Symmetric and asymmetric effects of gold, and oil price on environment: The role of clean energy in China

Although numerous empirical studies in the literature have focused on the linear specifications of the effect of oil price and gold price on ecological footprint, nonlinear studies on this subject remain limited. Therefore, the current study aims to close this gap in the empirical literature by assessing both the asymmetric and symmetric impacts of gold and oil prices on environmental quality regulating renewable energy use in China. The study used nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) and bootstrap ARDL approach for assessing the asymmetric and symmetric associations among the variables, respectively. The findings from the bootstrap ARDL model revealed that oil and gold prices symmetrically influence the ecological footprint in China. In the context of asymmetry analysis, the NARDL findings unveiled that a positive shock in oil prices enhances ecological quality while a negative shock deteriorates ecological quality. Conversely, the analysis revealed that a positive shock in gold prices deteriorates ecological quality while a negative shock promotes ecological quality. Moreover, renewable energy showed a beneficial impact on China's environment in both models. Furthermore, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) postulates hold true for China in both models. The current study suggested that in order to avoid any negative effects of fluctuating oil prices on environmental stewardship, China should lower its reliance on imported oil and increase its use of renewable energies instead. Additionally, the report contends that China's officials need to devise fresh plans to support the gold market while advancing green investments and ecological sustainability.