Green Finance and Sustainable Development in Asia: The Mediating Role of Heat Resilience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62843/jssr.v6i5.795Keywords:
Green Finance, Heat Resilience Outcome, Sustainable DevelopmentAbstract
This study investigates the relationship among green finance, heat resilience outcomes, and sustainable development in Asian nations, focusing on the mediating role of heat resilience in the relationship between green finance and sustainable development. It highlights the increasing significance of climate-related hazards, including extreme heat, and the alignment of financial resources with environmental sustainability and climate adaptation. The study employs a quantitative approach using a longitudinal research design and balanced panel data from 35 Asian countries over 20 years, comprising 700 country-year observations. Green finance is examined as the independent variable, heat resilience outcomes as the mediating variable, and sustainable development as the dependent variable. The analysis applies pooled ordinary least squares, fixed-effects, and random-effects models, with model-selection tests supporting the fixed-effects approach. The results indicate that green finance has a positive and statistically significant relationship with heat resilience outcomes (β = 0.418, p < 0.001) and sustainable development (β = 0.371, p < 0.001). Heat resilience also demonstrates a positive and significant relationship with sustainable development (β = 0.521, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the findings reveal that heat resilience partially mediates the relationship between green finance and sustainable development, with a significant indirect effect (β = 0.218, p < 0.001; 95% CI [0.148, 0.292]). The study emphasizes the need to integrate green-finance measures with heat-resilience planning and sustainable-development policies. The findings offer practical implications for governments, financial institutions, and regional stakeholders, highlighting the importance of climate-resilient infrastructure, adaptive technologies, regional cooperation, renewable energy, sustainable financing instruments, measurable resilience indicators, and financing for resilient technologies.
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