Sustainable future orientation for BRICS+ nations: Green growth, political stability, renewable energy and technology for ecological footprint mitigation

Abstract

The BRICS + countries are developing rapidly and generating large amounts of ecological footprint (EFP). For a sustainable global ecosystem, it is crucial to minimize EFP, especially in populous countries such as India and China. Therefore, this study examines the impact of green growth, political stability, social globalization, renewable energy (REN), financial development and ICT on the EFP in the newly formed BRICS + countries from 2000 to 2020 using nonlinear ARDL. The novelty of the study is that it tests the asymmetric effects of green growth on the EFP for the BRICS + countries. The results unveil intriguing asymmetries: Positive shocks to green growth and REN mitigate EFP, while negative shocks to green growth initially reduce it but then increase it. Similarly, positive shocks to political stability and REN are associated with a reduction in EFP, while negative shocks exacerbate it. Remarkably, social globalization exhibits an asymmetric effect on EFP in response to positive and negative shocks. In addition, ICT displays an asymmetric effect and increases the EFP in the BRICS + nations. These findings suggests that the BRICS + bloc, which is one of the world's highest fossil fuel consumers, should use REN to displace fossil fuels with a REN based power generation.