The synergistic roles of green openness and economic complexity in environmental sustainability of Europe's largest economy: Implications for technology-intensive and environmentally friendly products

The degrowth approach posits the idea that sustainable development and economic expansion are mutually exclusive. Conversely, it is believed that international trade within a complex economic system can help distribute green products to simultaneously ensure economic expansion and sustainable development. For this reason, the dynamic ARDL simulations technique was adopted to analyze the German economy's data from 2000 to 2020 toward determining the specific and interactive ecological implications of international green openness and economic complexity in Europe's largest economy. We discovered that green openness and economic complexity each have desirable impacts on ecofootprint, and their interaction further confirms a strong ecological-enhancing synergistic effect. The presence of the EKC phenomenon was also upheld from the analysis while clean energy exerts a positive impact on Germany's environmental quality level. The study further posits that a faster shift into the manufacture of technology-intensive and environmentally friendly products is possible for nations that invest in strengthening their internal technological skills to curb ecological harm. It is therefore advocated that even if the manufacturing of green items is not optimally done domestically, the special op-portunities presented by international trade in the distribution of green products should always be leveraged to foster environmental sustainability.

Automated summary

The degrowth approach argues that sustainable development and economic expansion are contradictory, while international trade can distribute green products in a complex economic system to ensure both economic expansion and sustainable development. The study found that green openness and economic complexity have positive impacts on ecofootprint, and their interaction further enhances ecological sustainability. The findings also support the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve phenomenon and the positive impact of clean energy on environmental quality. The study suggests that nations should invest in strengthening their technological skills to shift towards the manufacture of technology-intensive and environmentally friendly products, and also utilize international trade opportunities to promote environmental sustainability.