Abstract
Abstract Since the Industrial Revolution, the globe has faced several challenges, and sustaining environmental quality (EQ) remains a hotly debated topic among policy analysts. Although practitioners have introduced green solutions to improve environmental quality, some issues remain unaddressed. Such ongoing debate provides a straightforward forum for presenting new ideas, which may help in this matter. Therefore, this study examines the roles of green finance, the circular economy, and technology (digitalization & artificial intelligence) in environmental quality across 26 OECD economies over the period 2012–2023. To investigate robust outcomes, this study uses Ridge Regression (RR), Local Best Invariant (LBI), and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), which are particularly designed to control for multicollinearity and autocorrelation in panel data. Investigated results show that total factor productivity, urbanization, green finance, and the circular economy reduce environmental quality. Conversely, this study finds that green energy plays a significant role in reducing emissions and promoting EQ. In the technology comparison, this study finds that digitalization plays an efficient role in EQ, whereas Artificial intelligence deteriorates EQ. Besides the main effect, this study also finds a moderate effect of technology and green finance on the circular economy & green energy. However, this study finds only a moderate effect of Artificial Intelligence on green energy to overcome emissions. Finally, this study offers imperative implications to become clean & green shortly.