Advancing Energy Transition Through Technological Financing: Evidence From AI , Blockchain, and Sustainable Development Pathways

ABSTRACT Energy transition (ET) is central to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly in emerging and developing economies facing increasing environmental and energy challenges. This study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain (BC) financing—conceptualized as indicators of technological innovation capacity—affect ET across 15 emerging and developing economies from 2010 to 2022, with sustainable development (SDI) as a mediating mechanism. Using panel‐corrected standard errors (PCSE), Driscoll–Kraay estimators, instrumental variable (2SLS), and method of moments quantile regression (MMQR), we address cross‐sectional dependence, endogeneity, and heterogeneity. The findings reveal that both AI and BC financing significantly promote ET by strengthening innovation ecosystems and technological readiness. Robustness checks, including alternative estimators, lagged specifications, and nonlinear models, confirm the stability of the results, while 2SLS estimates support a causal interpretation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that AI has stronger effects in financially developed and high‐capacity economies, whereas BC plays a more prominent role in institutionally weaker and low‐technology contexts. Mechanism analysis indicates that sustainable development fully mediates these relationships, as confirmed by Sobel tests. As a result, the study highlights that technological financing contributes to ET primarily through enhancing sustainable development pathways.