Do natural resource dependence, economic growth and transport energy consumption accelerate ecological footprint in the most innovative countries? The moderating role of technological innovation

Abstract

Climate change coupled with environmental degradation is primary concern of the modern society. Natural resource dependence has been widely recognized as a principal stimulator of environmental degradation. However, little is known whether natural resource dependence may take part in environmental sustainability of the most innovative countries via the channel of technological innovation. Against this backdrop, this study aims to explore whether natural resource dependence, transport energy consumption, economic growth, and technological innovation explain ecological footprint of the seven most innovative countries under the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework in the period from 1990 through 2018. This study utilizes both, the patent applications and research, development and demonstration budget as proxies for the technological innovation. By employing panel Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), this study's outcomes outlined that both transport energy consumption and natural resource dependence significantly increase ecological footprint while technological innovation reduces environmental degradation. Moreover, empirical findings of this study verified the legitimacy of EKC hypothesis. Additionally, natural resource dependence with interactive term of technological innovation provided evidence to reduce the harmful environmental effect of natural resources. The findings are robust to the selection of technological innovation proxy variable. The present empirical outcomes shed new light on the key role of technological innovation in attaining environmental sustainability clearly outlining that the most innovative countries should align the natural resources use, economic growth and transport energy consumption with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (c) 2023 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.