Estimating the Non-linear Impact of Environmental Degradation on Climate Vulnerability in Developed and Developing Economies: A Pathway to achieve Sustainable Development

Climate change is a pressing issue in today’s world and is discussed in nationaland international forums. Human activities are blamed as the primary forces behindenvironmental degradation and climate issues. This study assesses the role ofenvironmental degradation on climate vulnerability from a global perspective. Forthis purpose, panel data of countries are collected from 1990 to 2023. The empiricalresults are estimated through panel quantile regression (PQR). Environmentaldegradation is measured using ecological footprint, and climate vulnerability ismeasured using the health vulnerability index by ND-GAIN. The empirical resultsproved the U-shaped relationship between ecological footprint and healthvulnerability in different quantile groups. The further analysis explores that threedeveloped countries (Luxembourg, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) haveachieved the threshold value of the U-shaped curve and lay on the right side. Incontrast, the remaining countries are located before maturity. The study warns that ifthese countries deplete the natural resources at the same speed, they push toward theright side of the U-shaped curve, which causes more health vulnerability. This studysuggests that the governments of all global countries should pay special attention tothe declining ecological footprint, which reduces climate vulnerability and improvesthe health sector.