Carbon emissions, and economic growth in Africa

ABSTRACT: In this study, we applied the recently proposed income elasticity approach to investigate the presence of an inverted U relationship also known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in 20 African countries. we grouped the countries into three panels not according to any know regions, but according to income such as Low-income African economies, lower- Middle African economies and upper-Middle income African economies. We tested for the presence of an inverted U relationship for both individual-specific countries and for the 3 panels using short-run and long-run income elasticity approach. We conclude the presence of an inverted-U relationship exists when long-run Income elasticity is smaller than short-run income elasticity, meaning that as income increase over time, carbon emissions have reduced. In other words, as these individual African countries experience economic growth over time, their carbon emissions level has declined. This empirical finding is true only for Benin, Malawi, cote div our, south Africa, Botswana, and Libya, representing approximately 30% of the sample. With regards to the panel groups, we found evidence supporting the presence of an inverted U relationship only in the panel of low-income African countries with long-run income elasticity smaller than the short-run income elasticity, thus, the low-income African countries have reduced their carbon emissions level as economic growth is attained.