Artificial Intelligence, Financial Access, and the Path to Sustainable Development: Insights from G-7 Countries

Abstract

Achieving sustainable development in advanced economies requires reconciling rapid technological progress with growing environmental constraints. This study examines whether artificial intelligence (AI) innovation can enhance environmental sustainability alongside economic growth in the G-7 countries over the period 1990–2019. Using the load capacity curve (LCC) framework and the load capacity factor (LCF) as a measure of ecological sustainability, the analysis integrates AI innovation, financial accessibility, globalization, urbanization, and income dynamics. This study contributes to the literature by providing the first evidence on the role of AI innovation in shaping environmental carrying capacity within the LCC framework for advanced economies. Panel autoregressive distributed lag estimates reveal strong support for the LCC hypothesis, indicating a nonlinear income–environment relationship. AI innovation and financial accessibility significantly improve the LCF, suggesting that technological progress and inclusive finance can promote sustainability through efficiency gains and cleaner production. In contrast, globalization and urbanization reduce environmental carrying capacity, particularly at higher levels of ecological pressure. These findings highlight the importance of AI-driven innovation and green finance in sustainability strategies, while underscoring the need for stronger environmental governance to manage globalization and urban expansion in advanced economies.

Received: 15 January 2026 | Revised: 10 March 2026 | Accepted: 26 March 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are publicly available from the following sources: 1) Load Capacity Factor (LCF): Global Footprint Network – https://data.footprintnetwork.org 2) Economic Growth (GDP) and Urbanization: World Bank, World Development Indicators (WDI) – https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators 3) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patent Data: Our World in Data – https://ourworldindata.org 4) Financial Accessibility: Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database, World Bank – https://globalfindex.worldbank.org 5) Globalization Index: KOF Swiss Economic Institute – https://kof.ethz.ch/en/forecasts-and-indicators/indicators/kof-globalisation-index.html All datasets are openly accessible and do not require special permission for academic use.  

Author Contribution Statement

Mohammad Ridwan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Kabaly P Subramanian: Conceptualization, Software, Validation, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Jaheer Mukthar K.P.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration. Binata Rani Sen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Minghui Jiang: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al Absy: Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – review & editing.