Modelling the asymmetric impact of fintech, natural resources, and environmental regulations on ecological footprint in G7 countries

Ecological sustainability is one of the utmost agenda for policymakers across the world. In this dimension, identifying the innovative role of Fintech is imperative to ensure an efficient resource allocation with inclusive economic and environmental performance. G7 countries are divergent in resource endowment, technological advancement, financial integrity, environmental controls and structural shifts. Therefore, the study employs the nonlinear method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) for the empirical investigation to evaluate the asymmetric influence of Fintech, natural resources rent, and ecological regulations on ecological footprints (EF) from 2000 to 2020. The pre-requisite analysis affirms the abnormal data distribution and structural variations. The estimated outcomes demonstrate that Fintech significantly reduces EF across all quantiles except the highest (0.95th) quantile. Likewise, ecological governance significantly discourages the EF from lower to higher quantiles and has large parameter coefficients at higher ecological deficits. In contrast, natural resources significantly increases EF from lower to upper EF quantiles, whereas the positive marginal influences are prominent at upper quantiles. The robustness check verifies the consistent results. Panel causality analysis exhibits a one-way causal relationship between Fintech, environmental regulations, and EF and a two-way causality connection among natural resources, economic growth, and EF.