Digital Trade, Carbon Finance, and Sustainable Natural Resource Management: A Case Study of Thailand in the Globalized Economy

Abstract

This research has examined the role of carbon finance, globalization, and digital trade for shaping sustainable management of total natural resources (TNR) in Thailand over the period of 2000 to 2022. For the analysis of these relationships and capturing potential asymmetries, the research employs a Non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model, which allows both short-run and long-run effects to be determined across different quantiles. The empirical outcomes reveals that globalization has a negative and significant effect on TNR in both short and long run, which suggests an increased economic integration would worsen natural resource depletion. Digital trade also reveals generally negative relationship with TNR, although its long-run impact is significantly adverse, the short-run effects are statistically insignificant, highlighting complex temporal dynamics. On contrast, carbon finance shows a positive and significant impacts on natural resource management across time horizons, underscoring its potential as a sustainable financial mechanism. Moreover, the economic growth is found to have a positive relationship with TNR, that likely to reflect increased extraction and utilization of finite resources rather than sustainable use, signalling a potential trade-off which challenges long-term environmental objectives. The findings of study offer crucial insights for policy implications for Thailand, focusing the need to refine globalization and digital trade policies for mitigating their environmental impacts, while simultaneously leveraging carbon finance to promote sustainable resource management. These insights contribute towards development of integrated strategies for balancing economic development with environmental sustainability in context of Thailand’s evolving digital economy.