An Outlook at Environmental Pollution Mitigation: A Deep Delve Into the Nexus Between Industrialization, Export Growth, Trade, and Clean Energy Use: Evidence From Industrialised and Export Driven Economies

Abstract

The call for the world to shift to clean energy use is increasing, with renewable energy sources accounting for over 29% of global power generation. The current study analyses the effects of industrialization, export expansion, trade, urbanisation, and clean energy use on environmental pollution in 10 largely industrialised and export-based economies: China, the USA, Japan, Germany, India, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Russia, using 1990–2022 data. According to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, this paper confirms that industrialization and export expansion contributes to environment pollution because they increase CO₂ emissions and energy consumption. Urbanisation and trade also raise the pollution level. Using clean energy reduces ecological harm, since a 1% increase in clean energy use reduces the pollution rate by 0.28%. The study employs robust econometrics methods to validate the findings derived from the Driscoll–Kraay Standard Error model; fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, and cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag. The empirical evidence indicates that policy intervention, such as promoting green technology, stringent ecological controls, and providing incentives for renewable energy consumption, is implicated in reducing the environmental costs of export-led and industrial growth. This research offers policymakers an operations framework for sustainable economic development and reducing environmental pollution.