Economies, cilt.14, sa.6, ss.1-25, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
This study examines when green innovation contributes to pollution abatement by analyzing how financial globalization and different forms of innovation jointly shape ecological pressure across European Union (EU) countries over the period 1992–2021. The findings show that financial globalization consistently increases ecological pressure, with stronger effects at upper quantiles (0.8–0.9). Technological innovation exhibits a nonlinear pattern: general RD increases ecological pressure at lower quantiles (0.1–0.4), but this effect becomes insignificant and then negative at higher quantiles (0.7–0.9). In contrast, environmental innovation (EI) reduces CO2 emissions at middle and upper quantiles (0.5–0.8), suggesting a stronger environmental contribution under medium-to-high ecological pressure conditions. Overall, the results demonstrate that the environmental impact of innovation depends on both the type of innovation and the prevailing level of ecological pressure. Specifically, general R&D and environmental innovation exhibit different environmental effects across lower and upper quantiles, suggesting that environmentally oriented innovation policies may be more effective under higher ecological pressure conditions.