Abstract
This study aims to explore the relationship between industry value added, renewable energy, and CO2 emissions in a sample of 44 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2000–2015. This study makes several important contributions to extant research. While existing research was focused on the renewable energy-CO2 emissions nexus, the current study assesses the moderating role of the renewables sector in the industrialization-CO2 emissions relationship. In addition, this study considers whether EKC relationships will hold after accounting for structural transformations (including industrial contributions to GDPs). Moreover, we are revising the existence of the EKC framework for the Sub-Saharan African countries. Using a two-step system GMM estimator, we found that the share of industry in GDP has a significant positive impact on CO2 emissions, while renewable electricity output reduces CO2 emissions. If causal, a one percentage point increase in renewable electricity output reduces carbon emissions by 0.22%. Moreover, the renewable energy sector then mediates the positive effect of industry value added on CO2 emissions. We also find evidence for the statistical significance of the inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita and CO2 emissions.
Highlights
Research on the causes of CO2 emission has proliferated in recent years [1,2,3,4,5]
While the global level of renewable energy consumption has been relatively stable over the past decade, Sub-Saharan African countries are among the top performers using renewables
We found that there was a positive relationship between industrialization and CO2 emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa: a 1 percentage point increase in the share of industry in GDP led to a 0.3% increase in CO2 emissions per person
Summary
Research on the causes of CO2 emission has proliferated in recent years [1,2,3,4,5]. One of the most important frameworks explored in this context was the existence of a nonlinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between GDP per capita and CO2 emissions across countries, the so-called environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomena. Another strand of studies suggested that economic growth, urbanization, trade, and renewable energy use are important predictors of CO2 emissions across countries [12,13,14]. These studies have relied on the STRIPAT econometric framework [15,16]. The goal of this study is to explore the relationship between renewable energy use and CO2 emissions in 44 Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the period 2000–2015. We suggest possible revisions to existing EKC frameworks in Sub-Saharan African countries
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