A refreshing surge in technological innovations is changing our under-standing of contemporary economic transformations and the associated envi-ronmental challenges. Global economic growth drives resource scarcity and the emergence of environmental issues. Thus, modern economic growth is inspiring the need to investigate potential environmen-tal technology impacts on sustainability, renewable and nonrenewable energy per-formance, and novel innovative technolo-gy on green transformation process. Nearly 70% of toxic waste and flooding sites in the U.S. are located near low-income housing and communities of color (Berg-man, 2019; Dearen, Biesecker & Kastanis, 2017). Racial animus and the propensity for early exposure to vulnerable environ-ments degrade human capital and depress lifetime earnings for a disproportionate number of black Americans and other mi-nority groups, with a projected risk of about 459,000 job losses than white Americans due to industrial automation (Baboolall, Pinder, Stewart et al, 2018; Manduca & Sampson, 2019). The inhibiting effect of the wealth gap will cost the U.S. economy about $1.5 trillion of the projected GDP by 2028 (Baboolall et al., 2018). Financial inclu-sion is an essential link between economic opportunity and sustainable environment outcomes (Furusawa, 2016).
展开▼
