IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/300281.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Energy Equity and Income Inequality in Environmental Sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Ofori, Pamela E.
  • Ofori, Isaac K.
  • Annan, Kenneth

Abstract

Progress in energy equity, income equality, and environmental quality are fundamental to sustainable development. However, studies providing evidence-based recommendations concerning the joint effect of energy equity and income inequality on environmental sustainability in Africa are lacking. This study fills this gap by using a panel dataset covering 41 African countries from 2008-2019. Results from the Driscoll-Kraay standard errors and the dynamic system GMM estimators reveal the following: (1) energy equity promotes environmental quality, whereas income inequality hampers it, and (2) income inequality nullifies the favourable environmental gains of energy equity. These findings remain consistent when we use the ecological footprint as an alternative measure of environmental quality. We conclude that addressing income inequality is essential for ensuring that energy equity enhances environmental quality. Policymakers should prioritise energy equity and fairer income distribution initiatives to achieve sustainable development goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Ofori, Pamela E. & Ofori, Isaac K. & Annan, Kenneth, 2024. "The Role of Energy Equity and Income Inequality in Environmental Sustainability," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:300281
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/300281/1/Ofori-Role-of-Energy-Equity.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sager, Lutz, 2019. "Income inequality and carbon consumption: Evidence from Environmental Engel curves," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    2. Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen & Wang, Jinxian & Zhang, Xun, 2022. "The income inequality-CO2 emissions nexus: Transmission mechanisms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    3. McCauley, Darren & Heffron, Raphael, 2018. "Just transition: Integrating climate, energy and environmental justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 1-7.
    4. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Dworkin, Michael H., 2015. "Energy justice: Conceptual insights and practical applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 435-444.
    5. Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Mallick, Hrushikesh & Padhan, Hemachandra, 2021. "Do educational levels influence the environmental quality? The role of renewable and non-renewable energy demand in selected BRICS countries with a new policy perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 419-432.
    6. Grunewald, Nicole & Klasen, Stephan & Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Muris, Chris, 2017. "The Trade-off Between Income Inequality and Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 249-256.
    7. Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik & Sengupta, Tuhin & Qin, Quande, 2020. "How Renewable Energy Consumption Contribute to Environmental Quality? The Role of Education in OECD Countries," MPRA Paper 100259, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 May 2020.
    8. Simplice A. Asongu & Chimere O. Iheonu & Kingsley O. Odo, 2019. "The Conditional Relationship between Renewable Energy and Environmental Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/074, African Governance and Development Institute..
    9. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Ojong, Nathanael, 2023. "Foreign direct investment and inclusive green growth in Africa: Energy efficiency contingencies and thresholds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    10. Mehmood, Usman, 2021. "Contribution of renewable energy towards environmental quality: The role of education to achieve sustainable development goals in G11 countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 600-607.
    11. Frederick Solt, 2020. "Measuring Income Inequality Across Countries and Over Time: The Standardized World Income Inequality Database," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(3), pages 1183-1199, May.
    12. York, Richard & Rosa, Eugene A. & Dietz, Thomas, 2003. "STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 351-365, October.
    13. Sun, Jianing & Zhou, Tao & Wang, Di, 2022. "Relationships between urban form and air quality: A reconsideration based on evidence from China’s five urban agglomerations during the COVID-19 pandemic," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    14. Matthew A. Cole & Eric Neumayer, 2003. "Examining the Impact of Demographic Factors On Air Pollution," Labor and Demography 0312005, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 May 2004.
    15. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    16. Torras, Mariano & Boyce, James K., 1998. "Income, inequality, and pollution: a reassessment of the environmental Kuznets Curve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 147-160, May.
    17. Sinha, Avik & Sengupta, Tuhin & Alvarado, Rafael, 2020. "Interplay between Technological Innovation and Environmental Quality: Formulating the SDG Policies for Next 11 Economies," MPRA Paper 104247, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    18. Marina Vornovytskyy & James Boyce, 2010. "Economic Inequality and Environmental Quality: Evidence of Pollution Shifting in Russia," Working Papers wp217, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    19. Dagnachew, Anteneh G. & Hof, Andries F. & Lucas, Paul L. & van Vuuren, Detlef P., 2020. "Scenario analysis for promoting clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa: Costs and benefits," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    20. James Temitope Dada & Folorunsho M. Ajide & Marina Arnaut, 2023. "Income inequality, shadow economy and environmental degradation in Africa: quantile regression via moment’s approach," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 214-240, March.
    21. Philip Kofi Adom, 2011. "Electricity Consumption-Economic Growth Nexus: The Ghanaian Case," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 1(1), pages 18-31, June.
    22. Vania Vigolo & Rezarta Sallaku & Federico Testa, 2018. "Drivers and Barriers to Clean Cooking: A Systematic Literature Review from a Consumer Behavior Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    23. Syed Abdul Rehman Khan & Danish Iqbal Godil & Muhammad Umer Quddoos & Zhang Yu & Muhammad Hanif Akhtar & Zijing Liang, 2021. "Investigating the nexus between energy, economic growth, and environmental quality: A road map for the sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 835-846, September.
    24. Daniel Hoechle, 2007. "Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 281-312, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ofori, Pamela E. & Ofori, Isaac K. & Annan, Kenneth, 2024. "The Role of Energy Equity and Income Inequality in Environmental Sustainability," MPRA Paper 121495, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Dorn, Franziska & Maxand, Simone & Kneib, Thomas, 2024. "The nonlinear dependence of income inequality and carbon emissions: Potentials for a sustainable future," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Busayo Victor Osuntuyi & Hooi Hooi Lean, 2023. "Environmental degradation, economic growth, and energy consumption: The role of education," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 1166-1177, April.
    4. Asane-Otoo, Emmanuel, 2015. "Carbon footprint and emission determinants in Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 426-435.
    5. Phetkeo Poumanyvong & Shinji Kaneko & Shobhakar Dhakal, 2012. "Impacts of urbanization on national residential energy use and CO2 emissions: Evidence from low-, middle- and high-income countries," IDEC DP2 Series 2-5, Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC).
    6. Balsalobre, Daniel & Sinha, Avik & Driha, Oana M. & Shujaat Mubarik, Muhammad, 2021. "Assessing the Impacts of Ageing and Natural Resource Extraction on Carbon Emissions: A proposed Policy Framework for European Economies," MPRA Paper 108159, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    7. Ibrahim Mohamed Ali Ali, 2023. "Income Inequality and Environmental Degradation in Middle-Income Countries: A Test of Two Competing Hypotheses," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 299-321, April.
    8. Ha-Chi Le & Thai-Ha Le, 2023. "Effects of economic, social, and political globalization on environmental quality: international evidence," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 4269-4299, May.
    9. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla, 2017. "The Causal Factors of International Inequality in $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions Per Capita: A Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 683-700, August.
    10. Tobias Angel & Alexandre Berthe & Valeria Costantini & Mariagrazia D’Angeli, 2024. "How the nature of inequality reduction matters for CO2 emissions," Working Papers 2024.14, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Betul Gokkir & J. Samuel Barkin, 2019. "Are liberal states greener? Political ideology and CO2 emissions in American states, 1980–2012," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 9(4), pages 386-396, December.
    12. Le Hoang Phong & Dang Thi Bach Van & Ho Hoang Gia Bao, 2018. "The Role of Globalization on CO2 Emission in Vietnam Incorporating Industrialization, Urbanization, GDP per Capita and Energy Use," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 275-283.
    13. Junmei Zhang & Iftikhar Yasin, 2024. "Greening the BRICS: How Green Innovation Mitigates Ecological Footprints in Energy-Hungry Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-24, May.
    14. Natalia Davidson & Oleg Mariev & Sophia Turkanova, 2021. "Does income inequality matter for CO2 emissions in Russian regions?," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 16(3), pages 533-551, September.
    15. Fotio, Herve Kaffo & Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "Financing renewable energy generation in SSA: Does financial integration matter?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P2), pages 47-59.
    16. Kuşkaya, Sevda & Bilgili, Faik & Muğaloğlu, Erhan & Khan, Kamran & Hoque, Mohammad Enamul & Toguç, Nurhan, 2023. "The role of solar energy usage in environmental sustainability: Fresh evidence through time-frequency analyses," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 858-871.
    17. Long, X. & Ji, Xi & Ulgiati, S., 2017. "Is urbanization eco-friendly? An energy and land use cross-country analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 387-396.
    18. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla Rosa, 2014. "The causal factors of international inequality in CO2 emissions per capita: A regression-based inequality decomposition analysis," Working Papers wpdea1402, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    19. Lesly Cassin & Paolo Melindi-Ghidi & Fabien Prieur, 2021. "The impact of income inequality on public environmental expenditure with green consumerism," Working Papers 2021.08, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    20. Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Dogah, Kingsley E. & Aluko, Olufemi Adewale, 2022. "The contribution of human development towards environmental sustainability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Energy equity; Environmental quality; Income inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:300281. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.