Economic and Planning Research

The ecological footprint criterion reflects the different pressures on the environment and is considered the most reliable indicator for evaluating sustainable development. The most effective approach to lowering ecological footprint is the adoption of clean energy. These solutions tackle significant challenges from global warming with minimal environmental harm. This study examines the impact of renewable energy, life expectancy, and globalization on the ecological footprint, using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis and the most recent data from 1990 to 2020. To achieve this goal, the long- and short- run relationships between variables were investigated using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, based on the stationarity results of the variables. The research indicates that renewable energy consumption has a beneficial effect on environmental quality. It is expected that with a 1% increase in clean energy consumption, with other conditions being constant, the ecological footprint will decrease by 0.05% and 0.08% in the short term and long term, respectively. Although globalization positively impacted the ecological footprint, it lacked statistical significance. Also, the results show that an increase in life expectancy leads to a greater human footprint and more environmental destruction. Furthermore, the results showed the inverted-U shape relationship between EF and economic growth. It is therefore recommended that the research results, especially the effects of renewable energy on environmental quality, be taken into account in the formulation of macroeconomic reforms. Also, by implementing a diversification policy in energy supply, the share of renewable energy should be increased as much as possible.