Configuring Green Growth in the Age of Sustainability: Energy and Resource Use Trends in <scp>EU</scp> Economies

ABSTRACT In an era of intensifying global competition where nations aggressively pursue economic advancement, the imperative to balance progress with ecological preservation has become paramount. However, the race for advancement should not harm nature or future generations. Our study investigates the drivers that can lead to green growth, aligning with sustainable development principles that integrate economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social equity as per the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), across nine Western European countries from 2010 to 2019. By utilizing panel data from reputable sources, this research investigates the influence of globalization, natural resource rents, renewable energy consumption, trade openness, and total energy consumption on green growth. Employing contemporary panel diagnostic tests, cointegration analyses, and fixed‐ and random‐effects models, the study also validates its findings through quantile regression, fully modified ordinary least squares, and dynamic ordinary least squares. Our study has fulfilled its destiny by finding the right drivers. According to various analyses, globalization and trade openness consistently and significantly promote green growth, confirming their potential as reliable mechanisms for achieving green growth. The complex impact of renewable energy consumption and natural resource rents opens a new door for exploration by revealing the transitional barriers, such as initial costs and policy lags, in contrast to maintaining the resource rent tendency. However, the beneficial impact of total energy consumption of carbon and fossil fuel underscores the urgency of effective resource utilization and a shift toward renewable sources to decouple growth from unsustainable consumption before running out.