How Much Influence Do Political Factors Have on Environmental Degradation in MENA Countries? The Method of Moments Quantile Approach

Compared to economic and social factors, political factors play an important role in achieving environmental sustainability goals. Furthermore, an adequate understanding of the impact of political factors on environmental degradation can contribute positively to slowing the pace of climate change by guiding climate policy. This study examines the role of globalization, democracy, and political corruption on ecological footprint and material footprint based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the selected 15-Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries over the period between 2001 and 2021 employing advanced panel data analysis. The empirical findings suggest that (i) the EKC hypothesis is valid in MENA countries in terms of material footprint, that is, GDP has an inverted U-shaped relationship with material footprint (the turning point of the EKC is 83.173.522.697$), but ecological footprint increases monotonically with GDP based on random effects (RE) estimation results with robust standard errors. However, the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) estimation revealed that the EKC hypothesis is valid in terms of ecological footprint for lower quantiles; (ii) globalization increases the ecological and material footprints, that is, it threatens environmental sustainability; (iii) the development of democracy decreases the ecological and material footprints, that is, democracy contributes to environmental sustainability; (iv) the increase in political corruption boosts the ecological footprint and, as an interesting result, decreases the material footprint. To the end, the findings will provide a qualified contribution to the emergency action plans that need to be prepared for authorities, policymakers, and decision makers in the MENA countries to prevent climate change. Indeed, policies developed to prevent climate change should be multi-dimensional.