Exploring the impact of economic growth, export diversification, trade openness and renewable energy consumption on ecological footprint - evidence from India

This study investigates the nexus between economic growth, export diversification, trade openness, renewable energy consumption, and ecological footprint for India, using annual data from 1971 to 2014. The Lee-Strazicich unit root test is employed to take into account breaks in the data. Furthermore, the autoregressive distributed bound test (ARDL) has been used to examine the short and long-run relationship between the variables. The estimates reveal that economic growth and export diversification increase ecological footprint in the long run but not in the short run. Besides, the coefficient of renewable energy consumption indicates that an increase in it leads to an increase in ecological footprint. In contrast, an insignificant relationship between trade openness and ecological footprint was obtained. Based on the findings, the study recommends that an appropriate mix of policies related to energy efficiency, sustainable development and international trade is required to control environmental degradation in India.