The impact of natural resources on green growth: The role of green trade

One of the primary facets of the research being conducted in the domain of sustainability is the green growth of economies. Green growth relates to the sustainable growth of economic systems with consideration and focus on the environmental sustenance. This area of research is imperative due to the deteriorating condition of climate and environment, which is one of the main challenges presented to the worldview of sustainability at present. Thus, extending this line of research, the present study investigated the association between the resource usage of natural resources of energy (coal, gas, oil) and the green growth of China along with the moderation of green trade for the period 1980-2020. The techniques of Zivot-Andrew unit root test was applied for studying the stationary properties of the series. The cointegration was examined through the ARDL bounds test and was found to be strong. Also, the long run associations between the factors with green growth were studied through the applications of the dynamic OLS (DOLS), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), and Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR). The empirical results reveal that gas and coal are significant for the green growth of Chinese economy, however, negative associations between gas and green growth were found. The study also found the significant moderating role of green trade in the association between natural resources and green growth, however, the moderation of green trade resulted in negative moderation for the relationships between oil, gas and green growth and were positive for coal and green growth. The study suggests policies for the green environment and economy of China and suggests techniques be undertaken to reduce the usage of natural energy resources with the view of improving the green growth of China.

Automated summary

This study investigates the association between resource usage of natural resources and the green growth of China as well as the moderation of green trade. The empirical results reveal that gas and coal have significant impacts on the green growth of the Chinese economy, but there is a negative association between gas and green growth. The study also found that green trade plays an important moderating role in the relationship between natural resources and green growth.