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Özbek et al. Carbon Footprints 2025, 4, 30 Carbon Footprints
DOI: 10.20517/cf.2025.43

Original Article Open Access

Does income growth primarily affect ecological

footprint or renewable energy? New evidence from
India in the context of the Kuznets hypothesis

Sefa Özbek 1 , Reşat Ceylan 2 , Cihat Karademir 2

1
Department of Customs Management, Tarsus University, Mersin 33040, Turkey.
2
Department of Economics, Pamukkale University, Denizli 20000, Turkey.
Correspondence to: Assoc. Prof. Sefa Özbek, Department of Customs Management, Tarsus University, Mersin 33040, Turkey.
E-mail: sefaozbek@trsus.edu.tr

How to cite this article: Özbek, S.; Ceylan, R.; Karademir, C. Does income growth primarily affect ecological footprint or
renewable energy? New evidence from India in the context of the Kuznets hypothesis. Carbon Footprints 2025, 4, 30. https://dx.
doi.org/10.20517/cf.2025.43

Received: 22 Jun 2025 First Decision: 14 Aug 2025 Revised: 28 Aug 2025 Accepted: 23 Sep 2025 Published: 28 Oct 2025

Academic Editors: Kai Fang, Mengyao Han Copy Editor: Fangling Lan Production Editor: Fangling Lan

Abstract
This study investigates the dynamics of environmental sustainability in India, one of the world's major polluters, by
examining the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the Renewable Energy Kuznets Curve (RKC)
hypotheses for the period 1990-2022. Utilizing an Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (A-ARDL) model,
supported by Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR)
robustness estimators, the research uniquely determines which of the two Kuznets turning points occurs first. The
findings provide strong evidence that the RKC turning point precedes the EKC turning point. This indicates that the
shift toward renewable energy adoption begins before the peak of environmental degradation is reached. This
result offers critical insights by shedding light on the relationship between economic development and
environmental sustainability, suggesting that strategic prioritization of renewable energy can serve as a proactive
mechanism to accelerate environmental improvement in a rapidly growing economy such as India.

Keywords: Ecological footprint, renewable energy, economic growth, trade openness, augmented ARDL

INTRODUCTION
The interplay between economic growth, energy consumption, and environmental sustainability has been a

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