<p>The labour force is pivotal in promoting green practices and advancing clean production to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This study examines the interaction between the educated workforce and real income in influencing carbon emissions, a combined effect often overlooked in the sustainable development literature. The study provides evidence supporting the initial hypothesis that the educated labour force plays a pivotal role in fostering sustainable development. It focuses on the top 19 knowledge-based economies as green areas, spanning the period from 2000 to 2020. The analysis employs a nonparametric approach: Method of Moments Quantile Regression with fixed effects. This technique is well-suited for assessing the impact of relevant variables across different quantiles of the emissions variable, while addressing issues of heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and non-normality. The findings support the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis and reveal an N-shaped relationship between the educated workforce and CO2 emissions at low and middle quantiles, transitioning to an inverted N-shaped pattern at the high quantile. This approach illustrates that the role of the labour force is not monolithic but varies with the stage of economic development and pollution levels, suggesting that an educated labour force is a key determinant of the EKC trajectory. Additionally, renewable energy consumption consistently reduces emissions across all quantiles, confirming its mitigating role. These results highlight that in urban and knowledge-based economies, human capital has a transformative role in fostering sustainability. The study provides novel insights into how the synergy among human capital, education, and renewable energy advances sustainable growth. The findings call for targeted policies that link labour force development to green practices, reinforcing SDGs 4, 8, 11 and 13.</p>