Economic policy uncertainty and green energy in BRICS: Impacts on sustainability

Alleviating environmental damage has become a significant challenge for BRICS countries, where economic progress amidst urbanization and fossil fuel consumption pollutes the environment. In this context, BRICS countries must transition from fossil fuels to green energy to sustain their economic progress and protect the environment. However, economic policy uncertainty may affect their fight against climate change and their actions towards environmental sustainability. Therefore, this study examines the roles of economic policy uncertainty and green energy in the environmental sustainability of BRICS countries. Under the STIRPAT framework, we employ a novel augmented autoregressive distributed lag model. Our results show that green energy has a negative and significant impact on carbon emissions and temperature. Moreover, economic policy uncertainty aggravates carbon emissions and temperature in India and Russia. But it was found to reduce carbon emissions and temperature in Brazil and China. To better address the impacts of policy uncertainty on environmental outcomes, Brazil and China should expand renewable energy investments and stabilize economic policies, while India and Russia could prioritize the transition to cleaner technologies and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels to enhance environmental sustainability.