Abstract Environmental sustainability has gained more importance in recent time to ensure socio-economic sustainability via healthy environment. The current decade has witnessed the rise of empirical research in the domain of ecological footprint, which has become a major scholarly area among environmental researchers. However, several key factors determining ecological footprint have been inadequately dealt with in the existing body of knowledge. The current research endeavour explores the association between economic complexity, human capital, renewable energy, urbanization, economic development, and ecological footprint in 20 countries divided into two panels (leading ten economic complex and renewable energy-consuming countries). This study applied panel data estimators, for instance, fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and the canonical cointegrating regression (CCR) long-run estimators to the period from 1980 to 2017. The results reveal that economic complexity, economic development, and urbanization increase the ecological footprint in both panels. Human capital and renewable energy induce ecological footprint, while renewable energy increases ecological footprint in the first panel. Based on empirical evidence, the study recommends the governments of these countries promote production processes that are friendlier to the environment and introduce greener technologies in exports for a drastic reduction in environmental pollution.