From brown to green : exploring asymmetric nexus between green finance and carbon footprint in BRICS+6 alliance

Green finance is the beacon of hope in a world striving for sustainability, where financial growth and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. The BRICS, containing five emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), recently announced Iran, Egypt, Argentina, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE as six potential new members. This expansion offers promising prospects for advancing environmental sustainability through green finance, which can be an excellent tool. In this respect, this research examines how green finance affects the carbon footprint in BRICS+6 economies. Earlier studies used panel data techniques to probe the association between these variables but overlooked that certain countries still needed to possess such a link separately. Hence, this research adopts the Quantile-on-Quantile approach, which provides a holistic universal view and customized findings for each country. The outcomes display that green finance improves environmental quality by diminishing carbon footprint at distinct quantiles of data distribution.