Abstract: The concept of sustainable development has permeated the world, with citizens, businesses and governments uniting under the SDGs to tackle environmental issues such as the climate crisis. However, the intensification of natural disasters caused by climate change continues, while environmental destruction and widening income disparities driven by globalisation also advance. Consequently, the prospects for coordinated environmental measures between developed and developing nations are becoming increasingly uncertain. The forthcoming Society 5.0, driven by digitalisation, big data, and AI, holds promise for reconciling economic development with social challenges, while also harbouring potential to contribute to solving environmental problems. These cutting-edge technologies may offer new perspectives on long-debated environmental economics concepts: the environmental Kuznets curve, the resource curse, Porter's hypothesis, the pollution haven hypothesis, and income inequality. This review prioritises papers with high citation counts in influential journals from 2015 to 2025 to outline research trends and present future challenges. Through a narrative and literature-based review, it aims to grasp how digitalisation, big data, and AI are altering existing prominent hypotheses, thereby providing direction for theoretical research and social practice.