Do Natural Resources Rents Reduce Pollution? The Role of Economic Growth and Patents in Environmental‐Related Technologies

Climate change has intensified pressure on both academics and policymakers to tackle the pollution in a world where economic growth and technological progress cannot be stopped. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of natural resources rents on CO 2 emissions in a sample of 56 countries over the period 2003–2024 using several panel data models including instrumental variable fixed‐effects (IV‐FE) models, panel threshold data model and Method of Moments Quantile Regressions (MMQR). The main results indicated that natural resources rents increase pollution in middle‐upper‐income countries, but reduce it in high‐income countries where patents in environmental‐related technologies moderated the natural resources rents‐CO 2 emissions nexus, while economic growth mediated it. The impact of natural resources rents on CO 2 emissions is conditioned by economic growth regimes. Only a growth rate higher than 7.3% can make natural resources rents reduce pollution. If renewable energy consumption and trade are important pathways to less pollution in high‐income states, urban population remains a challenge for all countries in the sample since it generates more CO 2 emissions. These empirical findings support the formulation of some common, but also some specific policy recommendations for middle‐upper and high‐income countries.