Building a Sustainable Future: Assessing China’s Development through Human, Global, and Environmental Indicators

Natural resources are vital for sustainable development as they provide essential inputs for economic growth, social well-being, and environmental sustainability but must be managed wisely to prevent depletion and ensure intergenerational equity. On the other hand, the high-tech industry plays a pivotal role in sustainable development by driving technological innovation that enhances resource efficiency, reduces environmental impacts, and supports the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy. In this context, this study investigates the long-run, short-run, and causal impacts of natural resource depletion, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, renewable energy consumption, high-tech industry, and urbanization on sustainable development in China, covering the period from the first quarter of 1990 to the fourth quarter of 2022. For this purpose, we have made an index for sustainable development by taking three important indicators: the human development index (HDI), the environmental score, and the sustainable development goal score. Moreover, we employed advanced econometric techniques, including the bounds test of co-integration, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, and wavelet coherence analysis (WCA). The results reveal that natural resource depletion, GHG emissions, and urbanization negatively affect sustainable development in both the short run and the long run. Conversely, renewable energy consumption and high-tech industry contribute positively to sustainable development. The wavelet coherence analysis further highlights the substantial interplay between sustainable development and the independent variables studied. In addition, this study provides the policies that will help China to achieve certain SDG goals, such as SDG-7 (clean energy sources), SDG-8 (sustainable development goal), and SDG-9 (climate action).