Do green growth and technological innovation matter to infrastructure investments in the era of climate change? Global evidence

Abstract

This study investigates the nexus between green growth, technological innovations, and infrastructure investment trends, through an international investigation of 56 countries for the period of 2000–2020. Based on the Environmental Impact by Population, Affluence and Technology (IPAT) and Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) frameworks, the study looks at the nexus between infrastructure investments, green growth, and technological innovations in the era of climate change. We find that increases in global carbon emissions are associated with higher infrastructure investment needs for the sustainable development of the world’s economy. Besides global infrastructure investments for sustainable development goals (SDGs), the economic costs of climate change are also reflected in technological innovations across countries and sectors. With higher investments in technological innovations such as low-carbon infrastructure and energy technologies, we highlight the roles of environment-oriented R&D and taxes in our global sample. The findings are validated through utilising a set of econometric techniques and are particularly crucial to emerging economies, and pollutingeconomies with high climate risk exposure. SDGs. Our study provides a formal empirical investigation of climate change, investments in infrastructure, and green growth. We also provide critical policy implications, future directions, and agendas in sustainable green finance and climate economics.