Abstract
Carbon emissions are basically gaseous substances that are generated from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, into the atmosphere, and these emissions affect agricultural output and human health. The rising level of carbon emissions into the atmosphere has become a problem worldwide. Thus, this study examined the effect of carbon emissions on agricultural output and life expectancy in West Africa using data that spanned the period between 2000 and 2018. The study employed the two stage least squares econometric technique. The findings from the study revealed that a 1% increase in carbon emissions bring about a 3.818% reduction in agricultural output, that is, carbon emissions adversely affect agricultural output in West Africa. Also, a 1% increase in carbon emissions bring about a 0.123% increase in life expectancy, that is, carbon emissions boost life expectancy in West Africa. Therefore, this study recommends that the governments of the West African countries should formulate environmental policies that will help mitigate the adverse impact of carbon dioxide emissions on the agricultural sector, and also improve on healthcare delivery in the hospitals so as to reduce the mortality rate, this will help increase life expectancy in West Africa.
Highlights
Carbon emissions are essentially gaseous substances generated by human activities, such as fossil fuel burning, cement production and agricultural land use (IPCC, 2007)
Carbon emissions pose a threat to an economy, as they have led to a massive fall in agricultural output, according to Jiang and Li (2017)
The choice of instrumental variable estimation for this study is informed by the potential for omitted variable bias as time-variant variables may be omitted from the estimated model determining each of agriculture output and life expectancy respectively, and endogeneity bias may arise as a result of reverse causality between carbon emissions and each of agriculture output and life expectancy respectively
Summary
Carbon emissions are essentially gaseous substances generated by human activities, such as fossil fuel burning, cement production and agricultural land use (IPCC, 2007). Rising carbon emissions into the atmosphere has become a global issue. Anderson et al (2008) stressed that since the industrial era, these emissions have grown significantly. The main issue with carbon emissions is that they cause climate change that could have a negative impact on the environment and on human and economic activity. Carbon emissions pose a threat to an economy, as they have led to a massive fall in agricultural output, according to Jiang and Li (2017). The decline in agricultural output definitely affects the level of agricultural supply to the market, and once supply is adversely affected, demand will be affected adversely (Alege et al, 2017; Matthew et al, 2018)
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