Revisiting the environmental impact of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, remittances, and economic growth: CO2 emissions versus ecological footprint for top remittance-receiving countries

The study examined the impact of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, remittances, and economic growth on environmental degradation from the perspective of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and ecological footprint for the top 50 remittance-receiving countries for 1991-2018. This study simulates the environmental future for attaining the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) using the latest datasets. This study is one of the few that empirically explores how various explanatory variables affect CO2 and ecological footprint. The study employed the pool mean group autoregressive distributive lag (PMG-ARDL), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) techniques for the analysis. In the long-run, non-renewable energy and economic growth have a positive impact, whereas renewable energy and remittances have a negative impact on CO2 and ecological footprint. The impact of non-renewable energy on CO2 and ecological footprint is more significant than renewable energy in both the short- and long-run. Most of the variables have a bidirectional causality among each other. This highlights the need for a paradigm shift towards renewable energy in the top recipients specifically for developing countries.