A sustainable study of economic growth and development amidst ecological footprint: New insight from Nigerian Perspective

Dynamic assessment of eco-environmental quality in Xiong'an new area, China using WB-RSEI new model

Quantitative assessment of eco-environmental quality is crucial for real-time environmental monitoring and protection. Current models have limitations in their applicability to water bodies. This study develops the WB-RSEI new model, which is better suited for both water and land spaces, and uses it to analyze the dynamic changes in eco-environmental quality in Xiong'an New Area, China, from 2013 to 2023, and predicts the future development trends, analyzes the driving factors using a geographic detector model. The results show that: (1) The WB-RSEI for the years 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 were 0.4445, 0.4997, 0.5023, 0.5011, 0.4445, and 0.5231, respectively, which were relatively low, exhibiting a fluctuating trend of initial increase followed by decline and subsequent recovery, accompanied by a characteristic of polarization; (2) WB-RSEI showed a "higher in the south, lower in the north", "Stable core, fluctuating periphery" spatial pattern, and significant spatial heterogeneity and autocorrelation; (3) The environmental quality is expected to gradually improve over the next 10 years, but the polarization phenomenon will intensify; (4) The main driving forces are ranked as follows: natural factors > socio-economic factors > land types factors > climatic factors, with multi-factor interactions having stronger driving effects than single factors. These findings can help urban planners more effectively manage urban space.

Impact of urbanization and human development on ecological footprints in OECD and non-OECD countries

Ecological footprints play a crucial role in assessing how human activities impact the environment, serving as key indicators. This study investigates the influence of urbanization and human development controlling for GDP and industrialization on ecological footprints, focusing on both OECD and non-OECD countries during the period from 1990 to 2018. The investigation employs an open-access solution framework and utilizes the Generalized Method of Moments approach for analysis. The findings highlight distinct patterns between OECD and non-OECD countries. In OECD countries, ecological footprints are increasing with urbanization and GDP growth while showcasing a negative impact of the Human Development Index (HDI) and industrialization on ecological footprint. Conversely, non-OECD countries demonstrate a positive impact of GDP and HDI on ecological footprints, while there is a negative impact of industrialization and urbanization on ecological footprints. These disparities underscore the need for tailored environmental strategies based on a country's economic and developmental status. The results underscore the importance of investing in the renewable energy sector and implementing stringent environmental policies to mitigate the environmental impact of human activities. This evidence reinforces the urgency for countries, irrespective of their OECD status, to take proactive measures to safeguard the planet from further environmental hazards.

Renewable energy and ecological footprint nexus: Evidence from dynamic panel threshold technique

The escalating phenomenon of environmental degradation is an urgent global concern, imperiling ecosystems and hindering the prospects for sustainable development on a planetary scale. Therefore, this study aims to explore the intricate interplay between renewable energy (RE) and ecological footprint (EF), considering the conditional impact of fiscal capacity (FIC), human development (HDI), institutional quality (IQI), and population density (PDN). Drawing on panel data encompassing 74 developing countries from 2000 to 2022, the study employs a dynamic panel threshold regression method, both with and without an instrumental variable approach. The findings unveil a non-linear nexus between RE and EF, revealing significant threshold values for FIC (1.870), HDI (0.736), and IQI (0.311), above which RE showcases its efficacy in mitigating EF. Conversely, when these predictors dip below the thresholds of FIC (1.391), HDI (0.655), and IQI (0.2545), the impact of RE on FE becomes insignificant. Moreover, the study introduces PDN as an additional threshold variable in the analysis, pinpointing that the effectiveness of RE in reducing EF hinges on PDN being below a threshold value of 263.144; however, above a threshold value of 276.98, the influence of PDN on the RE-FE nexus diminishes. The findings underscore the complexity of policy landscapes in developing countries. They suggest that while promoting renewable energy is pivotal for environmental sustainability, it is equally imperative to bolster existing environmentally friendly fiscal capacity, advance human capital, enhance institutional quality, and craft effective population distribution policies.

Ecotourism or ecological concerns? Tracing the impact of economic policy uncertainty and natural resources on tourism-driven ecological footprints

The influence of tourism development and economic policy uncertainties on environmental sustainability is substantial. Promoting responsible tourism and using sustainable tourism practises, like offering eco-friendly lodging, is a key part of protecting natural habitats and lowering carbon footprints. Hence, this study tries to examine the relationship between tourism development, economic policy uncertainty, renewable energy, and natural resources on the ecological footprint of India during 1990-2022. This study applies a novel dynamic ARDL simulation approach for long-run and short-run analyses. The study also employs frequency-domain causality to check the causal relationship between the variables. The result reveals that tourism has a positive effect on the ecological footprint. Similarly, economic policy uncertainty has a positive and significant effect on the ecological footprint in India during the sample period. Additionally, natural resource rent shows a positive effect on the ecological footprint or deteriorating environmental quality in the short and long run in the sample period. However, renewable energy consumption indicates a negative effect on the ecological footprint. The results reveal that TDI and EPU have rejected the null hypothesis of no Granger cause in the long, medium, and short term. While renewable energy has a causal relationship with ecological footprints in both the long run and medium run, it is imperative for India to adopt measures that facilitate the advancement of sustainable tourism, with a particular focus on promoting environmentally friendly lodging options, enhancing public transportation systems, and implementing effective waste management strategies.

Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve: assessing the impact of climate policy uncertainty in the Belt and Road Initiative

Climate change repercussions such as temperature shifts and more severe weather occurrences are felt globally. It contributes to larger-scale challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss in food production. As a result, the purpose of this research is to develop strategies to grow the economy without harming the environment. Therefore, we revisit the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, considering the impact of climate policy uncertainty along with other control variables. We investigated yearly panel data from 47 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) nations from 1998 to 2021. Pooled regression, fixed effect, and the generalized method of moment (GMM) findings all confirmed the presence of inverted U-shaped EKC in BRI counties. Findings from this paper provide policymakers with actionable ideas, outlining a framework for bringing trade and climate agendas into harmony in BRI countries. The best way to promote economic growth and reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to push for trade and climate policies to be coordinated. Moreover, improving institutional quality is essential for strong environmental governance, as it facilitates the adoption of environmentally friendly industrialization techniques and the efficient administration of climate policy uncertainties.

Disaggregated energy consumption, industrialization, total population, and ecological footprint nexus: evidence from the world's top 10 most populous countries

High population, energy consumption, industrialization, and environmental degradation are inherently linked, making the study of ecological footprints in the most populous countries crucial for understanding their environmental impact and guiding efforts to minimize ecological degradation through sustainable resource management and conservation. Therefore, this study examines the effects of disaggregated energy consumption, industrialization, and total population on the ecological footprint of the world's top 10 most populous countries namely Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and the USA, using data for the period of 1990-2020. The research employs Kao and Pedroni techniques of cointegration to determine whether the variables are cointegrated in the long run. The long-term equilibrium association is measured utilizing panel autoregressive distributed lag/pooled mean group (ARDL/PMG), and method of moment quantile (MMQ) regression methods. Furthermore, to test for the causal relationships between the selected variables, we used the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) panel causality method. The findings of the study reveal that renewable energy consumption, as well as GDP square, have a significant negative influence on ecological footprint, implying that renewable energy and GDP square reduce ecological footprint and thus enhance environmental quality. Furthermore, non-renewable energy, industrialization, total population, and GDP have a detrimental impact on environmental quality by increasing ecological footprint. It is also found that there is a one-way causality from non-renewable energy and industrialization to ecological footprint and a bidirectional causal relationship between ecological footprint and total population, GDP, and GDP2. Important policy implications are drawn based on the findings.

The effect of mineral saving and energy on the ecological footprint in an emerging market: evidence from novel Fourier based approaches

Environmental degradation has been one of the hot topics discussed since the 1980s. In the literature, CO₂ emissions are generally used to represent environmental degradation. However, in this study, environmental degradation is examined in the context of ecological footprint. The study aims to investigate the effect of economic growth, energy consumption, and mineral saving on the ecological footprint in Turkey for the period of 1975-2017. For this purpose, the bootstrap autoregressive distributed lag model with a Fourier function (FARDL) method is utilized to test the long-term relationship between the variables. The findings indicate a long-term relationship between the variables. In addition, long-run estimation results based on the FARDL model show that economic growth and mineral saving increase the ecological footprint in Turkey. The conclusion discusses these findings and presents long-term policy recommendations for Turkey.

The effect of gross domestic product, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and renewable energy on CO2 emission

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of GDP, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and renewable energy consumption on CO₂ emissions in Pakistan using yearly time series data from 1985 to 2018. The study utilized the cointegration technique and Granger causality for empirical estimation. The results of the study indicated that urbanization, financial development, and trade openness upsurge CO₂ emission. Whereas using renewable energy resources is favorable for the environment and possesses negative relation with CO₂ emission. All variables possess long-run relation with Co₂ emission. Granger causality shows unidirectional causality from GDP and renewable energy to CO₂ emission. The study contains insight for policymakers in Pakistan with beneficial policy recommendations to work toward a sustainable green environment.

A comparative study on the dietary ecological footprint in contemporary China

Food consumption is increasingly impacting environmental sustainability. Building on the latest data of China Statistical Yearbook 2015-2020, this study quantified the dietary ecological footprint per capita (EFP), including animal-based and plant-based EFP, across seven provinces (representing seven regions) and between urban and rural areas of China. We further analyzed the possible correlated factors with the EFP and the strength of these correlations. The results showed that the EFP in southern areas was generally higher than that in northern areas, and the EFP in urban areas was higher than that in rural areas. The EFP was significantly correlated with per capita disposable income (PCDI), food consumption (FC) quantity, urban/rural status, southern/northern areas, and provinces. Moreover, we found geographical locations (i.e., southern/northern areas and provinces) contributed more to the total and animal-based EFP than economic conditions (i.e., urban/rural status and PCDI). Although pork price dramatically influenced the dietary patterns, it did not affect the total or animal-based EFP. These findings provide novel insights for understanding the mechanisms of the relationship between food consumption and environmental sustainability in China. The conclusions are helpful in predicting the future environmental impacts of diets in other countries with similar national conditions.

Factors affecting the ecological footprint: A study on the OECD countries

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of economic growth, trade openness, urbanization, foreign direct investment, renewable energy consumption and natural resource rents on the ecological footprint in 31 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Moreover, we examine the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for the period from 1995 to 2017 by employing the second-generation panel data methodologies which allow to crosssectional dependence among countries. Our findings show that the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is valid in OECD countries. In line with the long-term model results, while URB and GDP increase EF, other variables decrease it. According to the causality test results, there is a bidirectional causality among ecological footprint, economic growth, natural resource rents and trade openness. In addition, it is concluded that there is a unidirectional causality running from urbanization, renewable energy consumption and foreign direct investment to ecological footprint.

Ecological footprint analysis of the phosphorus industry in China

Mitigating the effects of environmental deterioration requires a focus on not just CO₂ emissions from energy consumption, but also environmental pollution from industry sectors. To reach this goal, recent studies have extended ecological footprint (EF) analysis to identify the ecological drivers of various key industry sectors. The role of the phosphorus (P) industry on the EF within the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework for China is the emphasis of this study. Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) as well as the impulse response function and robustness analysis were used to consider a time from 1985 to 2018. The study verifies the EKC hypothesis for China in both the long and the short run, and indispensable determinants are proposed to be included to assure the model's fitness and robustness when conducting EF analysis of industry sectors. Energy consumption-based carbon emissions have been verified as the dominant contributor to EF, but P use and urbanization have a significant lagged positive influence on EF in the short run. P exports, in particular, have been highlighted as a critical driver of the EF of China's P industry. The conducted frequency domain causality test reinforced the above findings and demonstrated bidirectional causality at different frequencies. This work suggests that formulating plausible P export policies to alleviate the conflict between the output of China's P industry and the environmental sustainability of this industry are necessary. In this context, "multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and practical solutions" are most desirable for sustainable P management.

Modeling for Insights: Does Fiscal Decentralization Impede Ecological Footprint?

In recent years, the debate on environmental issues has become a hot topic. Fiscal decentralization is believed to be a crucial driver of environmental sustainability. However, the discussion on the effect of fiscal decentralization (FD) on environmental sustainability has not reached a unanimous conclusion. In this study, we inspect the effect of fiscal decentralization, economic development, technological innovation, economic globalization, and energy use on environmental quality in eight Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries. In addition, we analyze the mechanisms through which fiscal decentralization influences the ecological footprint (EF) through the channels of technological innovation and economic growth. Using the STIRPAT framework, this study employed the CS-ARDL method for short-run and long-run analyses that deal with slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The empirical results show that fiscal decentralization and technological innovation mitigate ecological footprint, while economic development, energy consumption, and urbanization negatively affect environmental quality. However, economic globalization is not related to the EF in the sample economies. The results further reveal that FD enhances environmental quality through the channel of technological innovation, while it does not affect the EF through the channel of economic growth. Finally, it is recommended to make a reasoned division between the rights and responsibilities of local government and central government in environmental pollution management, and optimize the environmental system. At the same time, policymakers should encourage technological innovation to reduce the adverse impacts of economic development and energy consumption on the environment.

Ecological balance emerges in implementing the water-energy-food security nexus in well-developed countries in Africa

Although many African countries have made significant progress towards universal access to water, energy, and food resources (WEF), assessing the ecological response to the increasing productivity of these resources is not well researched, which carries the risk of ecological deficit, resource degradation, and inefficient policy responses to resource management. This study seeks to assess the ecological sustainability response to the high increase demand for WEF resources in well-developed African countries. The study developed new measurement metrics for the WEF production system, including three indicators of ecological footprint (EF), ecological biocapacity (EBC), and eco-balance. The overall analysis considers data from four distinct types of water and energy use activities, and eight distinct types of food consumption, in nine African countries with the highest WEF nexus performance. An evaluation tool for the Water, Energy, Food and Ecological Balance (WEFEB) nexus index is proposed as one of the study's outcomes. Despite having 100% access to WEF resources related to the SDG targets. The results reveal the significant levels of imbalance and large ecological deficits existing in many of the concerned countries, especially North Africa, Mauritius, and South Africa, which need to rethink their economic models. Projecting a sustained increase in resource demand so that each country achieves at least 1700 m³/capita/year as the minimum amount of water needed, most countries would suffer from a steady increase in ecological imbalance. According to the results, managing the ecological imbalances with increasing demand for WEF resources in well-developed African countries may require well-designed policies to effectively reduce certain types of human demand that have a large ecological footprint.

Assessing the influence of urbanization and energy on carbon emissions of Turkey: evidence using the new RALS analysis

This research aimed at examining the nexus among urbanization, energy use, foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth, and environmental sustainability in Turkey. Time-series data from 1970 to 2017 were used in the analysis, and ecological footprint was used as an indicator for environmental sustainability. The aim was to investigate the long-run nexus among the indicators and contribute to the literature in several ways. One of these contributions is to empirically investigate this relationship with the residual augmented least squares (RALS) augmented Dickey-Fuller ADF for stationarity test and RALS-EG (residual augmented least squares-Engle and Granger) for the long-run steady-state relationship of investigated variables. Together with, fully modified OLS (ordinary least squares) model has been employed to observe the long-run effect and the significance of the investigated variables on environmental sustainability. The results revealed that the long-run relationship exists and the long-run coefficients show statistically significant effects on environmental sustainability. In the long run, urbanization and energy usage degrade the environment and reduce environmental quality, although FDI inflow and gross domestic product (GDP) growth contribute 0.22% and 8.03% to environmental sustainability in Turkey, respectively. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is not valid in this model and U-shaped relationship was found between increasing economic performance and the ecological footprint. The causality results reflect that urbanization has feedback causality with energy use. The study suggests that to achieve sustainable urbanization, policymakers in Turkey should execute well-planned urbanization programs, create an energy conservation policy, and encourage green industries to ensure a sustainable increase in environmental quality for Turkey.

Policy insight from renewable energy, foreign direct investment (FDI), and urbanization towards climate goal: insight from Indonesia

This study is premised on Indonesia's climate goal amidst good economic performance. To test the environmental implication of this macroeconomic performance of Indonesia, we adopt Indonesian quarterly data of 1990Q1-2018Q4 for empirical analysis. Relevant instruments in the economic performance of Indonesia such as urbanization, foreign direct investment (FDI), and renewable energy source are all adopted for accurate estimations and analysis of this topic. Different approaches (structural break test, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing and Granger causality) are all adopted in this study. Our analysis and policy recommendations are based on the short-run and long-run ARDL dynamics and Granger causality. Findings from ARDL confirmed negative relationship between carbon emission and renewable energy source, FDI, and urbanization. Also, a U-shape instead of inverted U-shaped EKC is found confirming the impeding implication of Indonesian economic growth to its environmental performance if not checkmate. From Granger causality analysis, all the variables are seen transmitting to urbanization in a one-way causal relationship. Also, FDI and renewable energy prove to be essential determinants of the country's environment development; hence, FDI is seen transmitting to both energy sources (fossil fuels and renewables) in a one-way causal relationship. Renewable energy is as well seen having two ways causal relationship with both carbon emission and fossil fuels. This result has equally exposed the significant position of the three instruments (urbanization, FDI, and renewable energy source) in Indonesian environment development.

Spatial impact of foreign direct investment on ecological footprint in Africa

This study examines the spatial impact of FDI on ecological footprint of 31 African countries. In achieving this, the study uses the Driscoll-Kraay (1998) random effect model, fixed-effect instrumental variable regression, and the spatial Durbin model. There are three main important findings from this empirical study. First, FDI has a nonlinear impact on ecological footprint in Africa. At the initial stage, FDI reduces ecological footprint up to a threshold of $404.75-$669.96 million, before the impact increases ecological degradation. This result is robust to the instrumental regression model. Second, the results further reveal a significant spatial spillover of FDI on ecological footprint in Africa. Third, the empirical results provide evidence of both direct and spillover effects of environmental degradation determinant in Africa. This denotes that environmental quality of a particular country influences the environmental quality of other neighbouring countries. While it is important to attract significant amount of foreign investment to Africa, this study recommends that African governments need to improve their environmental regulations and laws to achieve transfer of energy-saving technology from foreign investors.

An Asymmetric Nexus between Urbanization and Technological Innovation and Environmental Sustainability in Ethiopia and Egypt: What Is the Role of Renewable Energy?

The present study investigates the nexus between urbanization, technological innovation, renewable energy consumption, and environmental quality in Egypt and Ethiopia from 1980 to 2020 by employing symmetric and asymmetric frameworks. Referring to symmetric assessment, the coefficient of renewable energy consumption and technological innovation revealed a negative and statistically significant tie with environmental sustainability, valid for both proxies. Study findings suggest that clean energy integration and technological innovations in the economy decrease environmental adversity by reducing carbon emissions and ecological blames. Although the elasticity of urbanization has documented a positive and statistically significant connection with environmental sustainability, the conclusion is valid for both models. Second, in the long run, the asymmetric shocks of renewable energy consumption and technological innovation have exposed a negative and statistically significant tie to environmental sustainability, whereas in the case of urbanization, the asymmetric shocks unveiled a positive and statistically significant association to environmental sustainability. Third, the study revealed that the feedback hypothesis explains the relationship between technological innovation and environmental sustainability [TI←→EF] in Egypt and ecological footprint and urbanization in Egypt and Ethiopia. Moreover, unidirectional causality runs from ecological footprint to renewable energy consumption in Egypt and Ethiopia.

The impact of human capital and bio-capacity on the environmental quality: evidence from G20 countries

This study investigates the effects of human capital, bio-capacity, energy use, and economic growth on the ecological footprint of G20 countries for the period 1970-2016, using the panel dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) model. In the study, the G20 was considered in two groups, as developed and emerging economies. According to the DCCE estimation results, the long-term impact of human capital on the ecological footprint is negative and statistically strong in the developed economies while it is insignificant in the emerging economies. The impact of bio-capacity on the ecological footprint is positive in the short and long term in the emerging economies, and only in the short term in the developed economies. In addition, economic growth and energy use undermine the environmental quality in both groups of countries. The error correction coefficients are negative and statistically significant, which means that the deviations from the short-term equilibrium converge the long-term equilibrium level for both groups.

Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Consumption and Trade Policy: Do They Matter for Environmental Sustainability?

In the extant literature, there are numerous discussions on China’s environmental sustainability. However, few scholars have considered renewable energy consumption and trade policy simultaneously to debate environmental sustainability. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine how renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, bio-capacity, economic growth, and trade policy dynamically affect the ecological footprint (a proxy for environmental sustainability). Using the data from 1971 to 2017 and employing the auto-regressive distributed lag model to perform an empirical analysis, the results demonstrate that renewable energy consumption and trade policy are conducive to environmental sustainability because of their negative impacts on the ecological footprint. However, the results also indicate that bio-capacity, non-renewable energy consumption, and economic growth are putting increasing pressure on environmental sustainability due to their positive impacts on the ecological footprint. Moreover, to determine the direction of causality between the highlighted variables, the Yoda-Yamamoto causality test was conducted. The results suggest a two-way causal relationship between renewable energy consumption and ecological footprint, non-renewable energy consumption and ecological footprint, and economic growth and ecological footprint. Conversely, the results also suggest a one-way causal relationship running from bio-capacity and trade policy to the ecological footprint.

Does financial development reinforce ecological footprint in Singapore? Evidence from ARDL and Bayesian analysis

Singapore has been ranked in the most dynamic financial market and the highest ecological deficit country, indicating that the trade-off hypothesis may exist. The main goal of the present study is to probe the impact of financial development, economic growth, and human capital on ecological footprint in Singapore from 1980 to 2016. The outcomes obtained from the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method have failed to provide a clear impact of financial sector development on ecological footprint. However, the Bayesian analysis reveals that both financial development and economic growth have a harmful influence on EF, while the impact of human capital is beneficial. A theoretical conclusion derived is that monetary expansion policies should be associated with improving human capital to achieve the United Nations SDGs in the context of Singapore. The findings of the study are of particular interest to policymakers for developing sound policy decisions for sustainable economic progress which is not at the cost of environment.

The relationship between external debt and ecological footprint in SANE countries: insights from Kónya panel causality approach

There are many studies on the relationship between energy consumption and various environmental indicators in Africa, and SANE countries in particular. However, there is a dearth of studies that relate external debt to CO₂ emissions, and even the ecological footprint, which is a more comprehensive environmental indicator. As such, this paper applies advanced estimation techniques to explore the role of external debt in the famous energy-growth-environmental nexus in SANE countries from 1970 to 2018. The findings from the Augmented Mean Group estimator indicate that economic growth and energy consumption increase environmental pressure in the SANE countries. On country-level results, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, monotonic increase, and monotonic decrease for ecological footprint holds in South Africa, Algeria, and Nigeria, respectively. Also, the results reveal that external debt increases the ecological footprint in South Africa and Algeria. Furthermore, the Kónya (2006) bootstrap country-level Granger causality test shows that ecological footprint is sensitive to economic growth and energy consumption in South Africa and Nigeria, while economic growth is sensitive to the ecological footprint in both Algeria and Nigeria. This study argues that stringent policy suggestions should be centred on reducing the overdependence on non-renewable energy sources since it underscores the major deteriorating state of environmental quality across SANE countries.

Ecological footprint, public-private partnership investment in energy, and financial development in Brazil: a gradual shift causality approach

The present study assesses the effect of public-private partnerships in energy and financial development on Brazil's ecological footprint and also takes into account the role of renewable energy and economic growth using data spanning from 1983 to 2017. The study utilized several techniques including autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) to examine the relationship between ecological footprint and the determinants, while the gradual shift causality test was utilized to capture the causal linkage between the series in the presence of a single structural break. The outcomes of the Maki co-integration test revealed evidence of a long-run association among the variables of interest. Furthermore, the results of the ARDL and DOLS tests revealed that economic growth and public and private investment in energy increase environmental degradation, while it is mitigated by both renewable energy and financial development. Moreover, the gradual shift causality test revealed a bidirectional causal linkage between ecological footprint and economic growth. The present study recommends the establishment of a forum that will foster public and private partnerships to enhance communication, which will promote collaboration on new initiatives involving green technological innovations.

Effect of Agricultural Employment and Export Diversification Index on Environmental Pollution: Building the Agenda towards Sustainability

Agricultural activities have a significant impact on environmental quality, because they generate waste that pollutes water and soil. In parallel, the supply of products has diversified in recent years to meet growing demand, exerting strong pressure on nature’s capacity for regeneration and absorption of waste. This research aims to examine the impact of agricultural employment and the export diversification index on ecological footprints, using advanced techniques of panel data econometrics. This relationship is moderated by population density and real per capita product. Cross-section dependence and slope homogeneity were included in the econometric models. The cointegration and causality analysis was reinforced by estimating the short- and long-term elasticities, using the AMG, CCE-MG, FMOLS, and DOLS models. Using annual data for 96 countries, we found a heterogeneous impact of agricultural employment and the export diversification index on ecological footprint, between the short and long term. The findings reveal that the increase of the product increases the pressure on the ecological footprint. The achievement of SDGs must include joint efforts between countries, and not in isolation. Those responsible for environmental policy should promote the idea that production must be friendly to the environment and promote the green growth of countries. The adoption of new technology, higher productivity agricultural employment, and the regulation of exports of sustainable products can contribute to achieving environmental sustainability.

Does foreign direct investment asymmetrically affect the mitigation of environmental degradation in Malaysia?

In this modern era, the global warming issue has been on the front burner of almost all countries including Malaysia. This study utilizing time series data spanning from 1970 to 2018. To this end, a linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model was conducted to reveal the foreign direct investment-growth-environment nexus. The conclusion validates the existence of the pollution haven hypothesis in Malaysia. Specifically, the empirical results of the linear autoregressive distributed lag model indicate that foreign direct investment and real gross domestic product have a significant positive impact on CO₂ emission while carbon damage cost and the interaction term of foreign direct investment and carbon damage cost have a negative impact in the long run and short run. To find the asymmetric behavior of the foreign direct investment our study employed a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model. The findings confirmed the asymmetry association of foreign direct investment with CO₂ emission. Interestingly, our results of the interaction term in both models are significant with a negative sign that shows the mediating effect of carbon damage cost that converts the positive effect of foreign direct investment on CO₂ emission to negative. Thus, it is vital to reinforce the use of significant regulation as the Malaysian economy opens up to attract more foreign direct investment.

Dynamics among economic growth, urbanization, and environmental sustainability in IEA countries: the role of industry value-added

As an indicator of environmental degradation, the ecological footprint has seen a terrific focus in the literature. We explore the dynamics among economic growth, urbanization, and environmental sustainability in the presence of population growth and industry value-added in the thirty International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries. We apply advanced econometric modeling for empirical analysis over the period 1992 to 2016. This study's short-run results suggest that capital formation and biocapacity increase ecological footprint in the short run. The findings of long-run estimates demonstrate that industrial value-added and capital formation improve environmental sustainability. However, economic growth, urbanization, biocapacity, and population growth deteriorate environmental sustainability in the long run. Policymakers in the IEA countries are encouraged to establish policies that promote a sustained lifestyle, ecological awareness, clean technological innovations, efficient production and consumption measures, and enlarge cities to limit the adverse effects of urbanization on environmental sustainability. Finally, study limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Analyzing the Role of Renewable Energy and Energy Intensity in the Ecological Footprint of the United Arab Emirates

Even though a great number of researchers have explored the determinants of environmental pollution, the majority have used carbon emissions as an indicator while only recent studies have employed the ecological footprint which is a broader and more reliable indicator for the environment. The present study contributes to the literature by exploring for the first time in the literature the role of real output, energy intensity (technology), and renewable energy in the ecological footprint under the STIRPAT framework for a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country—the United Arab Emirates. By applying the novel bounds testing with dynamic simulations on the data from 1992–2017, the findings of this paper reveal that energy intensity and renewable energy have a negative and significant influence on the ecological footprint but real output has a positive and significant impact on it. In other words, the empirical results indicate that a rise in the real income increases environmental pollution while increases in renewable energy and advances in technology mitigate the level of emissions. The findings also suggest that the government should establish new programs, investment opportunities, and incentives in favor of energy intensity-related technology and renewable energy for the sake of environmental sustainability. The outcomes from this research analysis are useful for policymakers, industrial partners, and project designers in the United Arab Emirates.

Economic complexity versus ecological footprint in the era of globalization: evidence from ASEAN countries

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have witnessed significant growth over the years amidst increase energy consumption, dwindling biocapacity, and increasing ecological footprint (EF). However, while the influence of energy consumption, globalization, and economic growth on EF has been previously examined, the literature is silent as regards the association between the level of skills and knowledge needed in the creation of exported goods and the EF, particularly in the ASEAN region. The current study is a maiden attempt to explore the impact of economic complexity on EF and CO₂ emissions in the said region while considering heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence among countries. From the findings, economic complexity, energy consumption, and economic growth increase EF and CO₂ emissions. Globalization reduces the EF, but its impact on CO₂ emissions remains unclear. Economic complexity has a more devastating impact in Indonesia, but less severe in Singapore. The direction of causality flows from economic growth, economic complexity, and energy consumption to EF. A feedback causality exists between globalization and EF, and between energy consumption, globalization, and CO₂ emissions. The limitations of the study and directions for future research have been highlighted along with relevant policy directions.

Economic performance of Indonesia amidst CO2 emissions and agriculture: a time series analysis

To minimize the awful situation confronting the entire globe, the global warming danger has raised the intensity of consciousness from all areas of life. Therefore, the research assesses the impact of CO₂ emissions and energy use on economic performance and considers trade openness, urbanization, and agriculture in Indonesia utilizing data covering the period from 1965 to 2019. The current research employed the dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) tests to capture the long-run association between these economic indicators. Furthermore, the gradual shift and wavelet coherence tests are utilized to capture the direction of causality. The ARDL bound test discloses a long-run interconnection among the variables of interest. The outcomes of the ARDL and DOLS depict that CO₂ emissions, agriculture, energy use, and urbanization trigger economic growth. Moreover, the wavelet coherence test findings revealed a positive correlation between economic growth and urbanization, CO₂ emissions, agriculture, and energy consumption. Furthermore, there is evidence of a weak and positive correlation between economic growth and trade openness. The gradual shift causality test outcomes disclosed that economic growth can predict urbanization and energy consumption, while agriculture can predict economic growth. These outcomes have far-reaching significance for economic growth and the selected variables in Indonesia.

Can CO2 emissions and energy consumption determine the economic performance of South Korea? A time series analysis

Following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), which place emphasis on relevant concerns that encompass access to energy (SDG-7) and sustainable development (SDG-8), this research intends to re-examine the relationship between urbanization, CO2 emissions, gross capital formation, energy use, and economic growth in South Korea, which has not yet been assessed using recent econometric techniques, based on data covering the period between 1965 and 2019. The present study utilized the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) methods, while the gradual shift and wavelet coherence techniques are utilized to determine the direction of the causality. The ARDL bounds test reveals a long-run linkage between the variables of interest. Empirical evidence shows that CO2 emissions trigger economic growth. Thus, based on increasing environmental awareness across the globe, it is necessary to change the energy mix in South Korea to renewables to enable the use of sustainable energy sources and establish an environmentally sustainable ecosystem. Moreover, the energy-induced growth hypothesis is validated. This result is supported by the causality analysis, which shows a one-way causality running from energy consumption to GDP in South Korea. This suggests that South Korea cannot embark on conservative energy policies, as such actions will damage economic progress. Additionally, a unidirectional causality is seen from CO2 emissions and energy consumption to economic growth. These findings have far-reaching consequences for GDP growth and macroeconomic indicators in South Korea.

Determinants of consumption-based carbon emissions in Chile: an application of non-linear ARDL

In recent years, a growing number of scholars have employed various proxies of environmental degradation to understand the reasons behind rising environmental degradation. However, very few studies have considered consumption-based carbon emissions, even though a clear understanding of the impact of consumption patterns is essential for redirecting the pattern to more sustainable consumption. Thus, this study takes a step forward by using consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO2) as a proxy of environmental degradation using the novel non-linear ARDL technique for Chilefrom 1990 to 2018. To the best understanding of the investigators, no prior studies have investigated the drivers of consumption-based carbon emissions utilizing non-linear ARDL. The study employed ADF and KSS (non-linear) tests to check the data series' stationary level. Additionally, the symmetric and asymmetric ARDL approaches are utilized to explore cointegration and long-run linkages. According to the results, there is no symmetric cointegration among the variables; however, the empirical estimates reveal a long-run asymmetric connection between the indicators and CCO2 emissions. The novel results from the asymmetric ARDL indicate that negative and positive changes in economic growth deteriorate the quality of the environment. Interestingly, a reduction in economic growth makes a more dominant contribution to environmental degradation. Moreover, positive changes in renewable energy usage improve the quality of Chile's environment, inferring that the country can achieve a reduction in environmental degradation by boosting renewable energy consumption. Surprisingly, the study found that technological innovation is ineffective in reducing consumption-based carbon emissions, which implies that Chile's technological innovation is not directed towards manufacturing green technology. Finally, the policy implications are discussed with respect to reducing consumption-based carbon emissions.

Mitigating environmental degradation with institutional quality and foreign direct investment (FDI): new evidence from asymmetric approach

Chile is currently rated among the performing countries towards the achievement of the global goals of reducing carbon emission. It is on recorded that Chile as a country has moved from highly insufficient to insufficient and still working towards conforming to recommend the region of 2°C in quest of controlling climate change through carbon emission reduction. From this development, it is essential to investigate on the country's strategies in achieving this success and equally make recommendation for other countries to adopt Chile's strategy as a blue print in controlling carbon emission. To effectively do this and achieve the objective of this study, I adopt nonlinear and asymmetric approaches to have a combined (positive and negative) view of the reactions of the selected variable towards determining the impact of each variable towards curbing emission in Chile. Also, a careful selection of variable which includes economic growth (GDP per capita-Y), institutional quality, foreign direct investment (FDI), fossil fuels, and renewable energy consumption was undertaken in this study. The focus was on the interaction of institutional quality and FDI towards ascertainment of environment performance. Chile's quarterly data of 1996Q1 to 2018Q4 was utilized, and the following findings were made: positive and negative shocks to the economic growth, institutional quality, and renewable energy impacted favorably and negatively on Chile's environment through reduction and promotion of emission, respectively. In contrast, positive and negative shocks to FDI and fossil fuels impact both negatively on the Chile's environment through increase in carbon emission. So institutional quality is vital in controlling the negative impact from FDI and fossil fuels.

The impact of energy consumption to environmental sustainability: an extension of foreign direct investment induce pollution in Vietnam

Purpose

According to the crusade of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs-6, 7,8,12 and 13) that addressed pertinent issues around, clean access to water, access to energy, responsible consumption and climate change mitigation alongside, respectively, Paris Kyoto Protocol agreement of mitigation of climate changes issues of vision 2030.

Design/methodology/approach

This purpose of this study aimed to assess the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis following the ecological footprint perspective with a data set covering the period 1995–2018. It is well-established that anthropogenic human activities are the root cause of environmental deterioration. To this end, the current study is fitted in a multivariate framework to ameliorate for omitted variable bias for the data set from 1995–2018 on a quarterly frequency using autoregressive distributive lag methodology. Subsequently, the stationarity status of the study underlines series were examined with a conventional unit root test and the Pesaran’s bounds test for cointegration analysis.

Findings

Empirical evidence from the bounds test to cointegration traces the co-integration relationship between ecological footprint, conventional energy use, foreign direct investment, international tourism arrival and water resources over the sampled period. The study, in the long run, affirms the N-shaped relationship between ecological footprint and foreign direct investment in Vietnam. Additionally, the present study validates the hypothesis of energy consumption-induced pollution emissions. The relationship between international tourism arrival and quality of the environment is statistically positive in both the short-run and long-run, as 1% in international tourism arrival worsens the quality of the environment by 0.45% and 0.4% in the short-run and long-run, respectively. Interestingly, water resource's major environmental issues that have plagued the Vietnam economy are inversely related to ecological footprint. Based on findings, Vietnamese policymakers may need to consider drafting appropriate environmental policies to tackle global warming while concurrently boosting economic development.

Originality/value

The present study focuses on Vietnam on the determinant of environmental quality measured by a broader indicator (ecological footprint). It is well-established that anthropogenic human activities are the root cause of environmental deterioration. The present study claims to distinct from previous literature in two-folds, namely, in terms of scope. Vietnam holds a very interesting energy mix and environmental dynamics, which has been ignored in the literature. Second, we argue to be the first based on our survey to explore the theme by incorporation of water resources and foreign direct investment intensification in the conventional pollution determinant model. This is in a bid to highlights the policy blueprint for the country (Vietnam), which is currently plagued with high pollution issues and the region at large.

Nexus of ecological footprint and foreign direct investment pattern in carbon neutrality: new insight for United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Carbon neutral is among the possible ways of solving the problem of climate change. Many scholars have utilized different single indicators such as CO₂ and methane with different variables to mitigate the possible ways of solving the problem of global warming. The present study employs a specific country (UAE) approach to investigate the possible way of solving climate change. The author utilized 1980-2018 annual data of the UAE to investigate the possibility of carbon neutral in the UAE as to suggest ways of limiting climate change. Both linear and non-linear (squared) foreign direct investment (FDI) and GDP per capita were added to the study and considered as the variables of interest and other control variables (energy use and population). Among the findings of this study are inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth (GDP per capita) and ecological footprint which confirms EKC for the UAE, positive relationship between energy use and ecological footprint, negative relationship between FDI and ecological footprint in all stages which established a flat pattern of relationship, and a positive relationship between the population and ecological footprint. Findings from causal analyses exposed a two-way direction or feedback (bidirectional) between economic growth (GDP) and urban population, and between energy use and urban population both in the short and long run. Also, a one-way transmission (unidirectional) is found transmitting from ecological footprint and FDI to population both in the short run and long run; from the ecological footprint, energy use, and FDI to economic growth; from the ecological footprint and FDI to energy use in the long run; and from ecological footprint to FDI and energy use in the short run. The policy focus should be towards the improvement on the urban population. FDI pattern suggests the pollution halo hypothesis which is a pointer towards its (FDI) crucial contribution to environmental performance. Hence, FDI should be encouraged through relaxing of some laws that are preventive in nature towards FDI so as to maintain this positive trend towards sustainable development. The analytical abstract demonstrates the interactions that exist among the employed variables in Granger causality analysis. The big arrows denote two-way transmission while the small arrows show one-way causal transmissions passing to the variables where they are pointing at.

Caring for the environment: How human capital, natural resources, and economic growth interact with environmental degradation in Pakistan? A dynamic ARDL approach

Sustainability concerns are increasing globally. Besides, in Pakistan, these concerns are increasing day by day due to lack of education as well as redundancy among human capital, depletion of natural resources and economic growth can lead to pose severe threats to the environment. To address this concern, this study examines the phenomena that in what way natural resources, human capital, and economic growth affect two important indicators i.e., ecological footprint and carbon emission in Pakistan from 1985 to 2018 by using the dynamic autoregressive distribution lag (DARDL) approach. The outcomes of the analysis indicate that in the long run human capital and natural resource has a negative link with carbon emission whereas economic growth has a positive link with carbon emission. On the other side, in the short run, human capital and economic growth have a positive link with carbon emission while natural resources have a negative link with carbon emission. Moreover, in the long and short-run human capital and economic growth has a positive link with ecological footprint whereas natural resources have a negative link with the ecological footprint. However, the results of this study also revealed the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Pakistan. Moreover, creating awareness among the citizens together with governmental regulatory pressures might help in solving the problems related to the environment resulting in preserving the sustainability of future generations in Pakistan.

Does foreign direct investments impair the ecological footprint? New evidence from the panel quantile regression

This study examines the impact of foreign direct investments on ecological footprint along with other explanatory variables of 92 countries from the year 2001 to 2016. Here, we applied the panel quantile regression model to meet the purpose of our study as it considers unobserved country heterogeneity, unlike other statistical methods. The study reveals that foreign direct investment has a positive relationship with the ecological footprint in each quantile except one, which proves the constancy of the pollution haven hypothesis. Moreover, we also tried to detect the impact of economic growth, manufacturing value-added, the percentage of world exports, and institutional quality on the ecological footprint in this study. The findings of this study also reveal that economic growth and manufacturing value-added are negatively associated with the ecological footprint. With respect to the percentage of world exports and institutional quality, we found a positive relationship with the ecological footprint. From the result of our study, different policy implications have been proposed for host countries and foreign investors on improving the economy through foreign direct investment with minimal ecological footprint.

Economic effects analysis of environmental regulation policy in the process of industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data

As Chinese economy enters the stage of high-quality development from the stage of rapid growth, the economic vitality that relies on the demographic dividend and capital dividend is gradually disappearing. In order to alleviate the downward pressure of the economy and explore a sustainable growth path, Chinese government is seeking to optimize industrial economic structure by strengthening environmental regulations. However, the effect of environmental regulation on the change of industrial structure has not been carefully examined yet. This study constructs a panel model and uses the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2016 to empirically test the economic effectiveness of environmental regulation policies on the upgrading of industrial structure. The results showed that diversified environmental regulation policies can accelerate change in regional industrial structure, and the positive effects of economic incentives and legislative monitoring of environmental regulation policies on the upgrading of industrial structure are significant. However, there are significant differences in the economic performance of environmental regulation policies among regions. The economic effectiveness of environmental regulation policies in the eastern region is better than that in the central and western regions, and the low level of environmental regulation in the central and western regions may trigger the "growth limit" problem. Therefore, in order for environmental regulation policies to better promote the upgrade of industrial structure and promote the high-quality development of the national economy, it is necessary to enrich environmental regulation policy tools, seek precise regulation in the field of the environment, build an environmental information service platform, promote supporting reform in key areas, and support the people's livelihood to alleviate transformation pressure.

Economic Complexity and Ecological Footprint: Evidence from the Most Complex Economies in the World

The paper introduces economic complexity as an explanatory variable of ecological footprint change, along with income per capita and fossil fuel energy consumption. The link between the ecological footprint and economic complexity is explored within a panel of 48 complex economies over the period 1995–2014. The panel analysis is based on the annual data series of the economic complexity index (ECI), fossil fuel energy consumption, income per capita, and the ecological footprint of production. The econometrical analysis, based on second-generation unit root tests, cointegration testing, and estimation of fully modified ordinary square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) models in a heterogeneous panel of countries, revealed a validated positive long-run association between the ecological footprint of production as dependent variable and the economic complexity index, gross domestic product per capita, and fossil fuel energy consumption. The paper sheds light on the critical situation of environmental sustainability, taking into consideration that 75% of countries under examination are in ecological deficit.