Role of greener energies, high tech-industries and financial expansion for ecological footprints: Implications from sustainable development perspective

Environmental recovery is one of the critical challenges for developed and developing economies worldwide. In this regard, developed and developing economies are constructing and implementing policies to achieve envi-ronmental sustainability without affecting economic progress - termed sustainable development. This study analyzes the influence of various financial, economic, technological, and greener energy variables on the envi-ronmental quality of developed (G7) and emerging (E7) economies. The current study employs panel data from 1990 to 2020 and uses robust panel estimation approaches for empirical analysis. Specifically, the diagnostic test asserted that slope coefficients are heterogenous and cross-section dependence exists in both panels. The coin-tegration association exists between the variables. Employing the System Generalized Method of Moment and panel Quantile regression, the empirical results reveal that financial globalization and renewable energy nega-tively influence the ecological footprints in both regions. Financial globalization (-0.043) is more aggressive in G7, and renewable energy (-0.258) significantly impacts E7 economies. In contrast, economic growth is harmful to environmental sustainability in both G7 and E7. Medium and high technologies (MHTI) and urbanization significantly affect ecological footprints in both panels. Urbanization growth harms developed regions' envi-ronment and benefits emerging economies.