Advancing environmental sustainability in the UAE: the interplay of women’s empowerment, financial development, and natural resource management

This study addresses a critical gap in the literature by exploring the intricate relationships between women’s empowerment, financial development, and natural resource management within the context of environmental sustainability in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Utilizing the Women, Business, and Law Index to quantify women’s socioeconomic empowerment alongside the ecological footprint as a metric for environmental sustainability, this study employs an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to analyze data from 1990 to 2021. The findings reveal that women’s empowerment exerts a significant positive effect on environmental sustainability in both the short and long term. While financial development and natural resource rents also play roles in enhancing environmental outcomes, the long-term impact of natural resource rents is found to be statistically insignificant. Notably, the study uncovers a positive synergistic relationship between women’s empowerment and financial development as well as between women’s empowerment and natural resource rents, underscoring their complementary roles in advancing sustainable environmental objectives. Among the control variables examined, urbanization has been shown to positively influence long-term environmental sustainability, whereas foreign direct investment has a detrimental effect. Interestingly, the gross domestic product (GDP) has no significant statistical impact on environmental outcomes. Based on these insights, this study offers targeted policy recommendations, including the enhancement of women’s education and training in environmental sciences, promotion of gender-responsive green finance initiatives, and increased representation of women in natural resource management. These strategies aim to fortify sustainable governance and contribute to the UAE’s broader environmental sustainability goal.