Revisiting the environmental impact of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, remittances, and economic growth: CO2 emissions versus ecological footprint for top remittance-receiving countries

The study examined the impact of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, remittances, and economic growth on environmental degradation from the perspective of carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2 ) and ecological footprint for the top 50 remittance-receiving countries for 1991–2018. This study simulates the environmental future for attaining the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) using the latest datasets. This study is one of the few that empirically explores how various explanatory variables affect CO 2 and ecological footprint. The study employed the pool mean group autoregressive distributive lag (PMG-ARDL), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) techniques for the analysis. In the long-run, non-renewable energy and economic growth have a positive impact, whereas renewable energy and remittances have a negative impact on CO 2 and ecological footprint. The impact of non-renewable energy on CO 2 and ecological footprint is more significant than renewable energy in both the short- and long-run. Most of the variables have a bidirectional causality among each other. This highlights the need for a paradigm shift towards renewable energy in the top recipients specifically for developing countries.