In the modern world, the globe has been trapped by severe challenges, and an abrupt increase in environmental deterioration (ED) is one of these. The practitioners have recently tried to suggest several green initiatives to combat rising environmental concerns, but the problem remains intact. Most economies have priorities to meet their socio-economic target, and practitioners are unaware of true challenges and best alternatives. This study makes an effort to introduce the true challenges (income, urbanization, and natural resources) and best alternative (renewable energy, information & communication technology (ICT), and circular economy) for carbon footprint in the top 28 waste re-cycled economies (WRE) throughout 2000–2021. In order to obtain robust outcomes, the present study uses the most reliable estimators, and the Q-GMM is the most prominent. The outcomes describe a positive role of income, urbanization, and natural resources in carbon footprint. On the other hand, ICT, renewable energy, and the circular economy decline ED. The renewable energy and circular economy mediating role on urbanization shows supportive behavior in sustainability but finds only a significant role of circular economy in sustainable urbanization. Using a quadratic income form, this study validates the EKC & LCC hypotheses for specified economies. On behalf of outcomes, this study suggests imperative implications to become clean & green shortly.