Navigating the path towards environmental sustainability through financial inclusion, green technology, and digitalization with green finance as a moderator

This study focuses on the impact of financial inclusion, green technology, and digitalization on environmental sustainability and explores the moderating effect of green finance. We utilize panel data for 58 developing countries for the time span 2014–2023, and the generalized method of moments method is employed to overcome the possible endogeneity problem in the dynamic panel model. The empirical results suggest that financial inclusion, green technology, and digitalization are important factors affecting environmental sustainability. The results reveal that financial inclusion leads to better environmental outcomes, where CO 2 emissions are reduced. But the uptake of green technology and digitalization has been linked to higher CO 2 emissions in the sampled countries, indicating that the countries might be at an early stage of green technology and digitalization use. Moreover, green finance has a direct positive relationship with environmental sustainability. Moreover, it also have a strong moderating effect, which helps to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of financial inclusion, green technology, and digitalization. The overall findings demonstrate the significance of connecting financial systems and technological developments together with green financial mechanisms for attaining sustainability goals. The study makes a valuable contribution to the literature by building on financial inclusion, digital transformation, and green technology within a moderated environmental sustainability model for developing economies.