Carbon footprint and economic growth in Nigeria and Ghana

The study investigates the relationship between carbon footprint and economic growth in Nigeria and Ghana over the period 1990 to 2020 (31 years). The carbon footprint related variables used in the study include greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy consumption, electricity consumption and trade openness; these were regressed against GDP per capita (a proxy for economic growth). The fully modified least square and panel dynamic least square were employed for the main analysis of the study. The findings revealed that greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy consumption have significant negative effect on economic growth in Nigeria and Ghana; while electricity consumption and trade openness have insignificant positive and negative relationship with economic growth respectively. The study recommends among others that, the governments should initiate carbon pricing law which should be implemented through a tax policy specifically on the emissions from burning of biomass which consist of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from the combustion of biomass in forest areas and carbon dioxide gas from the combustion of organic soils. High taxes will scare and deter indiscriminate bush burning among others resulting in serious environmental pollution and degradations. This measure will help reduce adverse GHG emissions and positively impact economic growth.