The impact of foreign direct investment, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, and natural resources on ecological footprint: an Indian perspective

Purpose Globally, India ranks third in greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. Decarbonizing India's economy would necessitate significant changes in how the country generates energy, manufactures things, delivers services and manages natural resources. Recently, scholars from different parts of the world have used various indicators like carbon and methane emissions to investigate potential solutions to the global warming problem that has resulted in climate change. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, in addition to economic growth, trade openness, and natural resources on ecological footprint. Design/methodology/approach Using India's yearly data from 1990 to 2016, this research investigates the impact of direct foreign investment (FDI), trade (TA) and natural resources (NR) on the ecological footprint (EF) within the framework of economic growth (GDP), renewable (RE) and non-renewable (NRE) energy consumption. The Zivot–Andrews unit root approach was used to examine the structural breaks in data series and the presence of stationary. An auto regressive distributive lag model was used to investigate the presence of long-run and short-run dynamic relationships among the variables. Findings The empirical findings demonstrate that FDI, RE and GDP have a negative and substantial impact on EF in the long term; in contrast, NRE and TA are significant and positive. The Granger causality test indicates that feedback transmission was observed between NR and EF and TA and EF. One-way causation passed from GDP to FDI and NR; TA to FDI and RE. Originality/value Indian Government and authorities should push for an eco-friendly manufacturing process and technology adaptation to improve environmental quality.