The nexus between eco‐friendly technology and environmental degradation in India: Does the N or inverted N‐shape load capacity curve(LCC) hypothesis hold?

Abstract

AbstractThis study aims to investigate the impact of eco‐friendly technology on environmental degradation indicated using the load capacity factor (LCF) with the framework of the Load Capacity Curve (LCC) hypothesis. In this regard, an environmental degradation function is formed and analyzed using the Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (AARDL) approach during the period spanning from 1975 to 2021 for India. The outcome indicates that eco‐friendly technology reduces the LCF, thereby fostering environmental degradation in the long run, but the relationship is not significant in the short run. Further, an N‐shaped LCC hypothesis has been observed in both long and short runs. Besides, energy consumption exhibits a LCF reducing or environmental degradation boosting role in the short run and long run. These findings are consistent with other models that are used to check the robustness of AARDL‐based results. Thus, the study recommends policies for promoting eco‐friendly technology, judicious economic growth, and cautious energy consumption to attain sustainable development by increasing the LCF in India.