Over the past few years, a growing number of scholars employed ecological footprint (EP) as a proxy of environmental deterioration because this comprehensive indicator effectively captures environmental degradation. However, the literature on driving factors of the ecological footprint indicates diverse findings, and the majority of the studies explore symmetric relationships. Taking this in view, the current study uses both symmetric and asymmetric methods to examine the nexus between ecological footprint, economic globalization, economic growth, and financial development, controlling for population density and energy consumption in the third-largest economy Japan. The study uses advanced unit root methods including the Narayan-Popp and CMR unit root tests with two breaks to determine unit root properties. The asymmetric and symmetric ARDL methods are used to probe cointegration and long-run associations. The findings reveal the long-run asymmetric and symmetric relationship of variables with the ecological footprint. The long-run empirical results of symmetric ARDL suggest that economic globalization and financial development increase footprint in Japan. On the flipside, the novel findings from the asymmetric ARDL indicate that positive and negative changes in economic globalization reduce footprint. Interestingly, the asymmetric ARDL presents a totally different picture, indicating that the results of symmetric ARDL can be unreliable in the presence of asymmetries. A positive change in financial development increases footprint with a more pronounced effect in the long-run, compared to a negative change which has a comparatively weak effect. Energy consumption deteriorates the environment by increasing the ecological footprint. On the positive side, population density decreases footprint, and the inverted U-shaped relationship between footprint and income confirms the validity of the EKC in Japan. Finally, the policy implications of these novel findings are discussed.

在过去的几年中，越来越多的学者将生态足迹（EP）用作环境恶化的代名词，因为该综合指标有效地反映了环境恶化。然而，有关生态足迹驱动因素的文献表明了不同的发现，并且大多数研究探索了对称关系。考虑到这一点，当前的研究使用对称和非对称方法来研究生态足迹，经济全球化，经济增长和金融发展之间的联系，控制日本第三大经济体的人口密度和能源消耗。该研究使用先进的单位根方法，包括Narayan-Popp和CMR单位根测试，并进行两次中断以确定单位根特性。非对称和对称ARDL方法用于探测协整和长期关联。研究结果揭示了变量与生态足迹之间的长期不对称和对称关系。对称ARDL的长期经验结果表明，经济全球化和金融发展增加了日本的足迹。另一方面，来自非对称ARDL的新发现表明，经济全球化的积极和消极变化减少了足迹。有趣的是，非对称ARDL呈现出完全不同的图片，这表明在存在非对称性的情况下对称ARDL的结果可能不可靠。与负面影响较小的负面变化相比，长期而言，金融发展的正面变化增加了足迹，效果更为显着。能源消耗通过增加生态足迹而使环境恶化。从积极的方面来看，人口密度减少了足迹，足迹和收入之间的倒U型关系证实了EKC在日本的有效性。最后，讨论了这些新颖发现的政策含义。