Clean Energy Access, Renewable Energy Consumption and Environmental Sustainability: An Impact Analysis for Sub-Sahara African Countries
Keywords:
Clean Energy Access, Renewable Energy Consumption, Environmental Sustainability, Sub-Saharan Africa, System GMM
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of clean energy access (EA) and renewable energy consumption (REC) on environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using secondary data from 48 SSA countries from 2016–2022. The system GMM estimation technique was adopted in this study. The results show that both EA and REC significantly reduces environmental sustainability, indicating that increasing the use of renewable energy and expanding access to clean energy can effectively reduce carbon emissions (CO2) in the region. The study suggests improving energy access and renewable energy utilization by putting supportive policies into place and investing in local capacity building for the planning, design, installation, and maintenance of renewable energy systems.
References
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Shahbaz, M., Hye, Q. M. A., Tiwari, A. K. & Leitão, N. C. (2013). Economic growth, energy consumption, financial development, international trade and CO2 emissions in Indonesia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25, 109–121.
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World Bank Open Data. World Development Indicators [WDI] (2023). www.data.worldbank.org.
Apergis, N. & Payne, J.E. (2010). Renewable energy consumption and economic growth: evidence from a panel of OECD countries. Energy policy, 38, 656–660.
Arellano, M. & Bond, S.R. (1991). Some test of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and application to employment equations. Review of Economic Studies, 58, 277–297.
Arellano, M. & Bover, O. (1995). Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-component models. Journal of Econometrics, 68, 5–27.
Badeeb, R. A., Lean, H. H. & Clark, J. (2017). The electricity–growth nexus in South Africa: Evidence from asymmetric cointegration and co-feature analysis. Energy, 119, 511-521.
Belaid, F. & Youssef, M. (2017), Environmental degradation, renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption, and economic growth: Assessing the evidence from Algeria. Energy Policy, 102, 277-287.Blundell, R. & Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. J. Econ. 87, 115–143.
Burke, M., Hsiang, S. & Miguel, E. (2015), Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production. Nature, 527, 235-239.
Chen Y, Mamon R, Spagnolo F, Spagnolo N (2022) Renewable-energy and economic growth: A Markov-switching approach. Energy, 123089.
Ding, Y., Li, D. & Chen, J. (2020). Energy poverty and its temporal dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa: A multidimensional model. Energy Economics, 91, 104898.
Dogan, E. & Seker, F. (2016). Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: The role of renewable and non-renewable energy. Renewable Energy, 94, 429–439.
Dong, K., Hochman, G., Zhang, Y., Sun, R., Li, H. & Liao, H.J.E.E. (2018). CO2 emissions, economic and population growth, and renewable energy: Empirical evidence across regions. 75, 180-192.
Inglesi-Lotz, R. & Dogan, E. (2018). The role of renewable versus non-renewable energy to the level of CO2 emissions a panel analysis of sub- Saharan Africa’s Βig 10 electricity generators. Renewable Energy, 123, 36-43.
International Energy Agency [IEA]. (2021). Addressing climate change - Policies and measures database. https://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures/climatechange/
International Renewable Energy Agency [IRENA]. (2020), Renewable Energy Statistics 2020. The International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.
International Renewable Energy Agency [IRENA]. (2021), Renewable energy benefits: Leveraging local capacity for solar PV, The International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.
Kammen, D. M. & Lew, D. J. (2019). The potential environmental costs and benefits of decentralized renewable energy for rural electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa. Renewable Energy, 140, 4-12.
Lee, J. W., (2019). Long-run dynamics of renewable energy consumption on carbon emissions and economic growth in the European Union. Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 26, 69-78.
Lin, B. & Abudu, H. (2020). Impact of inter-fuel substitution on energy intensity in Ghana. Front. Energy, 14, 27-41.
Littwin, A. K. (2009). Testing the substitution hypothesis: Would credit card regulation force low-income borrowers into less desirable lending alternatives? University of Illinois Law Review, 2, 403-455.
Liu, J., Wang, S. & Wang, S. (2023). Impact of FDI inflows on green TFP based on carbon emissions transmission mechanism. Economic Research,36(3), 2191688.
Lotz, R. & Dogan, E. (2018), The role of renewable versus non-renewable energy to the level of CO2 emissions a panel analysis of sub- Saharan Africa's Βig 10 electricity generators. Renewable Energy, 123, 36-43.
Mashela, P. W., & Tang, L. (2017). Renewable energy consumption and economic growth in South Africa. Energy Reports, 3, 67-75.
Menyah, K. & Wolde-Rufael, Y. (2010). CO2 emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in the US. Energy Policy, 38, 2911–2915.
Mikayilov, J. I., Galeotti, M. & Hasanov, F.J. (2018), The impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions in Azerbaijan. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197(1), 1558-1572.
Naz, S., Sultan, R., Zaman, K., Aldakhil, A. M., Nassani, A. A. & Abro, M.M. Q. (2019). Moderating and mediating role of renewable energy consumption, FDI inflows, and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions: evidence from robust least square estimator, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int 26 (3), 2806–2819.
Raman, M. (2017). Do population density, economic growth, energy use and exports adversely affect environmental quality in Asian populous countries? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 77, 506-514.
Saboori, B., Sulaiman, J. & Mohammad S. (2012). Economic growth and CO2 emissions in Malaysia: A cointegration analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Energy Policy, 51, 184-191.
Saidi, K. & Omri, A. (2020). The impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions and economic growth in 15 major renewable energy-consuming countries. Environmental Research, 186, 109567.
Sarkodie, S.A. & Adams, S. (2018). Renewable energy, nuclear energy, and environmental pollution: Accounting for political institutional quality in South Africa. Sci. Total Environ, 643, 1590–1601.
Sarkodie, S. A., Adams, S. & Leirvik, T. (2020). Foreign direct investment and renewable energy in climate change mitigation: does governance matter? J. Clean. Prod, 121262.
Shahbaz, M., Hye, Q. M. A., Tiwari, A. K. & Leitão, N. C. (2013). Economic growth, energy consumption, financial development, international trade and CO2 emissions in Indonesia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25, 109–121.
Shafiei, S. & Salim, R.A. (2014). Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis. Energy Policy, 66, 547–556.
Twerefou, D. K. & Acheampong, P. P. (2019). Renewable energy consumption and environmental quality in Ghana: An autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach. Energy Reports, 5, 1523-1535.
Wang, J., Jiang, C., Li, M., Zhang, S. & Zhang, X. (2023a). Renewable energy, agriculture, and carbon dioxide emissions nexus: implications for sustainable development in sub Saharan African countries. Sustainable Environment Research, 33:31.
Wang, Q., Yang, T., Li, R. & Wang X. (2023b). Reexamining the impact of foreign direct investment on carbon emissions: Does per capita GDP matter? Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 10, 406.
World Bank Open Data. World Development Indicators [WDI] (2023). www.data.worldbank.org.
Published
2023-09-01
Section
Articles
