Economic complexity, natural resource abundance and education: Implications for sustainable development in BRICST economies

The environmental threats from climate change and global warming have become more consistent. As a result, several policy solutions, including structural transformation and sustainable resource consumption, have been discussed to ensure compliance with the United Nations sustainable development goals. To extend policy discussion, we select environmental degradation, economic complexity, natural resources, education, economic growth, and banking developments for BRICST economies from 1995 to 2021. The current study has selected CSARDL, AMG and CCEMG as an econometric strategy. Our empirical findings confirm that economic growth, natural resource abundance, and banking developments have positive while education carries negative impact over environmental degradation. We also confirm the EKC hypothesis for BRICST economies. Practical policy suggestions to promote green environmental policies to strengthen the sustainable development agenda have been proposed based on detailed empirical analysis.