Impact of financial technologies, digitalization, and natural resources on environmental degradation in G-20 countries: Does human resources matter?

This study assesses the impact of financial technologies, digitalization, natural resources and human resources on environmental degradation in 20 (G-20) countries from 2000 to 2021. It also examines the moderating role of human resources in the relationship between natural resources, digitalization and financial technologies. The study uses the Panel Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) and Method of Moments Quantile (MMQR) regression approaches for the empirical analysis. The results show that digitalization, natural resources and human resources significantly and positively affect environmental degradation, while financial technologies negatively affect environmental degradation in the PCSE estimation. Regarding interaction effects, the study finds that human resources positively affect the relationship between financial technologies and environmental degradation and negatively affect the relationship between natural resources, digitalization and environmental degradation. The MMQR estimation ensures the robustness of these results. •PCSE and MMQR applied to G-20 data from 2000 to 2021.•Digitalization, natural resources and human resources contribute to higher emissions.•Financial technologies reduce environmental degradation.•Human resources positively moderate the relationship between financial technologies and environmental degradation.•HR negatively moderates the relationship between natural resources, digitalization and environmental degradation.