Triple Impact of Green Technology, Globalization, and Democracy on Ecological Footprint: A Method of Moment Quantile Regression Analysis in G7 Economies

This study investigates the impact of energy consumption, economic growth, globalization, green technology, and democracy on ecological footprint in G7 countries from 1995 to 2020. Utilizing Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), Dynamic OLS (DOLS), and Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), we estimated long-term relationships among variables. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test was employed to assess causal directions, accounting for heterogeneity across G7 countries. The findings reveal that economic growth, energy consumption, and democracy increase the ecological footprint, degrading environmental quality, while globalization and green technology reduce it, enhancing sustainability. A unidirectional causal relationship exists between these factors and the ecological footprint. This study underscores the role of green technology and democratic governance in reducing ecological footprints and, offers G7-specific policy implications, including promoting green innovation and strengthening environmental regulations within democratic frameworks, to achieve sustainable outcomes.