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Abstract

Economic complexity captures the diversity and sophistication of productive knowledge and capabilities embedded in an economy. Research on the relationship between economic complexity, energy transition, and environmental quality is growing rapidly. However, their findings differ across countries, development levels, and different energy and environmental indicators. As a result, the conditions under which economic complexity contributes to energy transition and environmental sustainability remain unclear across different contexts. To address this gap, this study conducts a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines and applies the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methodology (TCCM) framework to synthesize evidence on economic complexity, energy transition, and environmental sustainability. The studies were identified from the Scopus database and screened according to PRISMA guidelines. The final sample included 276 articles published between 2017 and 2026. The reviewed evidence indicates that the relationship between economic complexity and environmental sustainability is heterogeneous across contexts and indicators. Economic complexity tends to be associated with improved environmental outcomes when productive capabilities support cleaner technologies, renewable energy adoption, and less resource-intensive production. Whereas if productive capabilities are associated with resource-intensive exports, sustainability is reduced. The review reveals how differences in theoretical perspectives, country contexts, and methodological approaches contribute to heterogeneous sustainability outcomes associated with economic complexity. Methodologically, unlike conventional systematic literature review (SLR) methods that mainly summarize the literature, the study uses the TCCM framework to systematically organize and synthesize studies across theoretical perspectives, country contexts and methodological approaches, thereby facilitating an understanding of the heterogeneous findings and identifying gaps and future research directions. The findings suggest that policymakers should align productive-capability development with environmental objectives through investments in cleaner technologies, renewable energy, and resource-efficient production.

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