Abstract: This study evaluates the impact of country size, cleaner energy, human capital on ecological footprint in the case of G5 (Developing) and G7 (Developed) economies from 1996 – 2020. We use CSD-capturing regressions and MM-QRG for baseline and robust analysis to validate empirically. The analysis depicts that country size promotes ecological footprint in G5 and G7 economies across quantiles that may have a negative impact to the environment. On the other hand, human capital investment, technological innovation and market capitalization in G7 economies are not supportive than G5 economies across quantiles. It shows that developing economies are more concern about futuristic-environmental policies to support SDGs and energy transitions path. Therefore, the policy makers should consider country size, cleaner energy capacity, human capital importance, and innovation-driven step while formulating policies on ecological footprint for G5 and G7 economies.

Keywords: Ecological footprint; Cleaner Energy; Human capital; CSD-capturing Regression; MM-QREG.

JEL Codes: Q57; Q42; J24; C23; C21