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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Nexus between National Governance,
Renewable Energy, and Ecological Footprints:
Evidence from the Chinese Economy
1
Nanchang Road and Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd., Nanchang, 330000, Jiangxi, China
2
School of Economics and Management, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, 400060, Chongqing, China
3
Scientific Research Office, Urumqi Vocational University, Urumqi, 830000, Xinjiang, China
4
Department of Economics, The Govt Sadiq College Women University Bahawalpur, Pakistan
5
Department of Economics, Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove,
Czechia
Submission date: 2024-01-26
Final revision date: 2024-08-26
Acceptance date: 2024-09-13
Online publication date: 2024-11-14
Publication date: 2025-11-04
Corresponding author
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(6):7253-7264
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study examines how China’s ecological footprint is impacted by national governance and
renewable energy. We employ two distinct statistical methodologies to capture the effect of regressors
on the dependent variable. The results of Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and
Dynamics Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) are obtained after the idea of the existence of co-integration
among the variables by the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method. The empirical findings reveal that
national governance and renewable energy consumption significantly reduce ecological footprints in the
context of China. Since the national governance is represented by the control of corruption, government
effectiveness, rule of law, and regulatory quality, all these variables were found to be negatively
associated with the ecological footprint. These results suggest that improved governance and quality
regulations can significantly lower the environmental degradation and ecological footprint in China.
Moreover, a positive linkage between GDP and ecological footprint implies that economic growth
has come at the cost of environmental deterioration. Therefore, it is essential to maximize the use of
renewable energy to fuel economic growth, which will help in pollution abatement and preserve the
environment.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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