Navigating the paths to sustainable environments via energy security, renewable energy and economic complexity: Evidence from array of pollution metrics

Empirical narratives pertaining to the implications of energy security (ENS) on environmental quality (EQ), particularly in the context of Emerging Seven (E7) countries, are currently understudied. Likewise, the influence of renewable energy (RWN), economic complexity (ECI) and environmental control technology (EVT) on EQ is still unsettled. Thus, based on arrays of pollution metrics (ecological footprint (ECF), carbon emission damage (CO2D) and consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO2) and annual panel series spanning 1990-2018, this study provides fresh insights into the implications of the listed variables on EQs in E7 countries. Accordingly, the following empirical narratives were established: (i) The effects of the enlisted panel series on EQ are sensitive to the peculiarities of each pollution metric. (ii) Estimates of the pool mean group autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) model and those of cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) underscore the important roles of ENS and RWN on EQ, particularly on ECF; and ECI on CO2D. While EVT provides insignificant carbon emission reducing effects across all variants of EQ indicators, population and economic growth are all time-significant pollution enablers. (iii) The outcomes of the panel quantile regression demonstrate that ENS enhances EQ only at the 25th and 50th quantiles and accelerates pollution at the 75th and 95th quantiles. RWN enhances EQ across all quantiles while ECI deaccelerates ECF and CO2D and accelerates CCO2 across all quantiles. Furthermore, EVT accelerates ECF and CO2D while it deaccelerates CCO2 across all quantiles. Meanwhile, the unpleasant effects of growth and population are reemphasized. Policy strategies to ensure a sustainable environment in E7 have been highlighted.