Pathways to Sustainable Development: The Role of Property Rights, Globalization, Policy Stringency, and Institutions in <scp>E7</scp> Economies

ABSTRACT Property rights play a crucial role in protecting natural resources by enhancing individuals' and organizations' awareness of their responsibilities. Social globalization influences environmental sustainability by shaping consumption patterns. Environmental policies can mitigate the potential adverse effects of property rights and social globalization. Within the framework of environmental policies, high taxes are imposed on polluting activities that generate negative externalities, while subsidies are provided for clean activities that produce positive externalities. Well‐functioning and transparent institutions are essential for ensuring the effective implementation of environmental policies and facilitating the equitable management of natural resources. This study investigates the impact of property rights, globalization, environmental policy stringency, and institutional quality on the ecological footprint in E7 countries between 1995 and 2019. The findings reveal that environmental policy stringency enhances ecological sustainability in India and Indonesia. While institutional quality improves ecological sustainability in Mexico, it has a detrimental effect in Russia and Brazil. Social globalization negatively impacts environmental sustainability in the panel and Russia. Furthermore, property rights are found to reduce environmental sustainability in Mexico. These findings suggest that to reconcile ambitious economic growth strategies with environmental sustainability, E7 countries should prioritize the enforcement of effective environmental policies and actively promote clean and sustainable consumption patterns in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12, which emphasizes the transition toward responsible production and consumption systems.