Relationship between ecological footprint and human development: The case of Sub-Saharan African countries

This study examines the relationship between ecological footprint and human development in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The main goal is to investigate the impact of human development and selected control variables on environmental sustainability, as measured by the ecological footprint, and to propose policy recommendations. The empirical analysis is conducted using a balanced panel dataset covering 21 SSA countries from 2000–2021. The model includes the Human Development Index (HDI), urbanization rate, renewable energy consumption rate, natural resource rents, and the KOF globalization index as independent variables. In addition, dummy variables are incorporated to account for the effects of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The model is estimated using the fixed effects method. Due to the presence of heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, and cross-sectional dependence—as indicated by diagnostic tests—the estimations are corrected using Driscoll Kraay standard errors. The results indicate that an increase in human development significantly raises the ecological footprint. This finding suggests that, for the SSA region during the study period, socio-economic development and environmental sustainability objectives did not always align. Conversely, renewable energy consumption is found to have a mitigating effect on the ecological footprint. These outcomes underline the need for environmentally friendly growth policies to reduce ecological pressure. In this context, the study emphasizes the importance of integrating environmental indicators into sustainable development strategies and offers a set of policy recommendations.