Nexus between natural resources, globalization and ecological sustainability in resource-rich countries: Dynamic role of green technology and environmental regulation

Abstract

Investigating natural resources and environmental sustainability concerns has remained imperative policy agenda of legislators. Therefore, this study investigates the nexus between natural resources, green technology, environmental regulations, and ecological footprints (EFP) in resource-rich economies from 1990 to 2018. Using cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) model, the findings confirm that natural resources and globalization are primarily responsible for increasing EFP. In contrast, green technologies and environmental regulations reduce EFP by offering efficient technologies and adopting sustainable economic practices. Similar evidence is provided in short-run estimations; however, their coefficient magnitudes are relatively lower. These findings are endorsed by Augmented Mean Group and Common Correlated Effect Mean Group estimators and imply that eco-friendly technologies and stringent environmental policies encourage green transformation, eventually reducing EFP. The negative influence of natural resource depletion would be minimized by integrating green technologies into the economic process.