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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.

Sec. Environmental Policy and Governance

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1525281

New Insights into How Green Innovation, Renewable Energy, and Institutional Quality Shape Environmental Sustainability in Emerging Economies

Provisionally accepted
  • Xi'an Aeronautical University, Xi'an, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The development of green innovation in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is gaining popularity in recent works. However, the perspective from emerging economies is limited leaving them behind in the drive toward global sustainability. Therefore, this study provides new insights into how green innovation development and the quality of institutions have influenced green energy adoption and overall Sustainability using 30 emerging economies from 1990 to 2020. The study employs three econometric models-Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) to make a comparative analysis. The findings show the varying and pivotal role of technological advancements, institutions, and green energy in reducing carbon footprints based on models.Notably, it was found that green innovation had a positive effect (FMOLS), and negative effect (DOLS and OLS) on CO2 emissions. Renewable energy had a negative effect (FMOLS and OLS), and a positive effect (DOLS) on CO2 emissions. Again, institutional quality showed a positive effect (DOLS and FMOLS) and a negative effect (OLS) on CO2 emissions. The study believes the DOLS model exhibited the most robust explanatory power, with the highest explanatory power of 99.9%. These results provide greater insights and the comprehensive policies outlined can help policymakers formulate working policies to bolster green innovation, improve green energy development, and strengthen institutional frameworks toward achieving overall SDGs.

    Keywords: sustainable development, green innovation, emerging economies, Sustainable economies, Institutions

    Received: 11 Nov 2024; Accepted: 12 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 GAN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Juan GAN, Xi'an Aeronautical University, Xi'an, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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