Investigating the Role of Export Diversification, Remittances, and Environmental Sustainability in Accordance with Clean Energy and Zero Emission

In recent decades, scholars have attempted to unearth the key factors driving environmental degradation, with conflicting results. This study seeks to contribute to the unending debate on the determinants of environmental quality by examining the influence of export diversification and remittances on ecological footprint using data from the MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey) countries. The study applies the Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic OLS (DOLS) techniques, with the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator as an alternative method to check for robustness. From the econometric analysis, the FMOLS and DOLS long-run estimates show that export diversification and remittance inflows exert a negative significant influence on ecological footprint, indicating that they contribute significantly to enhancing environmental sustainability in the MINT countries. We also evidence that while financial development aids in curtailing environmental pollution, the economic growth of the MINT economies significantly exacerbates environmental degradation. The findings hold with the alternative analytical technique (PMG estimator) except for remittance inflows which exhibit a positive influence on environmental degradation. We provide some recommendations for policy in light of these findings.