Evaluating the influence of technology, energy consumption, and financial progress on material footprint in GCC countries

Abstract

The world has witnessed serious climate-related problems. Even though there are various effective factors in this point, sustainable resource consumption takes place among critical factors that have been deeply affecting climate change. Accordingly, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8–12 have come to the fore for all related parties due to the directly affecting resource use. Among all, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have a special position in terms of global climate change-related goals because they have high oil and resource consumption. Hence, this study firstly attempts to investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for material footprint (MAF) in GCC countries by analyzing the impact of income, energy consumption, financial institution development, and technological development, performing augmented mean group model, and using data for the period 2000–2019. The findings show that (i) the EKC hypothesis is valid for the GCC panel, whereas it is the case for only Oman on a country basis; (ii) energy consumption increases (decreases) MAF at GCC panel (Qatar); (iii) financial institution development does not affect MAF in the GCC panel, while it causes an increase in Saudi Arabia; (iv) technological development reduces MAF at GCC panel and in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia on a country basis. Thus, the results highlight the need for GCC countries to focus on both income level and technological development to achieve climate-related targets and SDGs by decreasing resource-based consumption.