Embracing Eco-Digitalization and Green Finance Policies for Sustainable Environment: Do the Engagements of Multinational Corporations Make or Mar the Target for Selected MENA Countries?

Abstract

It is an undeniable fact that the digital economy and green financing are persistently gaining global attention as effective tools for achieving rapid economic growth and development. However, the environmental effects of these indicators are just evolving, leaving the research community with insufficient policies for harnessing the much-anticipated sustainability agenda. Hence, this research provides the first empirical evidence of the impacts of eco-digitalization and green financing on the sustainable environment in selected Middle East and North African countries from 1995 to 2019. The empirical model considers the roles of multinational corporations, renewable and nonrenewable energy, economic growth, and population growth as covariates models based on the STIRPAT framework. The stated hypotheses are verified based on Cross-Sectionally Augmented Mean Group, Mean Group, Common Correlated Mean Group, and Panel Quantile Regression. Findings show that from eco-digitalization, green financing, and renewable energy drive sustainable environment agenda. On the flip side, nonrenewable energy, economic growth, and population growth largely deter delivering on the blueprint. The estimated results are corroborated by findings from panel quantiles regression. Furthermore, the panel causality uncovers the existence of bidirectional and unidirectional causality in the estimated model. Policy insights that support the pathways toward sustainability in MENA economies are suggested based on the findings.