An Empirical Investigation of Ecological Footprint Using Nuclear Energy, Industrialization, Fossil Fuels and Foreign Direct Investment

Muhammad Usman, Atif Jahanger, Muhammad Sohail Amjad Makhdum, Magdalena Radulescu (), Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente () and Elena Jianu
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Muhammad Usman: Institute for Region and Urban-Rural Development, Center for Industrial Development and Regional Competitiveness, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Muhammad Sohail Amjad Makhdum: Department of Economics, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Magdalena Radulescu: Department of Finance, Accounting and Economics, University of Pitesti, 110040 Pitesti, Romania
Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente: Department of Political Economy and Public Finance, Economic and Business Statistics and Economic Policy, University of Castilla La-Mancha, 13001 Ciudad Real, Spain
Elena Jianu: Department of Management and Business Administration, University of Pitesti, 110040 Pitesti, Romania

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-26

Abstract: The G-7 economies comprise a few of the global, mainly economically developed countries. On the other hand, in conjunction with these high economic development performances, the ecological behaviors in G-7 anions have concurrently provoked to elevate deep apprehensions among the stakeholders. Therefore, the present research aims to empirically investigate the environmental influences of nuclear energy, industrialization, fossil fuel energy, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the G-7 nations between 1991 and 2018. After checking the cross-sectional dependency, this study employed the first-generation ((full modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS)) and second-generation (Driscoll and Kraay (D-K), feasible generalized least square (FGLS)) approaches for robust and reliable findings. The findings explore that nuclear energy production is ineffective in curbing the figure of ecological footprints in the long-run. Moreover, the industrialization process and fossil fuel energy consumption reduce environmental quality in the G-7 economies. More to the point, the empirical findings recommend that these nations can renovate their industrial production procedures in an eco-friendly behavior they can experience an unsoiled deployment of the energy transition. Similarly, the FDI also degrades environmental eminence in the long-run. This validates the pollution haven hypothesis in the G-7 countries. Based on these results, this study suggests the G-7 nations should reduce the production of nuclear energy levels, the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy production in the industrial sector, reduce fossil fuel-based foreign investment, and assimilate ecological welfare strategies within their development planning.

Keywords: ecological footprint; nuclear energy; industrialization; fossil fuels; pollution haven hypothesis; G-7 countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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