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This study investigates the impact of human activities on environmental degradation, focusing on the roles of urbanization, economic growth, energy intensity and renewable energy within the STIRPAT framework. To this end, the study adopts the ecological footprint (EF) as the environmental indicator. Employing Panel Quantile Regression, the study analyzes data from 31 OECD countries spanning the period 2000–2021. The findings reveal that renewable energy consumption and urbanization exert significant negative influences on the EF, with urbanization proving more effective than renewable energy usage across all quantiles. Both economic growth and energy intensity contribute to environmental degradation, and the impact on the EF escalates with higher quantiles. Additionally, the causality test results demonstrate a two-way causal link among urbanization, economic growth, energy intensity, renewable energy use, and EF. Finally, based on the empirical results, this paper suggests that an energy revolution should be carried out to promote the sustainable use of energy. Meanwhile, the high-level urbanization is suggested to reduce the EF through the aggregation of living production to achieve sustainable development. [Display omitted] • Sustainable use of energy can help curb environmental degradation. • Urbanization more effective than renewable energy consumption in suppressing EF. • Economic growth inhibits environmental quality. • This study employed the quantile regression method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]