Synthesizing the role of technological innovation on sustainable development and climate action: Does governance play a role in sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract

The present study draws motivation from United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) and its impact by 2030. To this end, the current study explored the nexus between energy consumption (SDG-7), climate action (SDG-13), and economic growth (SDG-8) while controlling for role of government apparatus such as like voice of accountability, rule of law, control of corruption and technology innovation in a balanced panel of 46 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies from 1996 to 2020. For a robust study, the present study leverages on second-generation estimator such as cross-sectional SUR, two-stage least square (2SLS), 2SLS is referred to as the superior estimators to traditional pool OLS due to its capabilities of including endogenous regressors and efficiency. Empirical findings show that all the coefficients associated with mobile subscription (lnTI) are negative and statistically significant at 1% level of significance (P-value <0.01). This indicates that higher (lower) mobile cellular subscriptions results in the reduction (rise) of renewable energy consumption, implying that technological innovation in terms of the expansion of mobile cellular subscription hinders access to clean energy in SSA. Conclusively, the present study presents interesting outcomes concerning technology innovation, Governance, and SDGs goal 7 (clean energy) and 13 (climate action) in Sub-Saharan African blocs. Policy strategies are outlined in the concluding section.