Open research questions in Energy, Environment, Economic Growth

What the literature leaves open

• However, empirical evidence remains limited regarding how institutional quality, green technological innovation, renewable energy, and trade openness jointly influence CO 2 emissions across European countries.

  Revolutionizing Climate Action: Achieving <scp>SDG</scp> 13 Through the Lens of the Rule of Law, Green Technology Innovation, Renewable Energy, and Trade Openness · 2026 · DOI

• While China has aggressively promoted the upgrading of traditional industrial zones into national‐level EIPs, the heterogeneous impacts of these transformations on urban green total factor productivity (GTFP) remain underexplored.

  Delivering Sustainable Urban Growth: The Heterogeneous Effects and Mechanisms of Transforming Industrial Parks Into Eco‐Industrial Parks · 2026 · DOI

• for Vietnam. Source: Author's synthesis https://journal.tdmu.edu.vn Page 448 Thu Dau Mot University Journal of Science ISSN (print): 1859-4433; (online): 2615-9635 2.3. Market-failure rationale for government intervention A central question for any policy-oriented study of green FDI concerns why government intervention is necessary in the first place. Mainstream economic theory suggests that markets, left unregulated, will allocate capital efficiently. However, green FDI operates in a domain characterized by well-documented market failures that justify deliberate policy intervention. The most significant of these is the presence of negative externalities. Environmental degradation including carbon emissions, water pollution and ecosystem destruction imposes costs on society that are not captured in the private returns to investment. When firms make location and investment decisions based solely on internal profitability, they systematically undervalue the environmental consequences of their activities, leading to an overinvestment in polluting sectors and underinvestment in clean technologies (Golub et al., 2011). This externality problem explains why green FDI does not emerge at sufficient scale through market mechanisms alone and why governments must intervene through instruments such as carbon pricing, emissions standards and green certification to internalize environmental costs. A second market failure arises from the public-goods character of environmental protection and climate stability. The benefits of reducing carbon emissions including avoided climate damage, improved public health and the preservation of ecosystem services are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, meaning that no single investor can capture the full value of an investment in clean energy or emissions reduction. This creates a free-rider problem that discourages private investment in green technologies relative to the socially optimal level (OECD, 2019). Public policy interventions such as green finance subsidies, tax incentives and public–private partnerships serve to bridge this gap by ensuring that the collective benefits of green investment are reflected in the incentive structure facing individual investors. A third market failure concerns information asymmetry. Investors and host-country regulators often lack sufficient information to distinguish genuinely green projects from those that merely claim environmental credentials the greenwashing problem identified earlier. This asymmetry reduces investor confidence and distorts capital flows away from authentic green investments.

  International experiences for green FDI attraction: Lessons for Vietnam to 2030 · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should examine the longer-term dynamics of ECIP-induced financial adjustment, including whether the observed investment suppression eventually reverses as firms internalize compliance strategies and develop green capabilities. The study also focuses on a 2013–2024 window, and whether the observed financial reallocation represents a transient adjustment or a persistent structural shift remains an open question requiring longer-horizon evidence. Several limitations of the present study should be acknowledged.

  <b>Environmental Regulation and Financial Reallocation: Evidence from China’s Incentive Penalty Policy</b> · 2026 · DOI

• While this study provides important insights into the relationship between green technological innovation and human development in Iraq, several limitations should be acknowledged. The analysis relies primarily on macro-level indicators, which may not fully capture regional disparities or sector-specific dynamics within the Iraqi economy. In addition, data limitations restricted the ability to conduct more advanced econometric modelling of the causal relationship between technological innovation and human development outcomes. Future research could extend this analysis by examining regional-level variations, particularly in rural and conflict-affected areas, where development challenges remain particularly severe. Further empirical studies using econometric modelling or panel data analysis could also provide deeper insights into the long-term causal relationships between green innovation policies, environmental sustainability, and human development outcomes.

  Green Technological Innovation and Human Development in Resource-Dependent Economies: Structural Assessment of Iraq's Sustainable Growth Path · 2026 · DOI

• The current study has several limitations, and the robustness and generalizability of the findings can be affected due to these aspects of this study. First of all, the applicability of results across the Thailand and China contexts could be limited due to the differences in their culture, regulatory frameworks, and economic structures. Secondly, the nature of factors such as technological advancements and financial markets are dynamic, and they are rapidly evolving so it will limit the scope of this study. This study may overlook the important factors than can significantly influence this study i.e., sustainable utilization of resources through the governmental influence, social dynamics of countries and dynamic political scenarios. Future research can concentrate on a few significant global economies and make a comparison between China and Thailand's environmental management and those of big economies. This can give a comprehensive overview of the laws put in place globally to protect environmental quality. Future studies may find it helpful to identify directions and suggestions based on the limitations of this study. Adalı, Z., & Yuksel, S. (2017). Causality relationship between foreign direct investments and economic improvement for developing economies. https://doi.org/10.24954/mjecon.2017.6 Adebayo, T. S., Aga, M., Agyekum, E. B., Kamel, S., & El-Naggar, M. F. (2022). Do renewable energy consumption and financial development contribute to environmental quality in MINT nations? Implications for sustainable development. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 1068379. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1068379 Afolabi, A. R., Amosun, O. O., Agbor, M. A. N., & Okunade, S. O. (2024). Environmental Sustainability Disclosures and Financial Performance of Listed Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria: An Application of Driscoll-Kraay Standard Errors Approach. NIU Journal of Social Sciences, 10(2), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.58709/niujss.v10i2.1874 - 202 - Inzinerine Ekonomika-Engineering Economics, 2026, 37(2), 195–205 Ahmed, R. R., Rampal, R., Streimikiene, D., & Streimikis, J. (2025). Examining the Influence of Green HR Practices on Green Organizational Performance: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Sector of Asian Economies. Inzinerine Ekonomika-Engineering Economics, 36(1), 113–129. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.36.1.37891 Apipoonyanon, C., Kuwornu, J. K., Szabo, S., & Shrestha, R. P. (2020). Factors influencing household participation in community forest management: evidence from Udon Thani Province, Thailand. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 39(2), 184–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2019.1632211 Blakstad, R. M. S. S. S. Sustainable digital finance in Asia: Creating environmental impact through bank transformation 2019 SDFA.

  Natural Resource Efficiency, Financial Development, and Digital Finance: A Pathway to Sustainable Natural Resource Utilization in Thailand and China · 2026 · DOI

• This research contributes to academic discourse by filling significant gaps in understanding the moderating roles of technological innovations and offers actionable insights for policymakers striving to harmonize digital expansion with ecological sustainability in the GCC context.

  Digital Economy and Sustainable Development Challenges in the <scp>GCC</scp> Countries: Do Innovations Drive Sustainable Digital Transformation? · 2026 · DOI

• While this study provides robust evidence on the drivers of CO₂ emissions in the world’s highest- -emitting economies, it is not without limitations. First, although the PMG and dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) estimators account for heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence, the analysis remains limited to a fixed group of ten countries, which may constrain generalizability. Second, due to data limitations, the study does not disaggregate emissions by sector or energy source, which could help pinpoint the most carbon- -intensive activities. Third, the use of annual data may obscure short-term fluctuations and policy shocks. Future research could expand the geographical scope to include emerging emitters, adopt a sectorspecific or energy-type decomposition, and explore interactions between environmental regulations and fiscal or trade policy. Additionally, incorporating spatial econometric techniques may uncover deeper structural patterns in emission dynamics. Author contributions: Everything was solely written by me.

  Industrial activity, renewable energy, and institutional factors as drivers of CO₂ emissions in ten high-emitting economies · 2026 · DOI

• 2 Economic and policy implications First, reducing operational risk of heavily polluting firms—a major share of China’s industrial output—may lower systemic economic risk, revealing an underexplored synergy between environmental goals and financial stability (Liu et al.

  Environmental Protection Tax Law and enterprise operational risks: evidence from China · 2026 · DOI

• Achieving the low-carbon transformation of energy consumption structure is central to carbon-neutral development, yet how artificial intelligence (AI) contributes to sustained structural change remains insufficiently understood.

  Artificial Intelligence and Low-Carbon Energy Transition: From the Perspectives of Green Innovation Resilience and Green Finance · 2026 · DOI

• However, despite growing adoption of environmental taxes worldwide, their efficacy in reducing carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2 E) in African contexts remains underexplored, and existing forecasting models have ignored tax policies, rendering their forecasting and mitigation output ineffective for policy making.

  Africa's carbon emissions: Probing the economic determinants, forecasting and proposing a roadmap towards carbon neutrality using a machine learning algorithm · 2026 · DOI

• The evolution of technological advances and digitalization drives both societies and businesses to go through fundamental changes. Moreover, addressing the environmental degradation resulting from increased CO2 emissions is of great importance for policy makers to develop appropriate strategies considering digital transformation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. Economic development countries are more likely to contribute to environmental deterioration. Economic growth associated with industrialization activities leads to an increase in energy consumption, which in turn leads to higher levels of pollution and consequently environmental degradation. Policymakers should develop strategies towards decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation. Taking into consideration the digital transformation and the utilization of renewable energy sources, they can develop more sustainable models of economic development. In addition, legislative measures such as tax reductions and discounts on power bills for households and industrial sector in order to enforce production and consumption of renewable energy instead of conventional fossil fuels (Destek et al., 2018). As environmental policies become stricter, CO2 emissions decrease and the revenue generated from these policies can be reinvested into additional reduction initiatives (Özmen & Mutascu, 2023; Wolde-Rufael & Mulat-weldemeskel, 1 3M. Masoura, S. Malefaki 2023). Addressing the issue of increased CO2 emissions from the agricultural sector requires policies focused on two directions. Firstly, promoting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices advocating for sustainable farming techniques such as the use of natural pesticides, hydroponic systems, crop rotation, polycultures, and urban agriculture, among others (Coulibaly et al., 2021). Secondly, fostering environmentally-friendly approaches in the value-added processes of agriculture, spanning manufacturing, marketing, and service sectors. Facilitated by the integration of ICT and the transition to renewable energy sources. Providing financial and technical support for emerging ICT technologies and investing in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy, as well as utilizing ethanol and biodiesel, are primary alternatives for renewable fuels made from renewable resources (Agricultural marketing resource center, 2023; Brini, 2023). Based on our findings indicating a positive relation between R&D and CO2 emissions, it is imperative for the EU to lead initiatives to promote investment in clean technologies. R&D initiatives can play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing environmental impacts through advancements in waste management, energy-efficient manufacturing, and improving technologies for storage and transfer renewable energy at lower costs.

  The impact of socio-economic factors and digital performance on environmental sustainability: the case of European Union · 2026 · DOI

• In these sectors, the relationship between GHG emissions and economic growth remains unclear, with some sectors showing stable emissions while others dis- playing too much variability for clear patterns to emerge. The limitation of this study is that the Mann-Kendall trend test applied can identify significant monotonic trends in time series, but it cannot account for structural breakpoints.

  An evaluation of decoupling in the Hungarian economy · 2026 · DOI

• Furthermore, the research period largely precedes the strengthening of China's "Dual Carbon" policy framework; future work should examine how policies like carbon markets and green finance moderate the identified relationship. Future research should explore data refinement, methodological advances, and international comparisons to build a more systematic theoretical framework for global green trade and corporate low-carbon development. Second, this study does not account for other potential moderating variables, such as corporate governance and policy interactions; subsequent studies could employ moderation models to explore these channels in depth.

  Study on the Impact of Enterprise Export Technological Complexity on Carbon Emissions: Micro-level Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could examine the impact of Scope 3 emissions on global supply chains using network analysis. Finally, future research should examine the roles of innovation, organizational culture, and the interaction between formal and informal regulation in the transition to more sus- tainable and profitable business models.

  Relationship between carbon emissions and financial performance: fixed-effects panel model focused on sectoral and regulatory heterogeneity · 2026 · DOI

• Second, future research could explore the specific roles and potential moderating effects of mediating variables such as technological innovation and policy support. Third, future research could examine the applicability of findings across multiple levels, such as industrial, firm, and house- hold perspectives, to enhance the generalizability and practical relevance of the conclusions. Based on the limitations of the current study, we propose the following suggestions for future research.

  Unlocking the potential of the net-zero energy transition: the enabling role of green finance · 2026 · DOI

• There is significant heterogeneity in terms of life expectancy among different nations despite the global increase in life expectancy. Further, improved life expectancy is a meaningful in terms of sustainable development. indicator of progress Therefore, our influences of environmental policy stringency and clean energy utilization on LEB because only one study (Prokop et al., 2023) has reported the effects of environmental policy stringency index on quality of life in select OECD countries to date. The present work is also a pioneering study concentrates on the effort at analyzing the link between environmental policy stringency and LEB in the sample of E7 economies, which include global leaders in CO2 emissions such as China and India, through robust cointegration and AMG estimator assessments along with a causality test. The main limitations of our study are as follows: The study duration was identified as 1992–2020 because data on the environmental policy stringency are available only for this period. The study sample consists of only the E7 countries, so the findings presented herein are mostly useful for policymaking in the E7 countries or countries with similar socioeconomic characteristics. The environmental policy stringency index was calculated using data from international organizations such as the International Energy Agency and OECD countries; hence, there may be measurement errors owing to the variety of data sources or specifying missing values through interpolation.

  Effects of environmental policy stringency and clean energy use on life expectancy: empirical insights from E7 countries · 2026 · DOI

• Although this paper conducts an in-depth study on new quality productive forces and the agricultural green transformation, it still has the following limitations. First, some variables in the indicator system for new quality productive forces are urban macro indicators, and their direct relevance to the agricultural sector needs further refinement. Future research could expand the data dimensions and construct an indicator system for new quality productive forces spe- cific to agriculture to enhance the accuracy of the conclusions. Second, this paper does not consider spatial spillover effects; the development of new quality productive forces may influence neigh- boring areas through spatial diffusion. Future studies could employ spatial econometric models for further analysis to clarify the inten- sity of the impact of new quality productive forces on the agricul- tural green transformation in both local and neighboring regions, thereby making the conclusions more comprehensive. Third, although we have verified the transmission role of green technologi- cal innovation, the exploration of other potential transmission path- ways remains insufficient, failing to fully reveal the internal logic through which new quality productive forces empower the agricul- tural green transformation. Future research can deepen the mecha- nistic analysis, further uncover the transmission mechanisms of new the agricultural green quality productive forces enabling transformation, and combine case studies to support technology implementation and policy execution.

  Study on the mechanisms and threshold effects of new quality productive forces on agricultural green transformation: evidence from Henan Province, China · 2026 · DOI

• that offer directions for future research. The analysis focuses on firms in a single the generalizability of metropolitan area, which may limit the findings. Future studies could extend the analysis to other regions or conduct cross-country comparisons. Second, although multiple robustness checks are conducted, potential endogeneity issues cannot be fully eliminated (Gao et al., 2024). Future research may employ quasi-natural experiments or instrumental variable approaches to strengthen causal inference (Deng et al., 2019). The measurement of policy–enterprise fit relies on proxy indicators; from survey-based or qualitative data to capture this concept more precisely (Feng et al., 2024). Despite these limitations, this study provides robust evidence that digital transformation alone is insufficient to guarantee low-carbon transition (Chen et al., 2024). Effective policy design must account for firm heterogeneity and institutional (Englmaier et al., 2018). By highlighting the conditional nature of policy effectiveness, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how digitalization can support sustainable industrial development (Xie et al., 2023).

  Policy–technology–finance synergy and sustainable industrial low-carbon transition · 2026 · DOI

• Third, the sample period primarily covers China’s ETS pilot phase, and future research could examine the long-term effects of the national carbon market or conduct cross-country comparative analyses.

  Can market-based environmental regulation curb corporate greenwashing? Evidence from China’s carbon emissions trading scheme · 2026 · DOI

• Finally, future studies should examine heterogeneity between resource-based and non-resource-based MENA economies, since differences in energy dependence, institutional quality, and fiscal capacity may generate divergent responses to international cooperation and energy transition policy interventions.

  International cooperation, energy transition and green growth in the MENA region: A panel data analysis · 2026 · DOI

• Research conclusion (TFP) total in China. Utilizing panel data This study provides a systematic evaluation of the impact of factor transition (EET) on regional energy–economic productivity from prefecture-level cities spanning 2005 to 2020, we construct a multidimensional EET index and employ a rigorous empirical framework—including panel fixed-effects models, threshold regressions, and mediation analysis—to uncover…

  Energy–economic transition and total factor productivity: empirical evidence from China · 2026 · DOI

• The external validity of these results to non-OECD settings remains uncertain, given differences in institutional capacity, energy structures, and enforcement.

  Evaluating the impact of environmental taxes on energy use: evidence from OECD countries · 2026 · DOI

• Most existing empirical research focuses on advanced or emerging economies, leaving a gap in understanding how globalization, trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI), urbanization, and economic growth influence renewable energy adoption in under‐researched contexts.

  Do globalization, foreign direct investment, trade openness, and urbanization propel renewable energy transition? Empirical evidence from kernel regularized quantile regression modeling · 2025 · DOI

• The literature discusses green finance mobilization and governance frameworks for green transitions but lacks analysis of how financial mechanisms and institutional structures can be made resilient to market volatility, policy reversals, or funding gaps that threaten long-term green energy deployment.

  Green finance in the global energy transition: Actors, instruments, and politics · 2024 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Energy, Environment, Economic Growth

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• Environmental Kuznets curve for CO₂ emissions: a literature survey · Journal of Economic Studies · 2018 · 546 citations
• Green technology innovations, urban innovation environment and CO2 emission reduction in China: Fresh evidence from a partially linear functional-coefficient panel model · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2021 · 523 citations
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• The impact of green technological innovation and institutional quality on CO2 emissions in African countries · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2022 · 395 citations
• Green technology progress and total factor productivity of resource-based enterprises: A perspective of technical compensation of environmental regulation · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2021 · 391 citations
• The costs of “blue sky”: Environmental regulation, technology upgrading, and labor demand in China · Journal of Development Economics · 2021 · 379 citations

Most recent work

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