29 © 2024 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. Energy, economy, financial development, and ecological footprint in Singapore Asif Raihan Institute of Climate Change, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia. Email: asifraihan666@gmail.com ABSTRACT Article History Received: 4 January 2024 Revised: 13 February 2024 Accepted: 1 March 2024 Published: 20 March 2024 Keywords Climate change Ecological footprint Economic growth Energy use Financial development Sustainable development. JEL Classification: C50; C58; O16; O44; P18; Q01; Q50; R11. The escalating energy consumption resulting from rapid economic expansion is causing a decline in ecological health, therefore exacerbating the issue of climate change on a global scale. The juxtaposition of Singapore's ranking as having the most robust financial market with the largest ecological deficit globally implies the potential validity of the trade-off theory. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of Singapore's financial growth, energy use and economic development on the nation's ecological footprint. The investigation applied the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method by using the annual time series data spanning from 1979 to 2021. The stationarity of data was confirmed by using several unit root tests. The ARDL bounds test revealed evidence for long term cointegration among the variables. The empirical results exposed that a 1% upsurge in financial growth, energy use, and economic expansion leads to a corresponding long-term increase in ecological footprint of 0.77%, 1.11% and 0.32%, as well as short-term increases of 0.44%, 0.61%, and 0.13%, respectively. Several diagnostic tests were used to confirm the accuracy of the ARDL outcomes. The findings of the analysis hold significant relevance for policymakers as they can inform the development of prudent policies that promote sustained economic prosperity without compromising environmental integrity. Contribution/ Originality: This study investigates the energy-economy-environment nexus in light of financial development and ecological footprint in the context of Singapore. 1. INTRODUCTION Climate change is widely recognized as a significant global challenge in the 21st century (Rajput, Singh, Singh, & Mall, 2023). It has garnered considerable attention from researchers, policymakers, and professionals affiliated with international organizations focused on sustainable development (Raihan et al., 2023). Given the aforementioned factors, it is evident that the preservation of the environment holds paramount importance for nations, particularly those that have ratified the Paris Agreement (Saud, Chen, & Haseeb, 2020). The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), leading to an increase in global temperatures (Yuan et al., 2023) and consequently disrupting ecological balance, is the primary and significant factor responsible for environmental degradation (Ahmed, Wang, Mahmood, Hafeez, & Ali, 2019). While carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are recognized as the primary contributor to GHG emissions and the underlying cause of climate change, human activities, play a significant role in this phenomenon. Specifically, the consumption of energy derived from fossil fuels, water waste management practices, deforestation activities, and fertilizer production are additional factors that contribute to the degradation of the ecosystem (Wang & Azam, 2024). Previous research utilized ecological footprints as a proxy for Energy Economics Letters ISSN(e): 2308-2925 DOI: 10.55493/5049.v11i1.5027 Vol. 11, No. 1, 29-40. © 2024 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. URL: www.aessweb.com