Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17518-y RESEARCH ARTICLE Green growth and sustainable development: dynamic linkage between technological innovation, ISO 14001, and environmental challenges Nabila Abid 1  · Federica Ceci 1  · Muhammad Ikram 2 Received: 2 July 2021 / Accepted: 9 November 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021 Abstract Over the last two decades, the phenomenon of green growth has gained much attention from academics and policymakers striving to fnd a sustainable solution to environmental problems worldwide. Technological innovation serves as a tool to abate the acute environmental crisis and continuously promote sustainable development by converting traditional economies into green economies. Pakistan is among the developing countries relying on conventional technology and energy resources to meet population and economy demands, which has led to a surge in greenhouse gases and other hazardous air pollut- ants. The literature exploring green growth in the Pakistani context is scant; the present study will therefore fll this gap and explore the dynamic linkage between technological innovation and ISO 14001 with green growth in Pakistan in the presence of environmental challenges such as energy consumption and population growth. A novel grey relational analysis model approach is employed to examine the interrelationship between the study parameters. Results indicate that technological innovation is signifcantly correlated with green growth, and ISO 14001 also shows a substantial relationship with green growth. However, among the environmental challenges, energy consumption poses a barrier to green growth development as the country’s energy mix is dominated by fossil fuels as compared to renewables. The research fndings produce a much- needed policy suggestion to address the environmental challenges by promoting green growth development in Pakistan. Keywords Green growth · Sustainable development · Technological innovation · ISO 14001 · Environmental challenges Introduction Since the industrial revolution, the choice of energy sources to spur economic growth has been criticized. The result- ing ecological crisis has made it one of humanity’s most pressing challenges in the twenty-frst century. The exces- sive use of fossil fuels to meet economic and social needs has resulted in surging emissions of CO 2 and other green- house gases (GHGs). The dramatic change in environmen- tal conditions is a daunting concern for all academics and policymakers worldwide, who are looking for an optimal solution to the mentioned crisis. In 2005, the United Nations proposed green growth as the ultimate solution to achieve sustainable development. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) defnes green growth as a new means of fostering development and economic growth in a country while causing no harmful impact on the environment or people living in it (Merino-Saum et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2020). Green growth has drawn the attention of the masses around the world, and a plethora of research has been conducted to understand the concept of green growth in diferent countries across the globe (Bagheri et al. 2018; Stoknes and Rockström, 2018; Wang and Shao 2019). Green growth provides a solution to the environmental crisis and helps achieve sustainable economic growth while flourishing the interests of the population (Barbier 2016). Green growth promotes cleaner energy sources and reduces environmental pollution by lowering the emission of CO 2 and other GHGs (Sandberg et al. 2019). Several authors have argued about multiple Responsible Editor: Eyup Dogan * Muhammad Ikram i.muhammad@aui.ma 1 Department of Economia Aziendale, University G. d’Annunzio Chieti, Pescara, Italy 2 School of Business Administration, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Avenue Hassan II, P.O. Box 104, 53000 Ifrane, Morocco