Do economic growth, the legal system, and energy consumption lessen the ecological footprint? Evidence from South Korea

This study explored the ecological footprint in South Korea, and it lacks substantial research on its ecological footprint, which illustrates the environmental impact of its economic growth, adherence to the rule of law, adoption of renewable energy, and exportation of petroleum. To this end, the study examined the relationship between GDP growth, rule of law, renewable energy, and petroleum exports in South Korea using dataset spanning between 1990 and 2022. The study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL), robustness tests (fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, and canonical cointegrating regression) including the Granger Causality. Based on the outcomes of the ARDL method (i) the rule of law and the use of renewable energy sources dampens ecological footprint, (ii) GDP upsurges ecological footprint in the long run, (iii) fuel exports improved the ecological footprint in the short-run. The Granger Causality test shows that there is unidirectional relationship between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, rule of law, and ecological footprint which means that ecological footprint Granger causes all the explanatory variables investigated. The findings highlight the importance of well-coordinated policy implementation by policymakers in order to stop Korea's notable environmental degradation. Policy makers should invest in the renewable energy sector; South Korea should actively support the execution of strict legal guidelines and the growth of renewable energy sources.