ACHIEVING GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION THROUGH CLIMATE CHANGE CONTROL WITH THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN COVID-19 PERIOD

The study inquired the role of financial development (FD) on climate change control in COVID-19 period to identify the ways useful to achieve greenhouse gas mitigation in BRICS economies. BRICS countries are included because of their high energy-environment dependence and their need for climate financing through FD promoting greenhouse gas emission. The projected role of FD activity on climate change mitigation is inferred using the generalized methods of moments (GMM). The study results indicated that five out of the six climate change mitigation indicators have a long-term correlation with BRICS’s CO₂ emissions. On the other side, there is no evidence of integration between variables in Russia. Moreover, the findings revealed that there 18% rise in FD is estimated, this raised the probability of effective climate change mitigation by 39% in the post-COVID-period, and it reduces greenhouse gas mitigations by 24.7%. The results also highlighted that there is a one-way correlation between energy use and climate drifts. On these findings, policymakers and environmental regulators in BRICS could take inspiration from our study to plan and revisit greenhouse gas mitigation through proper environmental legislation. Additionally, it also encourages other countries and economies to perform comparable assessments and select the best course of action. Hence, this study provides detailed and viable recommendations for key stakeholders for consideration and application to achieve the intended objectives.