Sustainable Development Dilemma: Unraveling the Environmental Impacts of Green Technology and Economic Growth in Pakistan

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between environmental CO2 emissions and environmental determinants of green technology, foreign direct investment (FDI), energy efficiency, and economic growth (GDP) in Pakistan. The data uses the period 1995 to 2023. Utilizing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique, the results indicate a multifaceted relationship between these variables and environment CO2 Emissions. Green technology has a significantly positive impact on environmental CO2 emissions, through a 1 percent increase and a 1.12 percent decrease in environmental CO2 emissions. Additionally, foreign direct investment (FDI) shows a small but positive impact on environmental CO2 emissions, suggesting that even environmentally intensive investments may have unplanned consequences. Energy efficiency due to its robust effect has a positive impact on the environment's CO2 emissions. Finally, economic growth is found to positively influence environmental CO2 emissions. These results highlight the meaning of targeted policies to exploit the benefits of green technology and economic growth while carefully managing the impacts of foreign direct investment FDI and energy efficiency.