Do natural resource rents, green technological innovation, and renewable energy matter for ecological sustainability? Role of green policies in testing the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis

The current study investigates the relationship among natural resource rents, ecological green policies, technological innovation, economic growth, and their implications for the ecological footprint in both top and least green growth economies spanning from 1990 to 2021. Employing advanced methodologies, including Westerlund's (2007) cointegration test, Cross Section Dependence (CSD slope heterogeneity test, Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag, and Method of Moments Quantile Regression), the research delves into the association among these variables under the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Results concluded a negative association among ecological footprint renewable energy, technological change, ecological policies, and taxes for both groups of economies. The least green economies concluded that natural resources and ecological sustainability are inversely related, showing that these economies are not yet adaptable to the proper environmental protection policies, advancement of green innovations, and clean energy use to deplete natural resources. We also employed the method of MMQR with various quantile series, and the analysis determines that ecological taxes and regulations contribute to controlling ecological footprints. Moreover, the estimation results of this study show that the ecological protection policies implemented by these top green countries are working fruitfully, as renewable energy use, ecological taxes/regulations, and technological advancement are significantly moving towards achieving the neutrality goal. However, these nations should reassess their strategies to regulate the high consumption of fossil fuels. At least green economies entail extra care to transforming their energy sources from fossil fuels to clean energies. The present research delivers good plans for policymakers and officials to lessen fossil fuel use. Consequently, to solve the issue of environmental degradation in these countries, this study endorses aiming at innovation to attain ecological prosperity and sustainability under the targets of COP 27.