Paving towards the sustainable development goals: Analyzing the nexus of financial technology, business-centric-tourism, and green growth

The world is facing crucial challenges such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and slow economic growth due to the current transformative era. These challenges constitute a significant barrier to unlocking the world's full potential. In response, green growth has emerged as a focal point in global discourse due to the pivotal shift of legislators and researchers from conventional economic growth to sustainable and green growth. This research will examine the influence of financial technology and business-centric-tourism on green growth for a full panel of 148 worldwide economies and four different income-levels during the period spanning 2004-2021. The financial technology index comprises twenty-one enabling and integrated variables that capture the intersection between finance and technology. The two-step system GMM (Generalized Method of Moment) corroborated by the 2SLS (Two-Stage Least Square) method indicates that financial technology and business-centric-tourism endorse green growth for the world overall, while mixed results were observed at different income-levels. Moreover, energy transition, globalization, and business environment positively influence green growth, while it is negatively impacted by urban transition and socio-economic conditions. This study aligns its outcomes with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of 2030 and adds value to business literature on green growth by offering significant policy implications for achieving balanced and inclusive growth.