Does Renewable Energy Innovation a Key to Reduce Ecological Footprint? Empirical Evidence from the United States

This study investigates the impact of long-term renewable energy innovation on the ecological footprint in the United States, spanning from 1975 to 2015. Employing the ARDL technique, bounds tests confirmed the relationship among the variables. The model’s error correction mechanism revealed that various explanatory factors cause short-term ecological footprint values to converge annually to the long-run equilibrium at 66.9%. This underscores the significance of GDP, population, energy consumption, and renewable energy innovation in shaping the ecological footprint. The STIRPAT base model used in this study with the contribution of renewable energy innovation and our results indicate that GDP, energy usage, and population exert a positive influence on the ecological footprint. A pivotal contribution of this study is the identification of renewable energy innovation as a key factor in reducing the ecological footprint in the United States. The research underscores that increased investment in research and development in renewable energy, acting as a proxy for renewable energy innovation, leads to a long-term decrease in the ecological footprint. Result supported by the Toda Yamamoto causality test, which demonstrates a one-way causal relationship from renewable energy innovation to the ecological footprint, our findings emphasize the need for strategic policy interventions.