Scrutinizing the nexus: Energy, economic growth, and environmental quality: An approach toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (7, 13, and 8)

Abstract

This study investigates the intricate relationship between energy consumption, economic growth, and environmental quality in Pakistan from 1990 to 2022, highlighting the critical role of natural resources rent (NRR) and renewable energy consumption (REC) in shaping carbon dioxide emissions. The study aims to understand how these variables interact and influence each other, particularly focusing on the impact of NRR and REC on CO2 emissions within the context of Pakistan's economic growth and energy consumption patterns. Given the country's rapid economic growth and increasing energy demands, there is an imperative need to investigate how these factors influence environmental quality, particularly CO2 emissions employing the autoregressive distributed lag approach with structural breaks, we analyze the long‐term interactions and causality among NRR, REC, energy use (EU), gross domestic product (GDP), and CO2 emissions. Our findings demonstrate that while NRR and REC negatively correlate with CO2 emissions, a positive association exists between EU, GDP growth, and emissions. These results underscore the potential of strategic environmental policies, aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 7, 13, and 8, to foster sustainable development pathways in Pakistan. By comparing this study's approach with existing methodologies, we highlight our study's unique contribution to the literature, offering policymakers a robust foundation to formulate effective strategies for balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability.