Decoupling Economic Growth from Ecological Footprint in Brazil: The Roles of Biomass Energy, Resource Efficiency, Environmental Policy, and Energy Depletion

The relationship between economic development and environmental degradation in Brazil was studied over the period 1970–2022, using ecological footprint (EF) as an environmental indicator. A contribution to the scientific literature exists here because biomass energy (BIO) has been separated from other types of renewable energy sources, and environmental policy stringency (EPS) and energy depletion (END) have been simultaneously analyzed for their joint impacts on EF in Brazil. In this research, four hypotheses were formulated for the relationships of: GDP, BIO, EPS, RE, and END with EF. The ARDL method was used in this analysis due to the different orders of integration for some of the variables and sample size limitations, both of which make alternative cointegration techniques inappropriate. All four hypotheses were supported in the empirical estimates of this study. In the long run, increases in GDP will result in increased EF, decreases in BIO and EPS will decrease EF, and no long-run relationship exists between RE and EF. However, RE has a short-term rebound effect. Increases in END will increase EF, indicating the environmental costs associated with the extraction and consumption of non-renewable resources. The statistically significant error correction term also supports the idea that there will be a quick adjustment towards the long-run equilibrium. The implications of these results suggest that Brazil continues to operate within a stage of growth driven primarily by scale rather than intensity, yet well-regulated biomass energy and strict environmental regulations provide a pathway for achieving decoupling in alignment with SDG 13 and SDG 15.