Towards Sustainability: Understanding Norway’s Ecological Footprint Through the Framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve

Irina Georgescu, Ionuț Nica () and Jani Kinnunen
Additional contact information
Ionuț Nica: Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 0105552 Bucharest, Romania
Jani Kinnunen: Department of Information Systems, Åbo Akademi University, Tuomiokirkontori 3, 20500 Turku, Finland

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-26

Abstract: With rising concerns about environmental sustainability, examining the economic-environmental nexus is essential. This study investigates the relationship between economic growth (GDP), renewable energy consumption (RENC), urbanization (URB), and foreign direct investment (FDI) with Norway’s ecological footprint from 1990 to 2023. Guided by the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, we aim to understand how these factors influence Norway’s environmental impact over time. Using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, the study captures both the short- and long-term effects of these variables on the ecological footprint, and model stability is confirmed through the Cumulative Sum of Squares (CUSUM) test. The findings reveal a U-shaped EKC pattern, where initial economic growth reduces the ecological footprint, but beyond a certain GDP threshold, environmental pressures increase. Renewable energy consumption is shown to lower the ecological footprint significantly, supporting Norway’s sustainability goals. Conversely, FDI is associated with increased environmental impact, potentially due to resource-intensive projects. These insights underscore the need for balanced policies that harmonize economic development with environmental preservation. Policymakers are encouraged to foster green FDI, prioritize renewable energy investments, and implement sustainable urban planning to maintain Norway’s trajectory toward ecological sustainability.

Keywords: ecological footprint; renewable energy; urbanization; ARDL; environmental Kuznets curve (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: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/6074/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/6074/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:6074-:d:1535306

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().