Green Investments as Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in the EU Countries: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

This article addresses sustainable economic development under the green investing impact. The authors emphasize that a favorable investment climate attracts green and socially responsible investors contributing to green economic transformation. The research aimed to conduct a retrospective analysis of green transformation to determine the main driving forces and preconditions for sustainable economic growth. The relevance of the decision of the investigated scientific problem is that the green investments contribute to the harmonization of the three main pillars of sustainable development (society, economy, and environment) under the growing burden of climate change. The research object was the EU countries. The analysis covered data from 2014 to 2019 for empirical calculation and from 2000 to 2020 for bibliometric analysis. To achieve the research goal, the study involved the scope of bibliometric and econometric tools. The findings of bibliometric analysis allowed to determine the main driving forces of the economic growth and green investments considered in the literature. The obtained results empirically confirmed and theoretically proved that strengthening and developing sustainable economic performance significantly depends on the success of the green transformation under investments growth. The authors stated the necessity to further explore green investment markets on the national levels to improve the incentive mechanism for developing a green investment market.