Navigating the Sustainability Paradox: The Roles of Renewable Energy, Digital Economy, Economic Growth, and Financial Development in Shaping Ecological Load in N‐11 Countries

ABSTRACT This paper examines the specifics of ecological sustainability, using the measure of the load capacity factor (LCF), over the Next Eleven (N‐11) nations between 1990 and 2022. The main explanatory variables are renewable energy consumption (RNW), information and communication technology (ICT), GDP growth and GDP growth squared (GDP, GDP 2 ), environmental‐related taxation (ENT), financial development (FD), and the interaction of GDP and ICT, and GDP and ENT. The analysis applies fixed effects regression with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors and quantile regression to account for heterogeneity, cross‐sectional dependence, and distributional effects. Framed within the sustainability paradox, the notion that economic and technological progress can both advance and degrade ecological outcomes, the results reveal significant heterogeneity. ENT exhibits a robust positive association with LCF across most specifications, supporting sustainability goals. RNW demonstrates a positive and significant impact at lower quantiles, suggesting benefits in countries with weaker ecological performance, but turns negative and significant at higher quantiles, indicating diminishing returns or potential trade‐offs in more sustainable economies. In contrast, ICT and FD exert negative effects at higher quantiles, indicating that without environmental safeguards, digitalization and financial expansion may intensify ecological pressures. These findings underscore the need for integrated, context‐specific policies that balance development with ecological resilience. The study offers critical insights for aligning national strategies in the N‐11 with global sustainability goals, particularly SDGs 7, 9, 12, and 13.