Nexus between Technological Innovation, Renewable Energy, and Human Capital on the Environmental Sustainability in Emerging Asian Economies: A Panel Quantile Regression Approach

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the interlinkage of renewable energy, technology innovation, human capital, and governance on environment quality by using a panel quantile regression in Asian emerging economies over the period of 1990–2019. The results indicated that higher economic growth, population density, technological innovation in renewable energy, and exploitation of natural resources have significantly raised CO2 emissions in emerging Asia. Furthermore, larger capital, more use of renewable energy, green technology, and human capital development can improve environmental sustainability in Asia. As for governances, proxied by corruption rates, no evidence indicated that it has resulted in more damage, unlike earlier studies have suggested. The findings indicated that the three channels exposed in the Kuznets hypothesis can serve as a reference for proposals for environmental policies (scale of consumption, energy composition, and choice of technologies). There are opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions through investments in human development, investing in new technologies to increase efficiency in energy (generation and consumption), increasing working capital (GCF), and migrating to more environmentally friendly energy. The negative link between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth, increases in population density, and exploitation of natural resources can compromise the achievement of sustainable environmental goals.

Keywords

• technological innovation
• panel quantile regression
• environmental sustainability
• CO₂ emissions
• renewable energy
• emerging Asian economies