Does income growth primarily affect ecological footprint or renewable energy? New evidence from India in the context of the Kuznets hypothesis

Abstract

This study investigates the dynamics of environmental sustainability in India, one of the world's major polluters, by examining the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the Renewable Energy Kuznets Curve (RKC) hypotheses for the period 1990-2022. Utilizing an Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (A-ARDL) model, supported by Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR) robustness estimators, the research uniquely determines which of the two Kuznets turning points occurs first. The findings provide strong evidence that the RKC turning point precedes the EKC turning point. This indicates that the shift toward renewable energy adoption begins before the peak of environmental degradation is reached. This result offers critical insights by shedding light on the relationship between economic development and environmental sustainability, suggesting that strategic prioritization of renewable energy can serve as a proactive mechanism to accelerate environmental improvement in a rapidly growing economy such as India.

Keywords

Ecological footprint / renewable energy / economic growth / trade openness / augmented ARDL

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