RETRACTED ARTICLE: Can the sports industry foster the transition to net-zero and green growth?

This study explores the relationship between sports commodity imports and the green growth index in G20 economies from 2000 to 2020, using the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag technique. Our findings reveal a significant positive correlation, indicating that a 1% increase in sports commodity imports corresponds to notable short-term and long-term increases of 0.38% and 0.46%, underlining the sports industry’s vital role in advancing environmental sustainability. Conversely, detrimental effects on the green growth index are observed for the carbon footprint, waste generation, health expenditure, and foreign direct investment, emphasizing the need for sustainable practices. The enduring impact of these factors is consistently demonstrated. A robustness analysis, substituting the green growth index with green energy deployment, reaffirms the positive impact of sports commodity imports. Recommendations include incentivizing eco-friendly sports technologies, implementing stringent environmental standards, fostering collaboration, introducing tax incentives, and conducting comprehensive awareness campaigns.