Accelerating sustainability in BRICS economies: assessing the role of governance in energy transition and R&D investments to achieve SDG 7

The present study examines the impact of interaction terms of energy transition*governance and research and development expenditure*governance on load capacity factor by employing Method of Moments Quantile Regression and Feasible generalized least squares in 10 BRICS (BRICS countries include: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) countries using data from 1990 to 2020. The Load Capacity Factor considers both the demand and supply aspects of the environment, unlike CO2 emissions and ecological footprint. The study found that economic growth and depletion of natural resources are the main causes of environmental degradation, whereas environmental sustainability is linked to an upsurge in research &development investments, adoption of advanced technologies, and a shift to renewable energy sources. Moreover, governance promotes an energy transition and research and development investments to achieve environmental sustainability. The panel causality test revealed unidirectional causation from natural resources depletion and interaction of energy transition*governance to load capacity factor, while remaining variables show bidirectional causality. The study recommends that the BRICS nations’ governments utilize energy and environmental policies to improve environmental sustainability by promoting investments and initiatives in renewable sources.