The triple helix of environmental prosperity: Economic policy uncertainty, financial expansion, and green energy in a financially flourishing bloc

Abstract

Ecological impairments are considered one of the most contentious and uncertain subjects in intercontinental mediums, and they are also considered a significant apprehension for the entire world. Therefore, environmentalists and policymakers have turned their deliberation from conventional economic expansion to green economic growth. Even though existing studies have deliberated numerous determinants of environmental degradation, financial development, economic policy uncertainty, globalization, and renewable energy influence on ecological footprint is comparatively unexplored simultaneously, especially in financially developed economies. Hence, the present study explored the impact of financial development, economic policy uncertainty, globalization, and renewable energy on ecological footprint from 1995 to 2021. After confirming the issue of potential cross‐sectional dependency, this study employs a second‐generation econometric procedure to estimate robust and consistent estimates. The estimated results from augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG) estimators explored that financial development and renewable energy significantly protect the environment. Conversely, globalization and economic policy uncertainty increase the overall level of ecological footprint in the region. Based on these estimated results, the present research suggests some feasible policy insinuations for accomplishing targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG‐7 and SDG‐13).