The impact of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on environmental quality: Fresh evidence from the United States of America

We examine the impact of the amount of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on the ecological footprint and CO₂ emissions using data of the United States (USA) from 1971 to 2016. In the course of this study, we developed a comprehensive empirical analysis and applied structural break Zivot-Andrews and Breakpoint ADF unit-roots tests for stationary analysis. The co-integration analysis indicates long-run relationships among the variables. Subsequent findings of the generalized method of moments (GMM), generalized linear model (GLM), and robust least-squares reveal an inverse relationship of natural resources and renewable energy consumption with the ecological footprint and CO₂ emissions, while non-renewable energy consumption, population growth, and biocapacity have a positive relationship with the ecological footprint and CO₂ emissions. Overall, our findings suggest that natural resources and renewable energy consumption improve environmental quality in the long run, while population growth and non-renewable energy consumption contribute to its deterioration. In addition, the result of pairwise Granger causality reveals that bidirectional causality runs between natural resources and CO₂ emissions and between natural resources and the ecological footprint, while unidirectional causality runs from population growth to energy consumption, the ecological footprint, and CO₂ emissions. Policymakers in the USA are encouraged to establish policies that control the excessive use of natural resources, promote sustainable lifestyles, develop energy-efficient carbon pricing, and fix the ecological budget to secure a sustainable future for the country.