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This study examined the green total factor productivity (GTFP), technical progress change (GTC), and technical efficiency change (GEC) trajectories across 39 Asian countries from 2006 to 2021. GTFP was assessed across five Asian regions using the global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index with a slacks-based measure model and directional distance function. The results of the study show that West Asia, with a mean GTFP value of 1.0011, is ahead of Southeast Asia and South Asia, while Central and East Asia show room for improvement. Gini index analysis further shows that GTFP varies significantly within and outside the region, with large fluctuations especially in Southeast Asia and South Asia. GTC stagnated significantly in 2009 and 2015, indicating a bottleneck in technological progress, while GEC showed a positive upward trend, reflecting the improvement in resource efficiency. The 'decoupling' of GTC and GEC highlights the inconsistency between efficiency growth and the pace of technological progress, particularly in East and Central Asia. In 2021, Asia's average GTFP reaches 1.0048, signaling the region's progress towards sustainable productivity. This study provides important theoretical and practical implications by quantifying the regional differences in GTFP, GTC, and GEC, which provide a quantitative basis and decision-making reference for the formulation of green development policies in the Asian region., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent to publish: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Trace metals in the environment are important pollutants affecting human health, particularly in urban areas worldwide. Phytoremediation as a nature-based solution (NBS) and environmentally friendly technology may decrease high concentrations of trace metals in urban soils, protecting public health (especially children) and contributing to urban sustainability. This study examined trace metal contamination of urban soils and trees in six cities in the Republic of Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and investigated the potential of selected tree species for phytoremediation as a NBS for metal-polluted urban soils. Contamination of urban soils was assessed by quantifying the concentrations of 11 trace metals (B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn). To estimate phytoremediation potential of urban tree species, concentration and bioconcentration factor of the 11 metals were quantified in leaves of three common and abundant tree species: Aesculus hippocastanum L. (horse chestnut), Platanus acerifolia Willd. (plane), and Tilia sp. (lime). The results showed that trace metal concentrations in leaf samples did not exceed toxicity threshold guideline values. Further assessments are needed to establish the true potential of the three species as NBS for urban soils., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper examines sustainable development, which employs an integrated approach to tackle environmental, social, and economic challenges. It provides a theoretical underpinning by examining sustainable development's inception, fundamental tenets, and conceptual structures. This study highlights the interdependence of social equity, economic prosperity, and environmental conservation, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach. Quantitative methodology is utilized in this study, and the dependent variable is sustainable development. Financial risk, green growth, technological innovation, renewable energy, financial inclusion, and soft infrastructure are all independent variables. The analysis is predicated on secondary data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Development Indicators databases spanning 2004 to 2019. An entropy-weighted method used for the green growth index is a metric that enhances the precision of variable indicators. Cointegration, correlation, VIF, cross-sectional dependency, and stationarity tests are among the diagnostic tests that inform the selection of methods for the panel data set. It is determined that fully modified ordinary least squares is the suitable technique. The findings suggest statistically significant positive correlations among greenhouse gases, financial inclusion, and soft infrastructure. Conversely, significant negative correlations exist between financial risk, green growth, renewable energy, and technological innovation. An estimated 55% long-run variance is present. The study's key finding is that financial risk has an adverse effect on sustainable development, while an impactful relationship where increased green growth is linked to decreased GHG emissions. This association is notably significant. Results show that renewable energy has a negative coefficient and significant negative impact on greenhouse gases, showing an active relation to enhancing sustainable development. In contrast, financial inclusion has a significant positive effect on sustainable development. The implications imply that providing incentives to institutions engaged in alternative energy, precisely renewable sources, could positively impact the environment. Government policies and funding regulations oriented toward sustainable development are indispensable for environmental sustainability. Government policies and incentives are pivotal in advancing an environmentally conscious and sustainable future. This study's contribution lies in elucidating the positive correlation between government interventions and promoting renewable energy adoption, thereby paving the way for a greener tomorrow., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Financial deepening is important in resource allocation for more productive enterprises, leading to sustainable green growth. Moreover, rapid development in the digital economy and export diversification significantly affect green growth. From this perspective, our study explores the impact of financial deepening, ICT development, and export diversification on green growth in China's economies from 1996 to 2021. The study explores the linkage between financial deepening, ICT development, export diversification, and green growth by employing the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach. The results obtained in the long run are as follows: positive shock in financial deepening brings positive change in green growth, whereas negative shock in financial deepening reduces green growth. In the long run, positive shock in ICT enhances green growth, but negative shock in ICT does not impact green growth. Moreover, positive shock in export diversification brings positive change in green growth, whereas negative shock in export diversification reports an insignificant impact on green growth. Based on findings, it is suggested that financial deepening, ICT development, and export diversification are conducive to sustainable green growth., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Promoting the development of green finance (GF) is a critical way to address the environmental and developmental problems in China. While existing studies have examined the macroscopic role of GF, few pay attention to its impact on micro-enterprises. To investigate the effect of GF on micro-enterprises, this study considers green credit as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effect on firms' green total factor productivity (GTFP). We use the SBM-Malmquist method to measure firms' GTFP and adopt the double dual machine learning approach to explore its impact and potential mechanisms. The findings indicate that (1) the GF can effectively promote the GTFP at the firm level, which has been reconfirmed by robustness tests. (2) The GF can improve firms' GTFP through three pathways: promoting firms' green innovation, alleviating financing constraints, and strengthening managers' environmental concerns. (3). The heterogeneity analysis verifies that state-owned enterprises and large-size firms are more sensitive to the response of green finance. The results of this study lend support to the establishment of green finance and the formulation of corporate green development strategies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The development of urban blue-green spaces is highly recommended as a nature-based solution for mitigating the urban heat island phenomenon, improving urban sustainability, and enhancing resident well-being. However, limited attention has been given to the accumulative impact of the cooling effect and the comparison of different types of landscapes. Based on the maximum and accumulative perspectives, this study selected 375 green spaces, water bodies, and urban parks in 25 cities of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China to quantify their cooling effect. Correlation and regression analyses were employed to identify the dominant factors influencing the cooling performance. The results indicated that (1) compared to other landscape patches, water areas, and parks exhibited a reduction in daily average air temperature by 3.04 and 0.57 °C, respectively. Urban parks provided the largest cooling area (CA) of 56.44 ha in the YRD region, while water bodies demonstrated the highest cooling effect (CE) of 6.88, cooling intensity (CI) of 0.02, and cooling gradient (CG) of 0.99. (2) From the maximum perspective, the perimeter of the patches played a dominant role in CA and CE for all landscape patch types, contributing more than 40% in CA variation. (3) The dominant factors varied among different landscape types from accumulative perspectives. Green spaces were influenced by road density, shape index, and the proportion of water bodies within the CA, whereas water bodies were primarily affected by the coverage of blue spaces. Vegetation growth and densely populated surroundings contributed the most to the cooling of parks. These findings enhanced the comprehension of the cooling effect in comparable urban contexts and provided valuable insights for sustainable urban management., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

As the globe strives to solve severe environmental challenges, the concept of a low-carbon economy that prioritizes low energy use, little pollution, and sustainable development is gaining support. The supply chain management industry is not safe from the possibilities and threats posed by this new development. In light of the emerging norm, it is imperative that all supply chain links be economically and ecologically sustainable. For conventional businesses, ensuring environmental advantages and practicing the issue of equitably dividing supply network node profits is exacerbated by green supply chain management. This paper was prompted by the increasing need for information on green supply chain management (GSCM). GSCM is based on the idea of incorporating ecological considerations into traditional SCM practices. Therefore, GSCM is vital in shaping the cumulative environmental effect of businesses engaged in supply chain operations. To assess environmental sustainability requirements, we provide a best-worst method (BWM), a subset of China-based sectors in order to fill this void. The BWM was used to evaluate and quantify the impact of a variety of industrial operations and criteria on environmental quality. To make sure this approach is effective and reliable, we polled 34 experts for their input on which indications from our preliminary literature analysis would be most useful. This study's findings, supported by a sensitivity analysis, indicated stated "waste management" was the single most important indication for China-area businesses to achieve environmental sustainability. The results of this study provide industry managers, decision-makers, and practitioners with the information they need to choose areas of focus during the implementation phase that will have the most impact on promoting social sustainability in their organizational supply chain and moving toward sustainable growth., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Employing a large sample of Chinese firms, this study examined the influence of corporate green innovation on firms' access to trade credit. The results indicated a positive association between green innovation and firms' capability to access trade credit, suggesting that suppliers value firms' green innovation capabilities. This relationship was strengthened after the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law (EPL) in 2015, which enhanced the value of green innovation. The findings remained robust to several robustness tests. The results suggest that green innovation helps firms access trade credit through better environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and more state subsidy channels and plays a more pronounced role for financially constrained firms, non-state-owned enterprises, firms with lower bargaining power, and firms located in regions with better intellectual property rights protections. Green innovation is valuable for future corporate growth and shareholder value. Overall, this study reveals the value of green innovation through informal corporate financing., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The surge in fossil fuel consumption, culminating in global warming and climate change, compels nations to implement protective measures. Consequently, the concepts of "sustainable growth" and the "green economy" have gained prominence in response to heightened environmental consciousness. In light of these imperatives, nations have embarked on the formulation of sustainable and environmentally conscious policies, with the dual objective of safeguarding the environment and fostering economic growth. These factors have collectively contributed to the growing significance of energy policies within European nations, spurring a burgeoning momentum in research areas pertaining to energy efficiency and energy productivity. While extant literature has demonstrated the positive environmental impact of energy productivity, there exists a paucity of research pertaining to its economic implications. Energy productivity, defined as achieving equivalent or greater output with reduced energy consumption, bears the potential to influence economic output, thereby exerting cascading effects on various facets of the economy, including growth and exports. The principal aim of this study is to highlight that the augmentation of energy productivity can yield not only environmental advantages but also economic benefits. To achieve this objective, we conduct econometric analyses on panel data spanning the years 2000 to 2020 across the 27 member states of the European Union. Specifically, we explore the effects of energy productivity on diverse economic parameters, encompassing economic growth, high technology exports, medium and high technology exports, total exports, and trade volume. Employing the Driscoll-Kraay standard errors estimator, our findings evince that energy productivity exerts statistically significant and positive influences on economic growth, medium and high technology exports, total exports, and trade volume., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study explores the potential of green digital finance and green agricultural growth to contribute to the green economic recovery of the BRICS economies. We examine the relationship between these variables using empirical data and various statistical techniques, including vector error correction, co-integration, unit root tests and long-run analysis. Our results suggest that well-functioning financial institutions play a crucial role in facilitating the structural transformation of green digital finance and promoting green agricultural growth to achieve green economic recovery in the BRICS region. Our findings underscore the need for pro-financial and green economic development policies and institutions to support and enhance economic recovery. Our results are robust and supported by our study. We also suggest future research directions for stakeholders interested in promoting sustainable economic growth in the BRICS countries., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Digital finance is an innovative financial model of great significance for sustainable economic growth. By constructing indicators of sustainable economic growth, we explore the impact of digital finance on sustainable economic growth using the fixed effect model, mediating effect model, threshold regression model, and dynamic spatial Dubin model. The study finds that digital finance can drive sustainable economic growth, and the robustness and endogenous treatment results strongly verify this. Digital finance promotes sustainable growth mainly through technological innovation. In addition, with technological innovation and the development of renewable energy, there is a significant nonlinear relationship between digital finance and sustainable economic growth. Finally, the spatial spillover effect results show that digital finance's impact on sustainable economic growth has a positive effect, whether it is a direct effect or an indirect effect. This article provides possible ideas for digital finance to promote sustainable economic growth., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Over time, the economy's growth, financial development, and environmental taxes have become vital tools in countering ecological degradation and promoting clean energy. However, there needs to be a research gap in assessing these policies' collective impact on renewable energy adoption, especially in developing West African countries. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the effectiveness of these policies from 1990 to 2020, using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), fixed effect, and pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test reveals bidirectional causality between economic growth and renewable energy consumption, as well as between financial development and renewable energy use. Unidirectional causality is found from environmental tax to renewable energy consumption. GMM results highlight the positive influences of economic growth and environmental taxes on renewable energy consumption, while financial development negatively affects it. These outcomes are consistent with fixed effect and pooled OLS models. Sectorial heterogeneity analysis indicates better results for countries with strong institutions, advanced technology, and strict regulations. In conclusion, this study's insights can guide policies for sustainability in West Africa, leveraging economic growth, environmental taxes, and technology for effective renewable energy integration., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The rising urban population and accelerated resource consumption pose major environmental challenges. Given that around 75% of global resources are consumed in urban areas, understanding the true association between urbanization (UR) and ecological quality is necessary for better urban strategies. Alongside this, eco-innovation (ECO) can limit environmental pollution and thus, it is the cornerstone of environmental policies. On that note, this research discloses the nexus between eco-innovation, economic growth (EGR), and ecological quality by considering the non-linear effects of UR in the emerging seven (E-7) nations from 1992 to 2018. Unlike previous literature, the newly developed indicator of ecological quality (the load capacity factor (LCF)) is adopted to understand the connection between UR, eco-innovation, and ecological quality since this new comprehensive indicator is based on both biocapacity and ecological footprint (EF). In the methodology, the "Continuously Updated-Fully Modified" (CuP-FM) test is used since this method offers diverse benefits for panel data estimation by accounting for major panel data estimation issues including autocorrelation, endogeneity, heteroscedasticity, fractional integration, and cross-sectional dependence. The empirical estimates unveiled that the current levels as well as high levels of UR limit the LCF. This evidence suggests that UR in the E-7 nations expands ecological degradation. This finding contradicts the assertions of ecological modernization theory that expanding urbanization brings some ecological benefits. Similarly, economic growth alleviates ecological quality. However, eco-innovation and agricultural land (AGL) contribute to enhancing the LCF and promoting ecological quality. Further, UR and eco-innovation Granger cause the LCF. Lastly, comprehensive urban environmental strategies are discussed to promote sustainable urbanization backed by eco-innovation., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an era of rapid economic growth poses a significant challenge for policymakers and researchers. This study investigates the interconnected relationships between economic growth, innovation promoters, and sustainable development using data from 102 countries between 2016 and 2022. Employing multiple linear regression (MLR) models, we identify crucial factors influencing sustainable development. Our findings reveal a multifaceted relationship between economic growth and sustainable development, emphasizing the need for tailored development strategies. We highlight the diverse roles played by innovation promoters across various country clusters. We discern patterns of change in sustainable development and innovation performance through a comparative analysis of country clusters over time. These insights carry significant implications for policymakers, underscoring the importance of context-specific approaches to achieve SDGs., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The concept of sustainability in the context of human resource management (HRM), or more precisely, green HRM, has significantly transformed in recent years. Human resources are an important and valuable asset of a firm. In this research, green HRM is concentrated on the areas where HRM is held accountable for the company's sustainability initiatives. The research examines the effects of green HRM on organizational performance in China while considering the mediating roles of green innovation (GI), green employee behavior (GEB), and organizational culture. The data was gathered from 316 HR specialists working in various Chinese manufacturing businesses to meet the study's goals. A self-administered questionnaire utilizing the preexisting scale is used to obtain the data (detail is provided in Table 1). The smart PLS 4 structural equation modeling approach is applied for the data analysis. The study results indicate that green HRM practices influence green innovation (GI), green culture (GC), and green employee behavior (GEB). Furthermore, results also suggest that GI, GC, and GEB influence the organization's sustainable performance (SP). The research has several theoretical, methodological, and practical ramifications for many stakeholders, including the Chinese security exchange commissions, firms' senior management, academics, and HR specialists., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

As a typical practice of regional innovation policy, national innovation demonstration zones (NIIDZ) plays an important role in empowering green technology innovation. Analyzing the internal logic between NIIDZ and green technology innovation is of great practical significance to enhance China's independent innovation capability and accelerate the ecological civilization construction. Based on the panel data of 280 cities from 2005 to 2020, we use the difference-in-difference model (DID) to evaluate the policy effect of NIIDZ on green technology innovation from the dual perspective of quality and quantity. The results show that NIIDZ effectively contributes to the quantity of green technology innovation (GTI) and the quality of green technology innovation (GTQ), especially GTI. The conclusion is still valid after robustness tests like PSM-DID and eliminating the pilot interference of innovative cities. The test of the intermediary mechanism shows that regional innovation policy can not only directly drive GTI and GTQ but also indirectly promote them through accelerating talent gather, driving industrial clusters, and increasing government financial support. Spatial heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effectiveness of regional innovation policy demonstrates a decreasing trend from east to west, and this positive effect is more significant in cities with a higher level of financial development. Our results provide important policy insights for the Chinese government to further stimulate the effectiveness of green innovation in the NIIDZ, accelerate the construction of an innovative country, and achieve high-quality green economic development., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper critically discusses the importance of cooperative environmental governance (CEG) for efficient waste management and waste-to-energy (WtE) generation in the context of growing urban South Asia. Focusing on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan experiences, the paper reveals that even though much progress has been done in the urbanisation in the selected countries, the process of waste management (mainly municipal solid waste) has not been effective due to low level of local inclusion. As a result, the WtE generation potential has not been realised to its fullest. In addition, it has been argued that institutional and social reforms are extremely important for strengthening the CEG, and it will eventually lead to effective and optimal WtE generation in the urban cities of the selected South Asian countries for green transition and urban sustainability. Finally, an integrated solid waste management framework has been formulated for policy implications in South Asia., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The knowledge economy system shifts focus on the significance of intellectual capital. Moreover, the concept itself has gained generous amount of recognition at global level due to the increasing pressure from competitors, stakeholders, and environmental forces. Indeed, its antecedents and consequences have been assessed by scholars. However, the assessment appears to be inexhaustive with respect to meaningful frameworks. With the help of preceding literature, the present paper designed a model which involves green intellectual capital, green innovation, environmental knowledge, green social behavior, and learning outcomes. The model stipulates that green intellectual capital makes green innovation possible which further results in competitive advantage in the presence of environmental knowledge as a mediator as green social behavior and learning outcomes as a moderator. Interestingly the model acknowledges the proposed relationship through the empirical evidence collected from 382 Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises. The findings provide deeper insights regarding the issue that how firms could extract maximum benefits from their green assets and capabilities in the form of intellectual capital and green innovation., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In recent times, the concept of green growth has emerged, which has a critical part to play in controlling the environmental impact of economic activities. In this analysis, we have explored three determinants of green growth: green finance investment, technological capital, and renewable energy. Moreover, this study focuses on the asymmetric impact of green finance investment, technological progress, and renewable energy on green growth in China during the period spanning from 1996 to 2020. To get the asymmetric short and long-run estimates across various quantiles, we have employed the nonlinear QARDL. The long-run estimates attached to a positive shock in green finance investment, renewable energy demand, and technological capital are positively significant at most quantiles. While, the long-run estimates attached to a negative shock in green finance investment, technological capital, and renewable energy demand are insignificant at most quantiles. In general, the findings suggest that the rise in green financial investment, technological capital, and renewable energy demand positively impacts green growth in the long run. The study offers a range of significant policy recommendations that can contribute to the advancement of sustainable green growth in China., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

It is undeniable fact that financial development and technological capital are fundamental determinants that help in the achievement of green growth. This is important to explore the nexus between financial development, technological capital, and green growth in China. This study utilizes the quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) approach for exploring the effect of financial development and technological capital on green growth. The study measures financial development through financial market development and financial institutions development. The study concludes that technological progress and both measures of financial development produce a positive impact on green growth in China in most quantities in long run. The study provides various important policy suggestions that help in upgrading sustainable green growth in China., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Urbanisation can cause a variety of environmental and health issues, which has prompted experts to evaluate degraded areas and develop management strategies aimed at promoting urban sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. In low-carbon cities, sustainable urban areas have low carbon emission and prioritised carbon reduction by implementing sustainable transportation, green infrastructure, and energy-efficient buildings. On the other hand, unsustainable urban areas tend to lack these priorities and rely heavily on non-renewable energy sources and have high carbon emission. Therefore, this study aims to identify the most sustainable and unsustainable regions in the Abha-Khamis Mushayet Twin City region of Saudi Arabia in respect to urbanisation and carbon emission during the period between 1990 and 2020. To do so, we used Landsat datasets to create land use land cover (LULC) maps and then calculated carbon storage, emission, and absorption using InVest software. Additionally, the study examined micro-climatic conditions by calculating the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which allowed determining sustainable and unsustainable regions by comparing the UHI model and carbon similarity and mismatch model using coupling coordination degree model (CCDM). The study found that during the last three decades, the LULC pattern of the region underwent significant alterations, resulting in a substantial decline in carbon storage from 710,425 Mg C/hm 2 in 1990 to approximately 527,012.9 Mg C/hm 2 in 2020. Conversely, carbon emissions were observed to be very high in areas with high built-up density, with emission levels exceeding 20 tons per annum. Whilst the areas of excess carbon have decreased significantly, the areas of excess carbon emission have increased over time, resulting in the UHI effect due to high greenhouse gases. By comparing the UHI and carbon similarity and mismatch model, the researchers found that over 280 km 2 of the study area is unsustainable and has increased since 1990. In contrast, only about 410 km 2 of the study area is currently sustainable. To promote sustainability, the study recommends several strategies such as carbon capture, utilisation, and storage; green infrastructure; and the use of renewable energy to manage carbon emissions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The economic and environmental consequences of bad banking practices have aroused much attention. In China, banks are at the center of shadow banking activities through which they avoid regulation and support environmentally unfriendly businesses such as fossil fuel companies and other high-pollution enterprises. In this paper, we study the impact of bank's engagement in shadow banking activities on its sustainability by using annual panel data of Chinese commercial banks. The result shows that bank's engagement in shadow banking activities has a negative impact on its sustainability and the negative impact of bank's engagement in shadow banking activities is more pronounced for city commercial banks and unlisted banks which are less regulated and lack corporate social responsibility (CSR). Furthermore, we explore the underlying mechanism of our findings and prove that bank's sustainability is impeded because it transforms high-risk loan into shadow banking activities which are less regulated. Finally, by using difference-in-difference (DiD) approach, we find that bank's sustainability improved after the financial regulation on shadow banking activities. Our research provides empirical evidence that the financial regulation on bad banking practices is beneficial for bank's sustainability., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Rapid urbanization has caused severe deterioration of air quality globally, leading to increased hospitalization and premature deaths. Therefore, accurate prediction of air quality is crucial for mitigation planning to support urban sustainability and resilience. Although some studies have predicted air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM) using machine learning algorithms (MLAs), there is a paucity of studies on spatial hazard assessment with respect to the air quality index (AQI). Incorporating PM in AQI studies is crucial because of its easily inhalable micro-size which has adverse impacts on ecology, environment, and human health. Accurate and timely prediction of the air quality index can ensure adequate intervention to aid air quality management. Therefore, this study undertakes a spatial hazard assessment of the air quality index using particulate matter with a diameter of 10 μm or lesser (PM10) in Selangor, Malaysia, by developing four machine learning models: eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), and Naive Bayes (NB). Spatially processed data such as NDVI, SAVI, BU, LST, Ws, slope, elevation, and road density was used for the modelling. The model was trained with 70% of the dataset, while 30% was used for cross-validation. Results showed that XGBoost has the highest overall accuracy and precision of 0.989 and 0.995, followed by random forest (0.989, 0.993), K-nearest neighbour (0.987, 0.984), and Naive Bayes (0.917, 0.922), respectively. The spatial air quality maps were generated by integrating the geographical information system (GIS) with the four MLAs, which correlated with Malaysia's air pollution index. The maps indicate that air quality in Selangor is satisfactory and posed no threats to health. Nevertheless, the two algorithms with the best performance (XGBoost and RF) indicate that a high percentage of the air quality is moderate. The study concludes that successful air pollution management policies such as green infrastructure practice, improvement of energy efficiency, and restrictions on heavy-duty vehicles can be adopted in Selangor and other Southeast Asian cities to prevent deterioration of air quality in the future., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

There is a close relationship between natural resources and production in many sectors, and production and consumption can also have an environmental impact. Low environmental quality affects economic growth and well-being. Environmental protection and economic growth cannot be maximized simultaneously. Choosing the right balance between the two aims is imperative for each country. By moderating the role of merchandise trade and manufacturing value-added from 1970 to 2016, we examine the dynamics of China's natural resource rents, environmental sustainability, and sustainable economic growth. Overall, the results of this study indicate that natural resources improve environmental sustainability at the expense of economic growth. In contrast, financial development, merchandise trade, and urban population growth promote environmental degradation. It is vital to understand governance mechanisms to sustain natural resource policies, considering environmental, social, and governance concerns to benefit society., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

To achieve urban sustainability, it is critical to enhance the environment, economy, and society simultaneously. This study adopted the revised genuine progress indicator (GPI) and ecological footprint (EF) to evaluate the ecological efficiency and economic sustainability of the Yangtze River Delta from 2000 to 2018. Spatial analysis was utilized to identify spatial autocorrelation. A total of 27 cities were then partitioned through k-means cluster analysis. The results showed that GPI and ecological efficiency improved rapidly, but economic sustainability showed a downward trend. GPI and GDP had a high degree of spatial correlation, especially in Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Metropolitan Area. However, no spatial correlation existed between GPI and EF. The city with high GEE can reach 3000 $/gha, indicating the city consumed 1 global hectare to create $3000 of genuine economic growth. Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Taizhou were cities with the highest level of economic sustainability and ecological efficiency. The spatiotemporal characteristics of economic sustainability and ecological efficiency revealed in this study will provide theoretical guidance for alleviating ecological pressure and promoting economic sustainable development., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Oman has traditionally relied upon natural gas and oil for meeting its domestic energy demand. As a result, despite growing economically, the level of carbon dioxide emissions in Oman has persistently surged; consequently, the nation has failed to ensure environmentally sustainable economic growth. Against this background, this current study aims to explore the impacts of energy consumption, energy efficiency, and financial development on Oman's prospects of attaining environmentally sustainable growth over the 1972-2019 period. The estimation strategy is designed to take into account the structural break issues in the data. Using the carbon productivity level as an indicator of environmentally sustainable economic growth, we find long-run associations amid the study variables. Besides, higher energy consumption and greater financial development are found to impede carbon productivity while improving energy efficiency is observed to boost carbon productivity in Oman. Therefore, it is pertinent for Oman to consume low-carbon and energy-efficient fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency levels, and green its financial sector to achieve environmentally sustainable growth., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Very few studies exist in rationalizing comprehensively the relationship between market integration and green economic growth in China. This paper tries to answer the question whether and how market integration influences regional green economic growth in China. Based on the panel data of 285 city-level regions from year 2004 to 2018 in China, this paper develops explanatory mechanism and discusses the influence theoretically and empirically. To advance the analysis, we construct market integration indicator through relative price variance method based on commodity retail price index and employ the Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) productivity index and DEA-SBM (data envelopment analysis-slacks-based measure) model to evaluate green total factor productivity (GTFP) as indicator for green economic growth. Our empirical findings are: (1) Apparent regional imbalance exists in both the development of market integration and green growth and gaps are expanding from year 2004 to 2018. (2) Market integration promotes regional green growth significantly. (3) Mechanism analysis illustrates that market integration fosters green growth through economies of scale effect, composition effect and spillover effect, respectively. (4) Heterogeneous analysis suggests that the influence from market integration on green growth varies depending on region's difference in traffic situation and in overall development level., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The purpose of this research is to explore the connection of financial development, sustainable environmental-economic growth, and energy consumption among the South Asian Nations. This research examines a combine influence on energy consumption, financial development on sustainable environmental economic growth regarding south Asian economies. This study has used autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and panel data set from World Development Indicators (WDI) start from 1980 to 2018. The findings of this study indicate a significant and positive effect of financial development toward economic growth of selected south Asian economies. However, energy consumption has also positive impact toward sustainable environmental-economic growth, which further leads toward sustainable environmental agenda progress. Finally, energy consumption results have positive effect on sustainable economic growth among mean group (MG), pooled mean group (PMG), and common correlated effect mean group (CMEMG) results., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study gives a depiction of what are the general directions taken by international institutions so to tackle the current health emergency and the most pressing environmental issues, such as climate change and COVID-19 (Schaltegger, 2020; Adebayo et al., 2021).The role of companies is crucial under disruptive events, such as a crisis or, more in line with the present time, a pandemic, and the pursue of the shareholder value cannot be the essence and the only objective in doing business anymore, since also ESG (i.e., environmental, social, and governance) dynamics have to be taken in due consideration. Moreover, an adequate and effective corporate governance should lead to higher disclosure quality, which subsequently should help protect the entire planet and ecosystems as well. In this context, the principal role of accounting and corporate reporting activities should be oriented towards making emerge what is and what is not done by companies in their business operations, and the disclosure of financial information is currently deemed inappropriate for pursuing a sustainable growth in the medium and long run (Schaltegger, J Account Org Change 16:613-619, 2020; Kirikkaleli & Adebayo, Sustain Dev 29:583-594, 2020; Tettamanzi, Venturini & Murgolo Wider corporate reporting: La possibile evoluzione della Relazione sulla Gestione Bilancio e Revisione, IPSOA - Wolters Kluwer, Philadelphia, 2021). Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate what international and European institutions have planned to do in order to align corporate objectives with environmental and societal needs in the coming years (Biondi et al., Meditari Account Res 28:889-914, 2020; Songini L et al. Integrated reporting quality and BoD characteristics: an empirical analysis. J Manag Govern, 2021).As of today, our analysis finds that IFRS Foundation (at global level) and EFRAG (at European one) have been taking steps toward the aforementioned issues so to propose disclosure standards more in line with sustainability and environmental needed improvements. In fact, we tried to give a depiction of what are the actual and future strategies that both these institutions are going to put in place: this snapshot will give scientists, engineers, lawyers, and business people an overview of what should be like the corporate world of the near future, from a corporate reporting/accounting perspective (so to better understand what will be expected from companies of all the industries worldwide)., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study aims to focus on Pakistan's fertilizer industry and investigate the causal relationships among environmental consciousness (ECO), green creativity (GCR), green mindfulness (GMD), and energy efficiency (EE), which are all essential mechanisms as well as circumstances that control the situation in well-developed manners. This study consists of a sample regarding four hundred and four (404) employees from seven companies by using partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The results indicate that environmental consciousness significantly and positively affects employee energy efficiency directly and indirectly in the presence of green creativity as a mediator. Moreover, the moderating effect of green mindfulness persisted only in the association between energy efficiency and green creativity. In the appropriate literature, this empirical investigation is the first of its kind which does not only provide an organized way to examine the effects of environmental consciousness on energy efficiency but also recommend the most effective means for employees and associations to embrace the best policies. This study has important policy implications for promoting clean production, clean environment, and sustainable development for developed and developing economies., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

South Asia is a hub for encompassing air contamination, with 37 of the top tiers of the 40 most contaminated urban communities around the globe (IQAIR, 2020). From this perspective, this research aims to explore the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve while controlling for the impacts of technological innovation and energy consumption on the sustainable economic growth-environmental pollution nexus in the backdrop of South Asian economies by using panel dataset from 1998 to 2018. Therefore, this analysis adopts a fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) approach for examination, which affirms the EKC hypothesis existence, suggesting that the environment in South Asia is deteriorating while technological innovations have moderated the impact. Moreover, the empirical findings indicate that energy consumption as well as technological innovations both have a significant positive impact on the CO 2 emanations, which harms biodiversity., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The literature analyzing the ecological impacts of financial development (FD) documents mixed results. In addition, very limited researches consider the role of technological innovation in ecological sustainability even though technological innovation is indispensable to achieve technological advancement, which may help in sustainable development and ecological sustainability. Therefore, this work probes the effects of technological innovation, financial development, and economic growth (GDP) on the ecological footprint (EF) controlling urbanization and employing a STIRPAT framework. The analysis of data from West Asia and Middle East nations from 1990 to 2017 revealed cointegration in the model. The long-run coefficients produced by the continuously updated fully modified technique revealed that a 1% upsurge in technological innovation decreases EF by 0.010%. Interestingly, technological innovation is helpful to decrease EF and enhance economic growth in the West Asia and Middle East (WAME) countries. However, a 1% rise in FD boosts the level of EF by 0.0016% inferring that FD stimulates ecological degradation. Likewise, urbanization in the WAME countries raises EF levels and contributes adversely to ecological quality. In addition to this, the study revealed the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the selected countries accounting for technological innovation, FD, and urbanization in the model. The causal analysis provided evidence of unidirectional causality from FD to EF and bidirectional causality between technological innovation and EF. The study recommends more investment in research and development and strong collaboration between the universities and industries to promote the level of technological innovation for both sustainable development and ecological sustainability. In addition, urban sustainability policies are necessary without decreasing the urbanization level., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Cities, the main place of human settlements, are required to offer high-quality environments to citizens. To achieve this, it is essential to overcome several mega challenges of urbanization, population growth, economic development, environmental deterioration, and climate change. Urban infrastructure construction is capable of enhancing economic growth and promoting urban sustainability, while it will lead to many environmental problems if the infrastructure construction is not properly planned and designed. To address this challenge, this study aims to understand how to ensure the construction land expansion sustainably in rapidly urbanizing cities. In particular, this study analyzed the suitability of construction land expansion in Nanchang, a rapid urbanizing city in China, from 1995 to 2015. The results indicate that the urban expansion speed from 1995 to 2005 was faster than that from 2005 to 2015. The construction land in Nanchang was expanding towards "all directions" and sprawled towards surrounding districts and counties from the original core areas. Nevertheless, about 70% of the Nanchang area was allowable construction area (highly suitable expansion, relatively suitable expansion, and basically suitable expansion areas), indicating that the abundant reserved land resources for urban construction. This study also identified multiple suitability expansion paths of construction land, providing a scientific guidance for the land use planning of Nanchang city. Overall, this study provides a reference to the understanding of the construction land expansion for the achievement of United Nations sustainable development goals. It can also promote the understanding of spatial territory planning and practically enhance the capabilities of land use planning and design.

Pakistan is experiencing increasing CO 2 emissions in contrast with other regions of the world. The country is also facing the problems of low economic growth, energy poverty, and environmental pollution. The objective of the study is to analyze economic growth of Pakistan and obtain some alternate sources of production for sustainable environment. Time series data of Pakistan from 1985 to 2018 is used. In order to estimate direct and substitution effect among energy and non-energy factors on economic growth, translog functional form is used. The presence of multicollinearity among explanatory variables approves to employ ridge regression. Capital per worker has the highest elasticity (0.1531) among all variables followed by consumption of oil (0.0571), natural gas (0.0333), technology (0.0329), and hydroelectricity (0.02). Average output elasticity for oil, natural gas, hydroelectricity, capital per worker, and technology are 0.4474, 0.3127, 0.433, 1.0037, and 0.2309, respectively. Technical progress of variables is ranked as capital per worker, oil consumption, natural gas consumption, hydroelectricity, and technology. Relatively lower but efficient substitution between oil and natural gas provides opportunity to save huge foreign exchange on import of oil. Investment on capital per worker in transport, power, fertilizer, and industrial sectors can reduce the demand of oil and natural gas which would eventually lower carbon dioxide emissions in the country. Increasing 10% investment on capital/worker would mitigate 208.283 million tons of carbon dioxide. Energy inputs are substitutes; therefore, mega hydropower projects and small renewable projects may be launched to cope with energy poverty and environmentally sustainable challenges.

Simultaneous achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially energy efficiency (SDG 7), economic growth (SDG 8), and pollution reduction (SDG 13), has been a major challenge among the developing countries. Besides, there is absence of a study which quantifies clean production (net growth-emission effects) and energy import efficiency (net growth-energy import effects) as indicators of sustainable growth. Thus, this current study examines this issue for South Africa and Nigeria at aggregate and sectoral levels between 1981 and 2015 using simultaneous equation models and threshold regression analysis. Evidence of the sustainable growth cannot be established for South Africa and Nigeria with and without structural break. Further, the analysis shows that, with respect to Nigeria, keeping petroleum import per capita above the respective threshold enhances the environmental quality as aggregate and sectoral outputs increase. However, the CO2 emission can only induce increased GDP per capita when the petroleum import is below the threshold level. In South Africa's case, although maintaining petroleum import beyond the threshold may increase CO2 emission per capita associated with high aggregate output per capita, such emission exhibits a negligible reverse impact on output per capita. Results are found to vary across both lower and upper threshold regimes for sectors. Policy recommendations are discussed in the conclusion.

To mitigate environmental problems and to achieve sustainability, China is striving to transition to low-carbon urban economies. Among several significant steps, the country has made remarkable success in controlling the emissions from transportation, buildings, and energy by shutting down or relocating several polluting industries. This study contributes to the issue of sustainable growth debate using time series data from China for the period 1998-2017 and empirically examines the effects of green investment and renewable energy consumption on production-based carbon emissions for China. The strength of this study is that it tested some new variables such as production-based carbon emissions and green investment. Using autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) cointegration technique, we found that production-based emission and its determinants move together in the long run. The study found that green investment and renewable energy consumption are both helpful in controlling production-based carbon emissions, while trade openness increases production-based carbon emissions. Hence, green investment and renewable energy consumption contribute to the achievement of sustainable growth. Moreover, based on a robustness check, human capital, financial development, and environment-specific technological innovation are found to be helpful in curbing production-based carbon emissions. Our study recommends financial technology (fin-tech), green investment, and public-private partnership investment in renewable energy to mitigate the effect of production-based carbon emissions.

Eco-innovation has become an essential driver of business to alleviate environmental problems and achieve sustainable growth. Due to increasing environmental concerns, many countries have enacted regulations so that businesses minimize their harmful environmental impacts. This paper investigates the linkages between eco-innovation strategy, governmental environmental regulations, and enterprises' sustainable growth considering the moderation effect of managerial environmental concern. A mediation-moderation model is proposed to test the direct and indirect effects. We harness partial least squares path modelling to examine how eco-innovation affects sustainable business growth in the Tunisian agricultural and agri-food sectors. The findings reveal that (1) management environmental concerns and government environmental regulations have a positive impact on eco-innovation strategies; (2) eco-innovation strategies significantly mediate the relationship between government environmental regulations and enterprises' sustainable business growth; and (3) managerial environmental concern has a significant moderating effect on the mediation model.

Due to the potential of reducing negative outcomes of brownfields on environment and contribution to urban sustainability, brownfield redevelopment (BR) gained considerable recognition in the more recent era. Comprehensive literature shows that many studies proposed strategies to promote BR in developed nations; however, studies focusing on developing economies are scarce. Therefore, this study intends to identify significant strategies to promote BR in developing countries by taking the case of Pakistan. A comprehensive literature review and expert opinion were commenced to identify potential strategies. Data were collected from the main stakeholders involved in BR process through an empirical questionnaire. The findings revealed that "Low-interest loans and subsidies with the collaboration of government and financial institutions," "Standardized definition, guidelines, and simplified brownfield process," "Development of technical and infrastructure support," "Create investors interest," "Strengthening remediation technologies R&D" were the five most important strategies to promote BR in Pakistan. Theoretically, the novelty of the current study is to highlight the key strategies to promote BR in developing countries. Practically, the study facilitates governments, urban policymakers, environmentalists, and stakeholders to propose and implement appropriate strategies for promoting BR. Future studies can consider modeling the interactions between strategies and their impact on BR adoption.

The path to sustainable economic growth and development has preoccupied most economies and the European Union (EU) member countries is no exception. Thus, the current study is aimed at revisiting the energy-induced growth by disaggregating energy consumption into (renewable and non-renewable energy consumption) as means of growth. Also, the role of research and development (R&D) in the attainment of sustainable growth in the panel of EU countries over the period 1997-2014 is examined. Accordingly, the preliminary investigation revealed a significant evidence of cointegration in the panel of estimated variables. The study also expectedly suggests that 1% increase in non-renewable energy consumption, renewable energy consumption, and R &D in the long-run is responsible for a respective increase of 0.60%, 0.13%, and 0.05 in the panel countries growth. Furthermore, the causality evidence from renewable energy consumption to economic growth is not only significant but is observed in more countries than the causality from non-renewable energy consumption to economic growth. Thus, it implies that the commitment to sustainable growth and climate actions of the EU countries is fact yielding desirable outcome. Similarly, research development is observed to play a significant and causality impact on the economic growth of the panel countries. In general, the study posits an interesting and a potentially effective policy outlook and economic perspective for the bloc countries.

The circular economy contrasts with the traditional linear economy since it presents a sustainable way both to produce goods and services and to contribute to the development of economies. This paper aims to contribute to a better knowledge of the efficiency of resources productivity, a common indicator to compare how circular economies are, through the estimation of the main determinants for the circular economy in Europe. A systematic analysis and comparison of the performance of all the European Union countries was performed to get further insight into their root causes and to help designing future policies towards a more circular European Union economy. With this purpose, a set of determinant factors for a circular economy in Europe were analysed, under the period between 2000 and 2016. A cluster analysis was applied and complemented with three econometric estimation methods: panel unit root tests, panel cointegration tests and vector autoregression model. The main findings allowed to cluster European countries into three different groups according to the growth rate of their resources productivity and to explain them according to the selected exploratory factors. Special efforts were made to explain the highest productivity growth group, as a way to find relevant drivers towards sustainable productivity growths.

This study aims to determine the effects of deforestation, economic growth, and urbanization on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions levels in the South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) regions for the 1990-2014 period. The data was divided into five sub-panels. Three of them are income-based groups (namely low-, middle- and high-income panels), and the remaining two are South and Southeast Asian regions. The Pedroni cointegration test confirms a long-run relationship between deforestation, economic growth, urbanization, and CO 2 emissions in the SSEA regions. Further, empirical results reveal the existence of a U-shaped relationship between CO 2 emissions and economic growth for all panels (excepting low-income countries). This means that these countries can grow in a sustainable path, but they must be aware of long-term risks of this economic growth, as this sustainable path could be compromised when reaching the turning point of the "U". Moreover, our results suggest that deforestation and urbanization can aggravate environmental pollution in these regions and can further affect sustainable development in the long run. Besides, the most appropriate and cost-effective method to minimize CO 2 emissions is found to be through the improvement of forest activities.

This paper first visits the clean energy consumption for 21 OECD countries and 14 Emerging market countries through a panel unit root test with both sharp and smooth breaks covering the period from 1965 to 2016. The time-varying fitted intercepts of the estimation could better fit the path of clean energy consumption for selected countries. The empirical results suggest that not only sharp breaks should be considered, but also smooth breaks. The economic implications are insightful for the convergence of clean energy consumption for 22 of 35 countries. For USA, Canada, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Hungary, China, Philippines, and Thailand, the clean energy consumption is divergence. Policy encouragement policy would permanently affect not only clean energy consumption path, but also aggregate economic sectors related to consume clean energy.

The climate change is one of the leading problems in the today's world. The rise of the renewable energy meets the sustainable growth objectives since it can decelerate the climate change. For this purpose, this paper investigates the relationship between the renewable energy consumption and the economic growth in the United States (USA). Theoretically, the paper constructs the growth model that captures the effects of the economic complexity indicator as a measure of capabilities and productivity for exporting the "complex" (high value-added) products. Empirically, the paper uses the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimations and observes that both the economic complexity and the renewable energy consumption lead to a higher rate of economic growth in the USA for the period from 1965 to 2016. The paper also discusses the potential policy implications of the results for achieving the sustainable growth objectives.