Appraising sustainability and economic growth through Fintech, green finance and natural resource in Asian economies: A CS-ARDL study

Governments in Asian economies are under immense pressure from an ecological perspective and are trying to increase compliance with environmental policies by institutions and households, which have the objective of reducing environmental pollution. This is because the Asian region contributes two-thirds of the global growth. However, because of the conventional manufacturing facilities and infrastructure, the Asian region had to rely on the consumption of the Natural Resource (NTR) for their economic development; thus,the environment is being harshly affected, eventually affecting the quality of life of every dweller. Therefore, this research revisits the Asian economies due to their global significance in financial, environmental and sustainable development. Moreover, the present study evaluates the role of Fintech (FNT), Green Finance (GFN) and Natural Resource (NTR), in diluting the disparity betweeneconomic and ecological sustainability. The current study explores these relationships through the help of an advanced and recent estimation technique named “Cross-section augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL)”. Through the generated outcome from CS-ARDL, FNT, NTR, and GFN are found to support the Economic Growth (ECG). From the environmental perspective, the role of FNT and GFN was found to be satisfying as they lead to reduced environmental pollution. However, the role of NTR was found to destroy ecological health, which is the validation of the earlier studies but does require careful attention from the concerned authorities. In light of these findings, the Asian governments will be in a better position to identify, devise and select appropriate strategies and policies that will assist in alleviating environmental pollution and strengthening economic development. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd