Effects of green energy and productivity on environmental sustainability in BRICS economies: The role of natural resources rents

By developing a theoretical framework, this paper constructs two models for environmental sustainability, each with an ecological footprint and CO2 emissions. The empirical study considers panel data from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) based on the need for consistent economic growth with minimum environmental cost in these five major emerging countries. The data period ranges from 1994 to 2018. According to the findings from several estimation techniques, total factor productivity and renewable energy consumption improve environmental quality. However, natural resources rents and economic growth are detrimental to environmental sustainability. Therefore, it is concluded that the mere blind use of natural resources to achieve economic growth without raising productivity and green energy is ecologically unsustainable. Appropriate policies are discussed to promote the productivity of governments via emerging technologies and digitalisation.