Unpacking How Natural Gas, Digital Growth, and Hydro-Based Energy Sources Impact Ecological Sustainability in Egypt

Egypt, as a nation, is committed to achieving ecological sustainability, which helps to protect the environment for future generations, thereby ensuring a balance between energy production, environmental health, and economic development. With regard to this vision, this research utilized the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimator to probe how hydroelectricity, digitalization, and natural gas affect ecological degradation within the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in Egypt. This study further used two distinct environmental proxies, namely, CO2 emissions and the ecological footprint. The result of the ARDL estimator indicates that there is an inverted U-shaped association between economic growth and environmental sustainability, while urbanization does not affect environmental sustainability. Moreover, hydroelectricity, digitalization, and natural gas negatively impact environmental sustainability in Egypt. Furthermore, the frequency domain causality approach showed that there is a two-way causality pathway between environmental sustainability and its regressors. Based on this outcome, policymakers should prioritize decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation by investing in green infrastructure, sustainable industries, and circular economy models.