The relevance of renewable energy and green innovation in environmental sustainability: evidence from BRICS countries

Lakshmana Padhan and Savita Bhat

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2025, vol. 17, issue 1, 52-74

Abstract: The study examines the significance of green innovation and renewable energy usage in reducing the carbon and ecological footprints in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries. It applies a series of econometric techniques and the Driscoll-Kraay standard errors regression approach to data collected between 1995 and 2018 based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Important macroeconomic control variables, such as industrialisation, urbanisation, financial development, trade openness, and natural resources, are also used to strengthen the model. Empirical results show that a 1% increase in green innovation reduces the carbon and ecological footprint by 0.229% and 0.226%, respectively. Further, increasing renewable energy consumption by 1% decreases the carbon and ecological footprints by 0.024% and 0.032%, respectively. Furthermore, the empirical findings support the EKC hypothesis. The study has important policy implications for governments and policymakers of emerging countries to invest more in green innovation and promote renewable energy.

Keywords: green innovation; renewable energy; carbon footprint; ecological footprint; BRICS; Driscoll-Kraay standard errors; environmental Kuznets curve; EKC; environmental degradation; GDP; economic growth. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=142926 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:52-74

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Sustainable Economy from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().