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Abstract Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is inefficient for evaluating sustainable development, and the most suitable indicator for this is the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). This paper focuses on distinguishing the ISEW from GDP, mainly through the study of the energy consumption - economic growth nexus. The traditional hypotheses were tested using a Panel-Corrected Standard Errors estimator for twenty-two countries for the time span from 1995 to 2013. The findings show substantial differences between GDP and ISEW. This paper contributes to the discussion about the consequences of these two approaches for the design of suitable policies for a sustainable future.

Corruption is a pervasive issue that significantly affects various sectors of an economy. It can severely undermine environmental sustainability and obstruct processes aimed at mitigating climate change, a critical issue for the survival of humankind. With these issues in mind, this study focuses on the effects of corruption on the green growth in the original BRICS countries, plus the five new members who joined at the beginning of 2024. In order to investigate this, panel data was collected for the 10 countries between 2001 and 2020. The method of analysis applied was the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model, utilizing the Driscoll-Kraay estimator accompanied by fixed effects, thus enabling short- and long-term dynamics to be assessed. The results show negative long-term repercussions from corruption on green growth for BRICS+, suggesting that countries plagued by high levels of corruption are unlikely to counter the environmental ramifications of accelerated economic growth. The findings underscore the need to combat corruption in order to achieve sustainable and environmentally-friendly economic development, especially as each BRICS+ country is included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted at the United Nations’ 2015 summit.

With the growing population and increasing purchasing power, the sustainability of the food sector is questioned as environmental externalities derive from consumption, mainly the emission of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. Academic literature has suggested strategies to efficiently manage food consumption, but one of the main implications is to reduce meat consumption. Such a reduction would mitigate climate change and other environmental externalities as well as reduce health-related problems. However, the livestock sector is also a relevant economic sector for the subsistence of any economy. Therefore, this reduction could threaten economic growth. Following a sample of 14 European high-income countries over more than four decades, the impact of food consumption on economic growth is assessed. Results suggest that both meat and plant-based consumption contribute positively to economic growth. Consequently, a reduction in meat consumption could have a negative impact on the economy. However, strategies to both reduce meat consumption and promote economic growth are discussed in line with the results, with plant-based foods as an efficient option to solve the dilemma. Furthermore, specific strategies for both the supply and the demand side, education on food production and consumption are recommended, particularly in primary schools. Children could learn about healthy and sustainable dietary habits that would not hamper economic growth, as these should be the seeds of future consumption habits.

O presente estudo apresenta uma nova perspetiva da influência do Desenvolvimento Financeiro sobre o Crescimento Económico num painel de 15 países produtores de petróleo, com um período temporal de 1981 a 2011. Incorporou-se no modelo variáveis como as rendas de petróleo, o rácio de produção de petróleo sobre consumo de energia primária, preços de petróleo, exportações de bens e serviços, consumo de petróleo e emissões de CO2. Utilizou-se o modelo ARDL, para analisar as relações dinâmicas entre as variáveis no longo e no curto prazo. Seguidamente utilizou-se o estimador Driscoll-Kray, com efeitos fixos, para corrigir a significância dos parâmetros estimados. Os resultados demonstram a não linearidade no longo prazo, através do Teste U, entre Desenvolvimento Financeiro e Crescimento Económico nos estudos formulados. Devido ao longo período estudado, às variáveis incluídas e ao uso de técnicas econométricas adequadas, ampliou-se a literatura do nexus Desenvolvimento Financeiro-Crescimento Económico.

This paper analyses the impact of several factors on the use of renewable energy sources in a set of European Union countries, by applying a quantile regression approach. We find that different factors are effective for different levels of renewable energy commitment and the magnitudes of some effects evolve in accordance with the level of renewable energy sources used. Consequently, some policies that do not take into account the different stages could carry different effects. The results suggest that the lobbying effect of the established industries hampers the development of renewable sources, and that this effect is greater for lower initial level of renewable energy use. The results reveal that environmental concerns have not yet achieved enough pressure to stimulate major developments on renewables. We include two new drivers, geographic area and European Union Directive 2001/77/EC. That Directive was effective in signaling the commitment to renewables, namely for countries with lower renewables use.

PurposeAustralia is one of the ten largest emitters of greenhouse gases but stands out from the others due to its economic growth without recession for 26 consecutive years. This paper aims to focus on the energy-growth nexus and the effects of energy consumption on the environment in Australia.Design/methodology/approachThis analysis is performed using annual data from 1965 to 2015 and the autoregressive distributed lag model.FindingsThe paper finds empirical evidence of a trade-off between economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity. The results show that increased gross domestic product (GDP) in Australia increased investment in renewable energy sources (RESs), although the renewable technology is limited and has no impact on reducing CO2intensity in the long run. In contrast to investment in RES, fossil fuels, coal and oil, are decreased by GDP. However, oil consumption increased renewable energy consumption, and this reflects the pervading effect of the growing economy.Originality/valueOverall, this paper contributes to the literature by analysing the behaviour of both energy consumption and the environment on the growing Australian economy. In addition, this paper goes further by studying the impact of economic growth on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, as well as on CO2emissions. The study is conducted on a single country for which literature is scarce, using a recent approach and a long time period.