Digital Economy, Clean Energy, and Sustainable Development: Addressing Ecological Footprints Under External Conflicts in <scp>BRICS</scp> ‐11 Countries

ABSTRACT Climate change and environmental degradation have intensified global concerns about sustainability, particularly in emerging economies where rapid growth and natural resource dependence continue to expand ecological footprints. This study offers a novel contribution by integrating digital economy (DE), clean energy consumption (CE), natural resources (NR), and external conflicts (EC) into a unified analytical framework to examine their combined impact on ecological footprints (EF) across BRICS‐11 countries from 1990 to 2023. Unlike prior studies that mainly focused on the traditional energy–environment nexus, this research introduces an environment conflict digitalization nexus, highlighting how technological progress and geopolitical instability jointly influence environmental outcomes. Using the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) estimator and AMG for robustness, the results reveal that resource dependency and external conflicts significantly exacerbate ecological degradation, while clean energy and digital economy development mitigate it. Economic growth remains a key driver of environmental pressure. The findings advance the theoretical foundations of STIRPAT, resource curse, and ecological modernization theories by demonstrating how digital innovation and conflict dynamics reshape sustainability trajectories in resource‐intensive economies. Policy implications emphasize the need for integrated strategies combining digital infrastructure development, conflict mitigation, and renewable energy transitions to achieve carbon neutrality and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in emerging markets.