Green Financial Technology and Institutional Quality as Pathways to Environmental Sustainability in Southern African Countries Facing Severe Ecological Pressures

Developing nations, such as the Southern African nations, fail to achieve environmental sustainability because of bad governance and high levels of corruption. The misallocation and misuse of resources and green finance worsen environmental problems in such nations; hence, there is a need for correct policy reforms and improvements in institutional quality if the green transition is to be achieved. However, the literature lacks sound empirical evidence that could unlock this problem and direct us to the adoption of relevant policies. This research is an attempt to examine the role of institutional quality and green financial technology in promoting sustainable environments in Southern African nations with high environmental problems. Therefore, data from the seven Southern African nations from 2000 to 2022 are employed in the analysis. The research model is analyzed with the ‘Methods of Moments Quantile Regression’, which overcomes panel data-related problems such as ‘heterogeneity’ and ‘cross-sectional dependence’. The key findings of this research indicate the symmetric positive influence of institutional quality, green finance and renewable energy in supporting environmental sustainability. Additionally, financial development supports environmental sustainability, but its influence is asymmetric, where positive significant influence is in the lower quantile and weak negative effect in the top quantile. Nonetheless, technological innovation worsens environmental sustainability in the Southern African nations, calling for the need to leapfrog to cleaner technologies that have been adopted in developed nations.