The connection between urbanization and carbon emissions: a panel evidence from West Africa

This study examined the nexus between urbanization and carbon emissions in West Africa. Second-generation econometric techniques that are robust to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity were used for the study. From the Pesaran–Yamagata homogeneity test, the slope coefficients were heterogeneous in nature. Also, the Breusch–Pagan LM test, the Pesaran scaled LM test, bias-corrected LM test, Pesaran CD test and the Friedman’s test confirmed the studied panels to be cross-sectionally dependent. Further, the CADF and the CIPS unit root tests established the variables to be first-differenced stationary. Additionally, the Westerlund and Edgerton bootstrap cointegration test and the Pedroni residual cointegration test affirmed the series to be cointegrated in the long run. The Driscoll–Kraay standard errors regression estimator was employed to examine the long-run equilibrium relationship amid the series, and from the results, urbanization had a significantly positive influence on CO2 emissions in all the three panels. Also, economic growth had a materially positive effect on CO2 emissions, while renewable energy consumption had a substantially negative impact on CO2 emissions in all the panels. The causal connections amid the series were finally explored through the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test, and the discoveries were a bit varied across the various panels. Policy recommendations are further discussed.