Past and present of energy: The role of green finance, technological innovation, and financial risk in sustainability indicators

Abstract

The world is facing the problems of climate change with massive disasters in developing and underdeveloped countries across the globe. However, this study explores the relation between technology innovation, green finance, trade openness, infrastructure, economic growth, FDI and energy efficiency. This study contributes to SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 14 (Climate Action) by examining how technological innovation, green finance and economic factors influence energy efficiency, supporting sustainable development through enhanced energy systems and reduced environmental impact. The study data range is from 2003 to 2019, countries from every part of the world based on the availability of data. The data for this study is collected from world development indicators, world governance indicators and OECD databases. The results indicate that green finance and technology innovation show significant relation with energy efficiency. This study's findings suggest that to achieve sustainable & energy efficient economies on a country level, solutions like green finance, technological innovation and soft infrastructure would be helpful. Based on these empirical basis, policymakers in territories to financial risk-persuaded environmental destruction should fully integrate policies or initiatives that maintain prudent financial structures to mitigate environmental shocks and their associated multiplier effect on the environmental objectives established to defend both the current and future generations.