Green Finance and Sustainable Development in ASEAN: Impacts on CO₂ Emissions from Economic Growth, Trade, and Energy Transitions

Abstract

Purpose: The promotion of green growth is an important vehicle for conservation and emission reductions, and the impact on climate change implications could be further understood. Based on this idea, we investigated the effects of green growth on CO₂ emissions in ASEAN countries where our panel data was taken from multiple member states for the period 1999-2022. We also discussed regional heterogeneity and the effects of green finance in moderating the link between green growth and carbon emissions. Design/methodology/approach: We employ the Panel EGLS regression including period fixed effects. Findings: We find that the green growth produced a significant negative effect on CO₂ emissions in ASEAN, indicat-ing that there has been some initial success in decoupling economic development from environmental degradation in the long term, and green finance also appeared to reinforce efforts for emissions reductions. We also find that, for ASEAN countries like Singapore and Malaysia which have advanced economies, green growth had a more significant negative carbon mitigation effect than the less-developed members. Further, green finance had a stronger reduction effect on carbon emissions in countries that had relatively stronger institutional capacity and regulatory ecosystems. Research limitations/implications: Growth towards green does not simply cause reductions in emissions directly, but also cause reductions in emissions indirectly through the dissemination and transference to green finance instruments. These outcomes point to the necessity of employing green finance tools within green growth agendas, whilst giving room for interventions that are contextualized by the economy and institutional orientation of each individual ASEAN State. Originality/value: Importantly, our empirical findings that there is a relationship between green finance and sustainable development in ASEAN.