Abstract
The efforts of African countries towards achieving a significant GDP growth like the other developing countries come with a cost of climate change due to increased energy consumption. While the advanced countries are already successful in their energy transition process, African countries are still behind in the transition to renewable energy consumption. Therefore, Africa should not be ignored in the growing global concerns about climate change. It is on this premise that this study seeks to assess the mediating role of renewable energy consumption in the relationship between GDP growth and climate change (CO2 emissions) in Africa, while also incorporating fossil fuel consumption. A panel of 20 African countries is assessed for the period 1996 to 2021 using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG), Mean Group (MG), and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) techniques. Findings indicate that GDP growth and fossil fuel consumption are significantly responsible for climate change in Africa while renewable energy use reduces climate change. The interaction of renewable energy with GDP growth also has a reducing effect on climate change. This study concludes that Africa must embrace the energy transition process if the economy is to grow at a reduced cost of climate change. Africa may not have the required technology and innovations for a green economy, thus, huge sponsorship will be required to be able to carry out economic growth activities in an eco-friendly manner.
Presenters
Maryam Abu GoodmanSenior Lecturer, Economics, Nasarawa State University Keffi, Nassarawa, Nigeria
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
AFRICA, CLIMATE CHANGE, GDP GROWTH, RENEWABLE ENERGY, POOLED MEAN GROUP
