The role of Income, Trade, and Environmental Regulations in Ensuring Environmental Sustainability in MINT Countries: Evidence from Ecological Footprint.

Abstract

Income alone cannot ensure environmental sustainability. As such, different economies have relied on environmental regulations to preserve the quality of their environment. The efficiency of such regulations on environmental degradation is still unclear in developing countries culpable for lax environmental regulations. As such, this study explores the effect of environmental regulations on the ecological footprint (EFP) in MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey) countries from 1980-2016. The results suggest that energy consumption, trade and GDP increase the EFP while environmental regulations reduce it thereby mitigating environmental degradation, though insignificantly. This indicates that environmental regulations are not totally successful in mitigating ecological distortions in the sample countries. The study applies the FMOLS estimator to obtain the country-wise results. There is evidence that energy consumption increases the EFP in all MINT countries. The same influence is exacted by trade on the EFP, except in Turkey. The abating role environmental regulations on environmental degradation were confirmed in all the countries. It was significant in Nigeria and Turkey, but no in Mexico and Indonesia. Further findings revealed a bidirectional causality between GDP and EFP. Policy directions are discussed within the framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).