Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21551-w RESEARCH ARTICLE Exploring the nature of EKC hypothesis in Asia’s top emitters: role of human capital, renewable and non‑renewable energy consumption Pabitra Kumar Jena 1  · Aqib Mujtaba 1  · Debanam Priyam Priyadarshi Joshi 2  · Elma Satrovic 3  · Bosede Ngozi Adeleye 4 Received: 27 January 2022 / Accepted: 13 June 2022 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022 Abstract The present study uses both carbon dioxide emission and ecological footprints as proxies for environmental degradation to examine the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the top three emitters from Asia, i.e., China, India, and Japan. To this end, the autoregressive distributed lag model for time series and panel estimation is used for a period spanning over 1980–2016. For carbon dioxide emission, China presents an inverted-U shape of the environmental Kuznets curve, while a U-shape relationship is found for India and Japan. Similarly, when the hypothesis is tested with the ecological footprint, Japan offers an inverted U-shape and U-shaped association is detected for China and India. The panel analysis indicates the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve with both proxies of environmental degradation. Besides, human capital and renewable energy promote environmental sustainability, while non-renewable energy use hinders environmental quality. The findings of this study suggest that in order to meet the combined goals of economic growth and environmental protection, the three economies, i.e., China, India, and Japan, should employ renewable energy–enabled technology. Keywords CO 2 emissions · Ecological footprint · Economic growth · Human capital · Environmental Kuznets curve JEL Classification C50 · Q56 Introduction Studies to date have aspired to ascertain the association between economic growth and environmental quality (Razzaq et al. 2021a, 2021b; Murshed 2020; Mehmood and Tariq 2020; Ahmad et al. 2021; Adeel-Farooq et al. 2020; Mujtaba et al. (2022b); Verbič et al. 2021; Adeleye et al. 2021a; An et al. 2021; Usama et al. 2015; Zhuang et al. 2021; Eregha et al. 2021; Abul and Satrovic 2022; Li et al. 2022). The graphical illustration of such a relationship usually takes an inverted U-shape, popularly known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). There have been considerable economic growth and improvement in the quality of life in the last few decades, which has boosted energy consumption (fossil fuels especially). Efforts of governments worldwide thrive on energy efficiency, energy conservation, and capacity building in renewable energy. Still, fossil fuels stand as the supreme energy source constituting 79.68% of the total energy use in 2015 (World Bank 2020). The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) directed a protocol in Kyoto, Japan, in 1992 where 160 countries advised the developed countries to reduce emissions by 5.2% below the 1990 levels by 2008–2012. The primary goal of the convention was to stabilize greenhouse Responsible Editor: Arshian Sharif Highlights 1. The study amalgamates both CO 2 emission (negative indicator) and ecological footprint (positive indicator) of environmental degradation to investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the top three Asian emitting economies, namely Japan, China, and India. 2.The environmental Kuznets curve holds for China when CO 2 emission represents environmental degradation. Japan confirms the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis when ecological footprint depicts environmental degradation. However, the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve does not operate in India. 3. The panel analysis detects an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve for both the proxies of the environment for the panel of selected economies. 4. Human capital and renewable energy use promote environmental sustainability, while non-renewable energy is detrimental to the environment. 5.This study suggests China, India, and Japan are undisputable the three largest Asian economies producing high pollutant emissions; it becomes imperative for the three economies to adopt renewable energy–enabled technologies to achieve the dual purpose of economic growth and a clean environment. 6.Finally, this study recommends that combating climate change and ensuring a sustainable environment (SDG13) require de-carbonization measures be pursued to enable a healthy environment that will reduce health impacts due to energy-related air pollution (SDG3) by 2030. Extended author information available on the last page of the article