Natural resources, economic policies, energy structure, and ecological footprints? nexus in emerging seven countries

The role of natural resource rents and energy to determine ecological footprints is considerably studied. However, the literature on energy structure and economic policy uncertainty are uncommon in emerging economies. So, this study is designed to investigate the nexus of natural resource rents (NRR), economic policy uncertainty (EPU), energy structure (ES), and ecological footprints (EF) under the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in emerging seven (E7) panel countries. For empirical evidence, data from 1992 to 2020 is used with robust econometric estimations. Findings report the absence of the EKC hypothesis for the E7 economies. Energy structure is supporting to limit the ecological footprints thereby helping to clean the environment. However, the role of NRR and EPU to limit the EF is not supportive. Emerging economies should re-consider the economic policies' uncertainty, natural resources' rents, and rapid urbanization to avoid environmental degradation.

Automated summary

This study investigates the relationship between natural resource rents, economic policy uncertainty, energy structure, and ecological footprints in emerging economies. The findings suggest that energy structure contributes to reducing ecological footprints, but the role of natural resource rents and economic policy uncertainty in limiting ecological footprints is not significant. Therefore, emerging economies should consider the impact of economic policy uncertainty, natural resource rents, and urbanization on the environment.