Carbon Emissions in Resource‐Rich Economies: The Interplay of Growth, Trade, and Green Transitions for Sustainable Development

ABSTRACT Achieving environmental sustainability remains a pressing challenge for resource‐rich economies, where rapid growth and intensive resource extraction shape both domestic and global carbon dynamics. This study investigates the drivers of consumption‐based carbon emissions (CCB) across eight major resource‐dependent nations (Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia, and Chile) from 2004 to 2021. Key explanatory factors include mineral rents (MR), renewable energy (RE), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), trade openness (TO), green finance (GFN), and economic growth (GDP). Using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), complemented by FM‐OLS and D‐OLS robustness checks, the analysis captures heterogeneous effects across the emissions distribution. The results show that GDP, FFC, MR, and TO consistently raise CCB, reflecting how reliance on natural resources and trade linkages expands ecological pressures. Conversely, RE and GFN exert significant mitigating effects, highlighting their role in enabling low‐carbon transitions. Importantly, the heterogeneous impacts reveal that the negative role of MR and fossil fuels is strongest in high‐emission contexts, while the positive contributions of RE and GFN are more pronounced at moderate to high emission levels. These findings contribute to sustainability debates by demonstrating how economic structures, energy choices, and financial mechanisms interact to determine carbon outcomes in resource‐intensive settings. Policy implications stress the need for aligning growth models with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 7 (clean energy), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), and SDG 13 (climate action), as well as international frameworks such as the Paris Agreement and COP28 commitments.