IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/agd/wpaper/21-069.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The rise and fall of the energy-carbon Kuznets curve: Evidence from Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Olatunji A. Shobande

    (University of Aberdeen, UK)

  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Abstract

Purpose – This paper provides an analysis of the energy-carbon Kuznets curve hypothesis (CKC) using a second-generation panel methodology. Design/methodology/approach – Specifically, we investigate whether energy consumption, natural resources, and governance explain the CKC proposition. Our empirical strategy is based on the Westerlund panel cointegration test, augmented mean group (AMG), and vector autoregressive (VAR) panel Granger-causality tests. Findings – The results suggest that the CKC hypothesis is incomplete without these mechanisms, as they play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions in Africa. We recommend improving the environmental standards and proper regulatory and monitoring systems to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable development in the continent. Originality/value –The study revisits the CKC hypothesis with particular emphasis on governance and more robust empirical estimation techniques.

Suggested Citation

  • Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "The rise and fall of the energy-carbon Kuznets curve: Evidence from Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/069, African Governance and Development Institute..
    • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:21/069
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/The-rise-and-fall-of-the-energy-carbon-Kuznets-curve-Evidence-from-Africa.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Bruyn, S. M. & van den Bergh, J. C. J. M. & Opschoor, J. B., 1998. "Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 161-175, May.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Environmental degradation and inclusive human development in sub‐Saharan Africa," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 25-34, January.
    3. Muhammad Shahbaz & Rashid Sbia & Helmi Hamdi & Ilhan Ozturk, 2014. "Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation relationship in United Arab Emirates," Post-Print halshs-01902764, HAL.
    4. Taskin, Fatma & Zaim, Osman, 2000. "Searching for a Kuznets curve in environmental efficiency using kernel estimation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 217-223, August.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Enhancing Governance for Environmental Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/090, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Energy consumption, financial development and economic growth in India: New evidence from a nonlinear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 199-212.
    7. Hu, Hui & Xie, Nan & Fang, Debin & Zhang, Xiaoling, 2018. "The role of renewable energy consumption and commercial services trade in carbon dioxide reduction: Evidence from 25 developing countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1229-1244.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Mary Oluwatoyin Agboola & Andrew Adewale Alola & Festus Victor Bekun, 2019. "The criticality of growth, urbanization, electricity and fossil fuel consumption to environment sustainability in Africa," Working Papers 19/093, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    10. Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2010. "CO2 emissions, electricity consumption and output in ASEAN," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(6), pages 1858-1864, June.
    11. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2009. "CO2 emissions, energy usage, and output in Central America," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3282-3286, August.
    12. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasir, Muhammad Ali & Roubaud, David, 2018. "Environmental degradation in France: The effects of FDI, financial development, and energy innovations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 843-857.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Chris Pyke, 2019. "The Comparative Economics of ICT, Environmental Degradation and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1271-1297, June.
    14. Mustalahti, Irmeli & Gutiérrez-Zamora, Violeta & Hyle, Maija & Devkota, Bishnu Prasad & Tokola, Nina, 2020. "Responsibilization in natural resources governance: A romantic doxa?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    15. Richard Schmalensee & Thomas M. Stoker & Ruth A. Judson, 1998. "World Carbon Dioxide Emissions: 1950-2050," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(1), pages 15-27, February.
    16. Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "Financial Development, Human Capital Development and Climate Change in East and Southern Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/042, African Governance and Development Institute..
    17. Cole, M.A. & Rayner, A.J. & Bates, J.M., 1997. "The environmental Kuznets curve: an empirical analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 401-416, November.
    18. Jaunky, Vishal Chandr, 2011. "The CO2 emissions-income nexus: Evidence from rich countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1228-1240, March.
    19. Ahmad, Ashfaq & Zhao, Yuhuan & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Bano, Sadia & Zhang, Zhonghua & Wang, Song & Liu, Ya, 2016. "Carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: An aggregate and disaggregate analysis of the Indian economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 131-143.
    20. Fodha, Mouez & Zaghdoud, Oussama, 2010. "Economic growth and pollutant emissions in Tunisia: An empirical analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 1150-1156, February.
    21. Yu, Shiwei & Zheng, Shuhong & Li, Xia & Li, Longxi, 2018. "China can peak its energy-related carbon emissions before 2025: Evidence from industry restructuring," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 91-107.
    22. Robert N. Stavins, 2011. "The Problem of the Commons: Still Unsettled after 100 Years," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(1), pages 81-108, February.
    23. Olatunji Abdul Shobande, 2021. "Decomposing the Persistent and Transitory Effect of Information and Communication Technology on Environmental Impacts Assessment in Africa: Evidence from Mundlak Specification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, April.
    24. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    25. William Nordhaus, 2019. "Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge for Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 1991-2014, June.
    26. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    27. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sharma, Rajesh & Sinha, Avik & Jiao, Zhilun, 2021. "Analyzing nonlinear impact of economic growth drivers on CO2 emissions: Designing an SDG framework for India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    28. ., 2021. "Law, development, and finance," Chapters, in: Alternative Development Finance and Parallel Development Strategies in the Asia-Pacific, chapter 2, pages 22-46, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    29. Sofien Tiba & Mohamed Frikha, 2020. "Africa Is Rich, Africans Are Poor! A Blessing or Curse: An Application of Cointegration Techniques," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(1), pages 114-139, March.
    30. David H. Romer & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1999. "Does Trade Cause Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 379-399, June.
    31. Nwani, Chinazaekpere & Adams, Samuel, 2021. "Environmental cost of natural resource rents based on production and consumption inventories of carbon emissions: Assessing the role of institutional quality," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    32. Asongu, Simplice A & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2020. "Trade and FDI Thresholds of CO2 emissions for a Green Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 26732, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    33. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294.
    34. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Vanessa Smith, L. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2013. "Panel unit root tests in the presence of a multifactor error structure," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 94-115.
    35. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Zeshan, Muhammad & Afza, Talat, 2012. "Is energy consumption effective to spur economic growth in Pakistan? New evidence from bounds test to level relationships and Granger causality tests," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2310-2319.
    36. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 71-81, January.
    37. Serdar Ongan & Cem Isik & Dilek Ozdemir, 2021. "Economic growth and environmental degradation: evidence from the US case environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis with application of decomposition," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 14-21, January.
    38. Hussain, Jamal & Khan, Anwar & Zhou, Kui, 2020. "The impact of natural resource depletion on energy use and CO2 emission in Belt & Road Initiative countries: A cross-country analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    39. Kais, Saidi & Sami, Hammami, 2016. "An econometric study of the impact of economic growth and energy use on carbon emissions: Panel data evidence from fifty eight countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1101-1110.
    40. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Economic Development Thresholds for a Green Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/010, African Governance and Development Institute..
    41. Jalil, Abdul & Mahmud, Syed F., 2009. "Environment Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A cointegration analysis for China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5167-5172, December.
    42. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    43. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Filis, George, 2017. "Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth: An ethical dilemma," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 808-824.
    44. McCONNELL, KENNETH E., 1997. "Income and the demand for environmental quality," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 383-399, July.
    45. Lee, Keun & Kim, Byung-Yeon, 2009. "Both Institutions and Policies Matter but Differently for Different Income Groups of Countries: Determinants of Long-Run Economic Growth Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 533-549, March.
    46. Lau, Lin-Sea & Choong, Chee-Keong & Eng, Yoke-Kee, 2014. "Carbon dioxide emission, institutional quality, and economic growth: Empirical evidence in Malaysia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 276-281.
    47. Bulte, Erwin H. & Damania, Richard & Deacon, Robert T., 2005. "Resource intensity, institutions, and development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1029-1044, July.
    48. Chunhua Wang, 2016. "Regional Economic Development, Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions in China," EEPSEA Research Report rr20160338, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Mar 2016.
    49. Wei, Xintong & Qiu, Rui & Liang, Yongtu & Liao, Qi & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Xue, Jinjun & Zhang, Haoran, 2022. "Roadmap to carbon emissions neutral industrial parks: Energy, economic and environmental analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    50. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna, 2021. "Financial Crisis, Globalisation and Development in Africa," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 56(1), pages 89-104, February.
    51. Alam, Mohammad Jahangir & Begum, Ismat Ara & Buysse, Jeroen & Rahman, Sanzidur & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2011. "Dynamic modeling of causal relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3243-3251, August.
    52. Acaravci, Ali & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2010. "On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5412-5420.
    53. Olatunji Abdul Shobande & Joseph Onuche Enemona, 2021. "A Multivariate VAR Model for Evaluating Sustainable Finance and Natural Resource Curse in West Africa: Evidence from Nigeria and Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olatunji Abdul Shobande & Lawrence Ogbeifun, 2022. "Sustainable Blueprint: Do Stock Investors Increase Emissions?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Irfan, Muhammad & Elavarasan, Rajvikram Madurai & Ahmad, Munir & Mohsin, Muhammad & Dagar, Vishal & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Prioritizing and overcoming biomass energy barriers: Application of AHP and G-TOPSIS approaches," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Minyoung Yang & Jinsoo Kim, 2022. "A Critical Review of the Definition and Estimation of Carbon Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Shobande, Olatunji A., 2023. "Rethinking social change: Does the permanent and transitory effects of electricity and solid fuel use predict health outcome in Africa?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).

    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. Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "The Dilemmas of Relevance: Exploring the role of Natural resources and the Carbon Kuznets Curve hypothesis in managing climate crisis in Africa," Working Papers 22/077, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    2. Muhammad Bilal Khan & Hummera Saleem & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Xie Huobao, 2022. "The effects of globalization, energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 33(1), pages 107-134, February.
    3. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    4. Al Mamun, Md. & Sohag, Kazi & Hannan Mia, Md. Abdul & Salah Uddin, Gazi & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2014. "Regional differences in the dynamic linkage between CO2 emissions, sectoral output and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-11.
    5. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    6. Jun, Wen & Mughal, Nafeesa & Zhao, Jin & Shabbir, Malik Shahzad & Niedbała, Gniewko & Jain, Vipin & Anwar, Ahsan, 2021. "Does globalization matter for environmental degradation? Nexus among energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emission," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    7. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    8. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    9. Iftikhar Yasin & Nawaz Ahmad & M. Aslam Chaudhary, 2020. "Catechizing the Environmental-Impression of Urbanization, Financial Development, and Political Institutions: A Circumstance of Ecological Footprints in 110 Developed and Less-Developed Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 621-649, January.
    10. Amri, Fethi & Zaied, Younes Ben & Lahouel, Bechir Ben, 2019. "ICT, total factor productivity, and carbon dioxide emissions in Tunisia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 212-217.
    11. Fernández-Amador, Octavio & Francois, Joseph F. & Oberdabernig, Doris A. & Tomberger, Patrick, 2017. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Economic Growth: An Assessment Based on Production and Consumption Emission Inventories," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 269-279.
    12. Mehmet Balcilar & Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir & Huseyin Ozdemir & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2018. "Carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: The historical decomposition evidence from G-7 countries," Working Papers 15-41, Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Economics.
    13. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    14. Matheus Koengkan & Luciano Dias Losekann & José Alberto Fuinhas, 2019. "The relationship between economic growth, consumption of energy, and environmental degradation: renewed evidence from Andean community nations," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 95-107, March.
    15. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Shabbir, Muhammad Shahbaz, 2012. "Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Pakistan: Cointegration and Granger causality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2947-2953.
    16. Muhammad, Shahbaz, 2012. "Multivariate granger causality between CO2 Emissions, energy intensity, financial development and economic growth: evidence from Portugal," MPRA Paper 37774, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 31 Mar 2012.
    17. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory—Part A: Concept, causes and the CO2 emissions case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1392-1402.
    18. Bilgili, Faik & Koçak, Emrah & Bulut, Ümit, 2016. "The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions: A revisited Environmental Kuznets Curve approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 838-845.
    19. Chen, Ping-Yu & Chen, Sheng-Tung & Hsu, Chia-Sheng & Chen, Chi-Chung, 2016. "Modeling the global relationships among economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 420-431.
    20. Ehigiamusoe, Kizito Uyi & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "The moderating role of energy consumption in the carbon emissions-income nexus in middle-income countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon cuts; Energy consumption; Governance; Climate crisis; Panel analysis; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • Q30 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:agd:wpaper:21/069. 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: Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/agdiycm.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.