Examining the impacts of economic and demographic aspects on the ecological footprint in South and Southeast Asian countries

The reexamination of the existing economic and environmental policies in the South and Southeast Asian countries seems to be necessary, as these countries are struggling to achieve the goals of sustainable development. For suggesting a long-term environmental policy, we intend to examine whether the selected economic and demographic indicators have influenced the ecological footprint in the eight developing countries of Asia for the period of 1990-2015. The use of pooled mean group (PMG) approach allowed driving the long-run common coefficients, which may facilitate us to develop a common policy framework to fortify the environmental quality. The computed results confirmed that the selected variable are cointegrated in the long run; and, per capita income, nonrenewable energy usage, urbanization, fertility rate, and population density are observed as the significant drivers of the environmental pollution. On the other hand, renewable energy consumption restored the environmental quality in these countries. Based on the results, we recommend the need for the diversification of the energy-basket where the use of renewable energy resources to be enhanced. Further, by sensitizing the necessity of environmental conservation, governments should promote less carbon-intense economic and demographic practices across the industries and sectors.