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The paper investigates how financial technology might help countries promote renewable energy and reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is generally agreed that FinTech (financial technology) has the ability to help achieve the SDGs by 2030 and promote a sustainable society through technology-driven solutions. The financial sector has launched greener investment options in order to mobilize substantial financial resources towards climate neutrality in the coming decade. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the goals set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement, however, this procedure must be accelerated. With the use of the innovative "quantile-on-quantile (QQ)" technique, this study uses the data of top FinTech economies for the period 1990-2020 and provides country-specific insights into the relationship between FinTech and renewable energy. Using quantile causality analysis, we may identify the direction of causality between these variables at the observed extremes. An extensive long-term relationship between FinTech and renewable energy was found in all countries. The leading FinTech economies show a positive association between the two at most quantiles, and a bidirectional causality relationship is seen across significant quantiles. This highlights the considerable yet variable impact FinTech policies have on renewable energy and vice versa in these innovative economies. These results highlight the connection between growing FinTech and promoting a green transition to further Sustainable Development Goals and provide useful insight for policy formulation.

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Unsustainable development and rising environmental degradation are major challenges for emerging nations that tend to promote human welfare by expanding economic development. Green energy transition (GETR) can help these nations to continue their development, reduce fossil fuel utilization, and achieve environmental sustainability. However, previous literature overlooks the importance of green technologies, government stability, and economic globalization in the GETR process. Accordingly, this research takes a step forward and assesses the impacts of green technologies (GT), government stability (GOV), and economic globalization (EGL) on green energy transition including population density (POP) and economic growth (GDP) in emerging seven (E-7) countries from 1992 to 2020. The research applied the "continuously updated fully modified (CuP-FM)" methodology to acquire the long-run findings robust to endogeneity stationary regressors, autocorrelation, and cross-sectional dependence (CD). The results highlighted that green technologies can be enhanced to accelerate the energy transition process since GETR and green technologies are positively connected. Also, government stability and economic globalization support the green energy transition. However, both population density and economic growth obstruct the energy transition process. The Emirmahmutoglu and Kose test unveiled that green technologies, economic globalization, and government stability Granger cause the green energy transition. Based on these findings, policies are directed to promote the GETR by enhancing green technologies, economic globalization, and government stability for achieving ecological sustainability.

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As efforts to achieve Net Zero are intensifying, there is a strong need to identify the technological positioning of green process innovations that can support the green energy transition. A veritable contender to support these efforts is the hydrothermal biomass processing technology. This process innovation comprises diverse techniques that can convert biomass substrates into valuable low-carbon fuels. Coordination across all available conversion approaches is encouraged to propel the application of those that consider the environmental and sustainability impacts. We assessed the innovation intensity for different techniques under this green process innovation through applying natural language processing and deployment of principal component analysis on patent data. We positioned our techniques within four distinctive groups (intense, dormant, emerging, and exploratory). In this way, we tracked which hydrothermal technique currently dominates international applications and which ones are gaining traction in the future.

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Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) takes place under extreme conditions with a lack of occupational health and safety. As the demand for metals is increasing due in part to their extensive use in 'green technologies' for climate change mitigation, the negative environmental and occupational consequences of mining practices are disproportionately felt in low- and middle-income countries. The Collegium Ramazzini statement on ASM presents updated information on its neglected health hazards that include multiple toxic hazards, most notably mercury, lead, cyanide, arsenic, cadmium, and cobalt, as well as physical hazards, most notably airborne dust and noise, and the high risk of infectious diseases. These hazards affect both miners and mining communities as working and living spaces are rarely separated. The impact on children and women is often severe, including hazardous exposures during the child-bearing age and pregnancies, and the risk of child labor. We suggest strategies for the mitigation of these hazards and classify those according to primordial, primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Further, we identify knowledge gaps and issue recommendations for international, national, and local governments, metal purchasers, and employers are given. With this statement, the Collegium Ramazzini calls for the extension of efforts to minimize all hazards that confront ASM miners and their families.

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