Since the industrial revolution, countries have been facing the issue of climate change and environmental degradation. It is widely believed that the investment in research and development of renewable energy can play a pivotal role in fighting against climate change. However, the financial risk also increases, which can influence renewable energy technology R&D budgets and environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, the current literature is silent on the linkage between financial risk, renewable energy technology budgets, and environmental quality. Against this backdrop, this article attempts to explore the dynamic linage between financial risk, renewable energy technology budgets, and ecological footprint under the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. For this purpose, yearly data from 1984 to 2018 is employed using the advanced panel data estimation methods that address the slope heterogeneity and c