Sustainable development and reducing environmental pressure are major issues that concern developed as well as developing countries. Although researchers widely use carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint within the scope of environmental degradation, a more comprehensive ecological indicator is needed to assess environmental sustainability. In this context, the load capacity factor enables a comprehensive environmental sustainability assessment through the simultaneous analysis of biocapacity and ecological footprint. However, there are few studies analyzing the determinants of load capacity factor and this study aims to fill this gap for Indonesia. Using the recently developed Fourier quantile causality test, this study investigates the impact of income, export diversification, non-renewable and renewable energy consumption on the load capacity factor for Indonesia during 1965Q1–2014Q4. The results show unidirectional causality from non-renewable energy consumption to the load capacity factor at all quantiles, while income, export diversification, and renewable energy are the causes of environmental quality at middle and higher quantiles (within 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9). Most importantly, renewable energy and export diversification increase the load capacity factor and thus support environmental quality. In contrast, an increase in income and consumption of non-renewable energy reduces the load capacity factor. These results highlight the importance of renewable energy and export diversification for the sustainable development of Indonesia.
Economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and ecological footprint: Exploring the role of environmental regulations and democracy in sustainable development
