Table 2.

Variables, definitions and data sources

Variables	Measurement units and definition	Data sources
EF	The ecological footprint is a consumption based indicator of environmental sustainability measured in global hectares (gha). The ecological footprint accounts for people’s demand on biological assets and the supply of nature	Global Footprint Network
Y	Real GDP per capita assessed in constant 2010 US dollar	World Bank Development Indicators (WDI)
CE	Clean energy measured by renewable power consumption (percentage of aggregate final power consumption)	WDI
FIN	Financial development gauged by domestic credit to private sector (percentage of GDP)	WDI
URB	Urban population measured as % of the total	WDI
H	Human capital index is calculated by relying on the years of schooling and returns to education	Penn World Table 9.1,2019(pwt 9.1)
TI	Technological innovation gauged by the sum of resident and non-resident patent applications	WDI