Racing Towards Carbon Neutrality: Synergy Between Environmental Poverty, Environmental Regulations, Financial Constraints and Political Instability

The main objective of this study is to analyse the impact of environmental poverty (EP), environmental regulation (ENVR), financial constraints (FNC) and political instability (PIST) on carbon dioxide emissions (abbr. CO2e), with other variables including international collaboration in green technology development (ICGTD), hybrid electric vehicle technology (HEVT) and gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC). The augmented mean group estimator approach is chosen to gauge the long-term coefficients. The findings indicate that strengthening ENVR in Asian countries can reduce CO2e effectively, highlighting the importance of policy-driven ecological interventions. In contrast, EP, PIST and FNC might worsen CO2e, emphasizing the significance of political and economic stability for the region's environmental sustainability. The results also show that an increased ICGTD and HEVT contribute directly to the reduction of CO2e in Asian countries. Even though economic growth is a sign of development, rising GDPPC in these economies is linked to higher CO2e, demonstrating that the current association between economic growth and achieving carbon neutrality could be better.