Toward Environmental Sustainability in Africa: The Impact of Financial Technology, Human Development, and Renewable Energy Consumption Across Income Groups

Abstract

The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 13 (“Climate Action”) aims to address the issues of global warming and climate change, primarily caused by greenhouse gas emissions. This study examines the impacts of financial technology, human development, economic growth, and renewable energy consumption on environmental quality from 2013 to 2019 in African nations classified into different income groups. Using the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) technique, results show that economic growth and human development (renewable energy consumption and financial technology) increase (decrease) carbon dioxide emissions in the long run. These imply that in the absence of sustainable practices, pursuing economic growth and human development could degrade the environment, while transitioning to renewable energy and promoting fintech could improve environmental quality. This study makes five major scientific contributions in terms of research question (unique combination of variables), sample (carbon emission-financial technology nexus in Africa), proxy for financial technology (“credit flows by fintech and big tech companies to GDP (%)”), MMQR estimation technique (for the first time in this context), and comparative analysis based on income-group classification. This study recommends the implementation of sustainable development frameworks, the adoption of green technologies, the transition from nonrenewable to renewable energy sources, the widespread education and awareness on environmental effects, and the encouragement of sustainable fintech solutions to help African countries attain sustainable economic growth and human development while reducing their carbon footprints.