Diversified imports as catalysts for ecological footprint: examining the BRICS experience

Rajesh Sharma (), Muhammad Shahbaz, Pradeep Kautish () and Xuan Vinh Vo ()
Additional contact information
Rajesh Sharma: Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies
Pradeep Kautish: Nirma University
Xuan Vinh Vo: University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2023, vol. 25, issue 4, No 9, 3153-3181

Abstract: Abstract In the preceding years, the rapid industrial growth in the BRICS nations has widened the scope for imported technology and other factor inputs. The literature suggests that these kinds of economic developments often exert negative pressure on the established ecosystem. In order to confirm this notion, therefore, in the present study, we examined the impact of import product diversification and import concentration on ecological footprint in the BRICS nations using the annual data ranging from 1995 to 2018. By addressing the possibility of cross-country convergence, the elasticity coefficients are calculated using the cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag procedure. Industrial value-added, technological innovations and renewable energy solutions are considered as the controlled variables. The empirical results revealed that diversified imports led to an increase in ecological footprints, whereas concentrated imports helped in controlling ecological footprints. As expected, the increased industrial production elevated ecological footprints, whereas the association between renewable energy solutions and ecological footprints is found negative and significant. Based on the association between ecological footprint and its drivers, we endorsed an SDG-based policy framework where interdependency among various SDGs is being considered.

Keywords: Import diversification; Import concentration; Technological innovation; Industrial value-added; Renewable energy; BRICS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-022-02177-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:25:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10668-022-02177-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02177-x

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().