Militarization of NATO countries sparks climate change? Investigating the moderating role of technological progress and financial development

This study evaluates the effects of military expenditures (MEX) on environmental pollution, as well as the moderating role of factors such as financial development and technological progress for 15 NATO member countries under the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Using the CS-ARDL estimator, the study analyzes the effects of MEX, income, energy consumption, financial development, and technical progress on carbon emissions spanning the period from 1991 to 2018. Additionally, interaction terms are employed to regularize the moderating effects of financial development and technical advancement. The results show that income, energy consumption, and MEX all contribute to a rise in emissions. It is also found that the financial sector does not eradicate the detrimental ramifications of MEX on the environment, but that technological progress has a moderating effect. A 1% increase in the interaction of technological progress with the military sector reduces environmental degradation by 0.36, but a 1% augment in the interaction of the financial sector with the military sector increases carbon emissions by 0.41%. For this reason, it is imperative to evaluate and revise the financing of MEX of NATO countries from an environmental perspective for sustainable development. Furthermore, as long-run income elasticity in NATO countries is lower than the short-run one, the EKC hypothesis is valid. Based on the overall findings, the study suggests that NATO allies should incorporate the benefits of income growth and technological development into their environmental policies to offset the negative effects of MEX. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd