Revisiting the nexus of ecological footprint, human capital, total factor productivity, hydropower and growth in India: A multivariate approach

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of human capital, total factor productivity, hydropower consumption and economic growth on the ecological footprint in India from 1980–1981 to 2022–2023. Design/methodology/approach The stationarity of the data is examined using the augmented Dickey–Fuller, Phillips–Perron and Zivot–Andrews tests to account for potential structural breaks. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is used to investigate long-run relationships and estimate the associated coefficients. Furthermore, Granger causality is examined within a vector error correction model (VECM) framework to determine the direction of causality and ensure the robustness of the results. Findings The major findings of the study demonstrate that human capital significantly reduces the ecological footprint via scale, technique and awareness effects. In contrast, total factor productivity significantly increases the ecological footprint, indicating that productivity gains prioritize economic efficiency over environmental sustainability in India. Hydropower consumption significantly increases the ecological footprint, and economic growth follows the environmental Kuznets curve pattern. The ecological footprint is found to be the most responsive variable in the system, driven by explanatory variables without reciprocal influence. Practical implications It is recommended that India embed sustainability into education and skill-building to harness human capital for ecological improvement. Technological advancement should balance economic and environmental efficiency by promoting clean, low-impact innovation over resource-intensive growth. Hydropower policy should prioritize small-scale projects, especially in fragile regions. A unified strategy integrating green productivity, renewable energy, education and ecological governance is vital for sustainable development in India. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to incorporate total factor productivity into a long-run environmental sustainability model for India using the ecological footprint. It highlights the environmental costs of productivity-led growth. Future research should examine sectoral and regional variations for deeper insights.