MMQR applied to integrate asymmetric effects. • Renewable energy consumption and technological innovation derive ecological sustainability. • Financial integration-led Pollution-haven-hypothesis is confirmed. • Economic growth and urbanization lead to higher ecological footprints. • Technology innovation neutralizes the negative impact of urbanization on ecological sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study aimed to identify and analyze the environmental management practices in the industry carried out in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) in the period from 2011 to 2015, with the aid of scientific literature published in the Scopus database. Due to the expansion of the bloc's development, these countries presented a high potential to impact the environment. Therefore, this study is relevant because it identifies trends about the Environment Management Practices that have been followed in industries of BRICS, increasing the theoretical allowance for discussions concerning Environment Management Practices in these countries. Consequently, a survey on environmental management practices was conducted using the keyword "industrial environmental management practices" and the name of each country. Besides that, a "second quest" was added with the term "case study" to refine the results. We found out that China, India, South Africa and Brazil have been studying solutions for the CO 2 emissions by employing different environmental management practices. In addition, in the studies on China, India and Brazil, environmental management practices recurrently approached topics concerning the supply and water quality, the regulatory standards of environmental management and the practice of Green Supply Chain Management. However, we did not find papers concerning the environmental management practices in Russia through the employed methodology. We concluded that China, India and Brazil tend to present papers on the issue of environmental management (in English and in the database, from which they were gathered) because these countries show a more sustainable development, thus publishing a higher number of researches in this field, whereas Russia and South Africa do not follow this trend due to a weaker environmental engagement. With regard to that, it is suggested that further studies investigate the environmental management practices in other developing and developed countries, which would allow to draw a comparison with other groups. Graphical abstract Source: Authors (2017). Image Highlights • The BRICS environmental management practices were investigated. • The case study articles found in the Scopus database were considered. • The environmental management practices concerning the CO 2 emission were the main focus of attention of the BRICS. • Practices concerning water quality were recurrent in China, India and Brazil. • Each country presents environmental management practices specific to their realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to verify the sustainability of public debt among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) in a political economy framework. Annual panel data have been used for BRICS countries from World Development Indicators of World Bank for the period 1980–2017 for the analysis. Bohn's sustainability framework is used to examine the sustainability of public debt in BRICS nations and verify the influence of political economic variables such as election year, coalition dummy, ideology of the government and unemployment on public debt sustainability. The results suggest that public debt sustainability is weak for BRICS as a whole. China and India have a better public debt sustainability coefficients compared to the same for Brazil, Russia and South Africa. Structural change dummy included in the model suggests that debt sustainability is severely affected after the 2008 crisis period. Political factors have influence on debt sustainability in BRICS. Electoral cycle year and coalition dummy variables adversely affect public debt sustainability in BRICS. While centrist political ideology is found to be significant and negative, left and right ideologies are not significant for debt sustainability. Since debt sustainability is found to be weak in BRICS, countries in the region need to adopt necessary measures to improve their primary balance through appropriate fiscal and debt management. Besides, it is important for the governments to prioritize fiscal prudence irrespective of their ideologies and political compulsions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we extend the existing literature on current account sustainability by examining the relevance of long memory and structural breaks in modelling the dynamics of current account to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios in G7 and BRICS. Unlike standard unit root tests, which have low power, especially in cases where the series is characterized by a fractional process, the long-memory approach provides an exact measure of the degree of persistence. However, long-memory models are known to overestimate the degree of persistence of the series in the presence of structural breaks. We show that regime changes do exist in both the mean and trend of the current account to GDP ratios. Thus, we test persistence allowing for both smooth and sharp breaks. Our methodology also allows any number of sharp breaks, whereas standard unit root tests only permit either one or two breaks. Hence, our approach is more general and more robust to misspecifications caused by the omission of breaks than standard methods. We show that current accounts are sustainable in both groups of countries, with the G7 and South Africa displaying long-memory behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) globally, this paper investigates whether the financial profile of a firm is associated with superior environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, considering firms from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the so-called BRICS countries) with the aim of addressing a gap in relevant research. The study entails an analysis of ESG performance in sensitive industries (i.e., those subject to systematic social taboos, moral debates, and political pressures and those that are more likely to cause social and environmental damage). To test our hypotheses, we applied linear regressions with a data panel using the Thomson Reuters Eikon- database to analyze data from 365 listed companies selected from BRICS between 2010 and 2012. The results suggest that companies in sensitive industries present superior environmental performance, even when controlling for the firm's size and country. Our study contributes to research on both the impact of ESG disclosure and the relationship between financial and ESG performance, as well to the practice of sustainability management in firms in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) as the emerging leading powers in the world have great influence on the world development. Urbanization process has been a significant engine for development in these countries, which has important effect on the sustainable development globally. However, rapid urbanization has induced various problems, such as air pollution, traffic congestion, habitat destruction, and loss of arable land. These problems present the threats to the sustainable development of urbanization in these countries. This paper presents an evaluation on the dynamic sustainability performance during urbanization process in these countries by applying an elastic coefficient method and a new-type McKinsey matrix. The data used for analysis are collected from World Bank database for the period of 1990–2011. The findings from this study suggest that during the surveyed period the Brazil, Russia and India have been engaging a sustainable urbanization practice, whilst the urbanization processes in China and South Africa are unsustainable. The study provides valuable reference in searching for solutions to further promote sustainable urbanization practice globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between sustainability targets and their impacts on corporate environmental innovation. Using data over the period 2009-2018 on 202 companies from BRICS countries, covering firm-level governance, social responsibility and sustainability this paper examines firm-level sustainability targets, and incentives encourage managers to engage in more environmentally friendly activities. Using panel data probit regression, and after controlling for country-level governance and institutional factors, the study finds that embedding environmental targets in corporate strategy does encourage corporate managers to design and develop eco-friendly products and services, and such firm-level commitments at the top motivates managers to promote, market, and label environmentally friendly products. The findings call for greater emphasis on aligning executive compensation with sustainability targets rather than focusing too much on short-term accounting and market-based measures of firm performance. • We explore how sustainability related target its impacts on corporate environmental innovation. • 202 companies' data is collected for BRICS countries between 2009 and 2018. • Panel data Probit estimation was employed to assess likelihood of environmental innovation. • Environmental targets in corporate strategy does encourage corporate managers in developing eco-friendly products. • More companies should be encouraged to include environmental targets in executive compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li-ion batteries are daily present in our electronic devices. These batteries are used in electric and hybrid vehicles supporting the current agreements to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the electric vehicle demand has increased in the world. As Li-ion batteries are composed of critical metals in which there is a risk of interruption of supply in the medium term, recycling is the key to a sustainable future without internal combustion vehicles. Understanding the current scenario and future perspectives is important for strategies of new battery design, recycling routes and reverse logistics, as well as policies for sustainable development. This paper presents an overview of current and future vehicles used worldwide. An increase from 1.3 to 2 billion vehicles is expected worldwide until 2030; an outstanding demand will occur mainly in BRICS countries. The data demonstrated a correlation between the number of vehicles in use and GDP. Patents and processes designed for recycling Li-ion batteries and the new developments on pyro-, hydro-, and bio-metallurgical routes have been revised. The manuscript describes the importance and benefits of recycling as regards the supply of critical metals and future trends towards a circular economy. • The main consumption of EV will be in China, the USA and Europe. • Different types of EV batteries would difficult the design of recycling processes. • Hydrometallurgical route has the advantageous of producing of high pure products. • Biohydrometallurgical and solvometallurgy are ascending technology for battery recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]