Abstract
Sustainable development requires a good quality of life for all. Therefore, we investigated the short- and long-term dynamics of the Environmental Quality Index (EQI) across 34 provinces in Indonesia from 2015 to 2023 using a Panel Error Correction Model. The explanatory variables included the democracy index, population density, education level, wages, poverty, foreign investment, domestic investment, and Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP). In the short term, GRDP reduced the EQI by 0.32 units, while the others did not show a significant impact. In the long term, democracy increased the EQI by 0.13 units, education level by 12.29 units, and poverty by 0.01 units, while GRDP and population density reduced it by 0.09 units and 0.16 units, respectively. Further analysis revealed that GRDP derived from the mining sector reduced the EQI, whereas service sectors such as education and health contributed to its improvement. Based on these findings, local governments should integrate environmental protection directly into their development agendas by implementing rigorous environmental impact assessments, expanding green infrastructure, and providing targeted incentives for the development of low-carbon industries.