An Investigation on the Economic Determinants of Ecological Footprint in Turkiye
Abstract
Absract It is of critical importance for Turkiye to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to reach the level of developed countries, and in this context, to orient its activities toward reducing the ecological footprint. In this regard, the ecological footprint is employed as an indicator of the extent to which the environment is demanded to sustain the existing economic consumption patterns of the population. In this study, the effects of variables that are often examined separately in the ecological footprint literature are modeled within an integrated framework for Turkiye, using data for the period 1984–2020, and analyzed through the Augmented ARDL approach. The findings indicate that per capita income exerts a positive and statistically significant effect on the ecological footprint in both the short and long run. Foreign trade is found to have a statistically significant negative impact on the ecological footprint in the short run, whereas its long-run effect is not statistically significant. Similarly, patent activity positively affects the ecological footprint in the short run, while no significant effect is detected in the long run. Urbanization is also found to increase the ecological footprint in the short run, although its long-run impact remains statistically insignificant. In contrast, renewable energy consumption significantly reduces the ecological footprint in the long run, while its short-run effect is not statistically significant. These findings underscore the importance of promoting environmentally sustainable production practices in Turkiye and strengthening policy frameworks that support renewable energy deployment and environmentally oriented innovation.
Keywords
- ecological footprint
- sustainable development goals
- sustainable environment
- renewable energy consumption
- augmented ardl
Ethical Statement
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Green Economy
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Cevat Gerni
0000-0002-0214-3879
Türkiye
Nazlı Gökçe
*
0000-0001-7215-8753
Türkiye
Harun Demir
0000-0001-7778-2897
Türkiye
Ömer Selçuk Emsen
0000-0002-1809-0513
Türkiye
Publication Date
June 29, 2026
Submission Date
April 29, 2026
Acceptance Date
June 29, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Number: 103