Countries enact environmental regulations to achieve sustainable development and ecological sustainability. However, environmental regulations do not guarantee environmental sustainability unless implemented efficiently. Furthermore, political institutions play a key role in the formulation and management of environmental regulations. This research examines the relationship between democracy, environmental regulations, economic growth, and ecological footprint (EF) in the panel of G7 nations from 1985 to 2017. Second generation econometric techniques are used to analyze the data. The empirical evidence indicates that economic growth enhances EF while democracy and environmental regulations positively contribute to ecological sustainability by reducing EF. The causal outcomes reveal that democracy Granger causes EF and renewable energy indicating that democracy curbs environmental degradation and stimulates the share of renewables. Further, democracy and environmental regulations Granger cause each other. Lastly, the implication of these findings for sustainable development and ecological sustainability are discussed.
Undoubtedly, energy is indispensable to attain economic development; however, it also generates CO2 emissions, which are the dominant contributor to environmental deterioration and climate change. In this regard, clean energy can help to achieve both sustainable development and environmental sustainability since it comprises non-carbohydrate energy sources that do not or seldom generate emissions. Against this backdrop, this work considers economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and probes the impact of clean energy consumption on CO2 emissions in the third largest European economy France from 1987 to 2019 controlling urbanization and economic growth. Using the STIRPAT framework, the study employed the novel Augmented ARDL method that overcomes the limitations of the ARDL methods. The outcomes disclosed strong evidence of cointegration as F-statistics (overall and independent variables) and t-statistics of the dependent variables were significant. The long-run analysis revealed that EPU poses a threat to environmental sustainability by augmenting emissions levels. Surprisingly, clean energy consumption does not contribute to emissions reduction in the long-run. Economic growth boosts CO2 emissions, while urbanization is conducive to environmental quality supporting ecological modernization theory.The study detected causality from EPU to economic growth and emissions. Finally, based on the study outcomes, a policy framework is suggested to address the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 and 13.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.