The role of Green Technology Expansion in Pakistan: Does it enhance economic growth while reducing CO₂ emissions?

Climate change and global warming present critical threats to ecological balance, economic stability, and human well-being worldwide, driven largely by rising CO₂ emissions and heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Although the link between technological innovation and environmental protection is widely acknowledged, existing literature inadequately distinguishes between Energy-saving Technological Expansion (EsTE) and Emission-reducing Technological Expansion (ErTE). Addressing this clear research gap, this research investigates how the expansion of green technology can effectively reduce environmental degradation (CO₂ emissions) while simultaneously supporting sustained economic growth (GDP), with a specific focus on the South Asian region. Applying and adapting established methods to a balanced panel dataset covering the period 1990 to 2021, the analysis employs the Slack-Based Model (SBM) within the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework to measure environmental efficiency, combined with the Malmquist–Luenberger Index (MLI) to assess changes in green productivity over time. The Super‑efficiency approach is incorporated to enhance discriminatory power and enable accurate ranking, while the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) technique is utilised in the second stage to estimate key determinants reliably. The results confirm that technological progress and energy efficiency improvements are central to sustainable development. While ErTE directly lowers CO₂ emissions intensity, EsTE effectively reduces the energy burden of economic activity. The findings demonstrate that environmental integrity and economic prosperity can be successfully reconciled through targeted technology investment and efficient resource management. This research provides robust empirical evidence to align national energy policies with international climate commitments and Sustainable Development Goals across South Asia.

Citation

Siddiqui, Z. (2026). The role of Green Technology Expansion in Pakistan: Does it enhance economic growth while reducing CO₂ emissions? [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. University of Chester.

Publisher

University of Chester

URI

https://chesterrep.openrepository.com/handle/10034/630081

Type

Thesis or dissertation

Language

en