Assessing the Influence of Economic and Environmental Transformation Drivers on Social Sustainability in Ten Major Coal-Consuming Economies

The rapid economic growth in major coal-consuming countries has often come at the cost of environmental quality and social well-being. This study is urgently needed to provide empirical evidence on how such growth impacts sustainable development, helping policymakers balance economic progress with environmental protection and social welfare in an era of increasing climate concerns. Despite growing attention on sustainability, few studies have examined how key economic-environmental transformation drivers, such as coal consumption, financial development, globalization, urbanization, and economic growth, affect social sustainability. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the impact of these drivers on social sustainability in the world’s leading coal-consuming countries, as classified by Global Firepower. Using data from ten major coal-consuming nations between 1991 and 2022, sourced from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), KOF Swiss Economic Institute, the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDIs), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the study applies advanced estimation techniques, including the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), to address cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity. The results indicate that coal consumption has a negative and significant effect on social sustainability. In contrast, financial development, globalization, urbanization, and economic growth all show positive and significant effects. These findings highlight the urgent need for deliberate policy reforms to support a socially inclusive energy transition. Policymakers in major coal-consuming countries should invest in clean energy, fund worker retraining and community health, promote green innovation, and encourage private sector and stakeholder collaboration for a just, sustainable transition. Such measures are vital for coal-dependent countries to balance economic progress with social well-being. This study is the first to quantify social sustainability using the HDI, addressing a gap in the literature concerning the relationship between coal consumption and social development, thereby providing a quantitative basis for formulating policies that balance equity and decarbonization.