Abstract
This article examines the asymmetric relationship between electric consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emission in 15 countries over the period 1971–2014. We employed a nonlinear auto-regressive distribution Lag (NARDL) model approach to investigate the asymmetric cointegration between variables. Additionally, we applied the asymmetric causality approach to determine the causal relationship between variables. Results confirm nonlinear cointegration between variables in Cameroon, Congo Republic, Zambia, Canada, and the UK. The Wald test results confirm a long-run asymmetric link between electricity consumption, economic growth, and carbon emission in Canada and Cameroon, while a short-run asymmetric effect in the Congo Republic and the UK. Findings from the granger causality test are volatile across variables. The result provides strong support for the symmetric relationship between electric consumption, economic growth, and carbon emission in the short and long run. This study provides new evidence for policymakers to formulate country-specific policies to obtain better environmental quality while achieving sustainable economic growth.
Highlights
Greenhouse gas emission (GHG) in the atmosphere poses a severe threat to sustainable development as its impact affects climate change globally in numerous ways like ecosystem destruction and the melting of polar ice, causing a rise in sea levels
Granger causality running from electricity consumption and emissions to economic growth while the short run shows emissions to electricity consumption
Economic growth is associated with increasing electricity consumption, while an increase in electricity consumption leads to an increase in carbon emissions
Summary
Greenhouse gas emission (GHG) in the atmosphere poses a severe threat to sustainable development as its impact affects climate change globally in numerous ways like ecosystem destruction and the melting of polar ice, causing a rise in sea levels. The topic of the causal relationship between the impact of CO2 emission on gross domestic products (GDP) and electric consumption (ECON) has been of high interest among researchers [1,2]. Some factors like increased electricity demand and services, goods and economic growth have led to the increase in CO2 emissions especially in the sub-Saharan region of Africa over the decades [3] which has a high population of close to 1 billion people and has the most inadequate access to electricity [4]. World Development Indicators show that CO2 emissions for some years Energies 2020, 13, 1258; doi:10.3390/en13051258 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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