Title : The impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions in sub-saharna African Countries: Does globalisation matter
Abstract:
The relationship between renewable energy consumption and carbon emissions has been studied extensively in recent years. Studies have shown that renewable energy exploration can play a critical role in reducing environmental degradation. By reducing overreliance on fossil fuels and adopting sustainable renewable sources, renewable energy exploration can significantly mitigate climate change. Although renewable energy has been found to reduce carbon emissions, the effect of globalization on carbon emissions may be either negative or positive, depending on its nature and dimension. Globalization may increase carbon emissions through various means, including trade, transportation, and industrial exploration. However, it could also contribute to reducing environmental degradation by transferring renewable technologies that mitigate climate change. Although a few studies have examined the relationships between renewable energy and carbon emissions and between globalization and carbon emissions, very few have gone the full distance to examine the dynamic linkage among renewable energy, globalization, and carbon emissions. The current study, therefore, aims to examine the impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions using data from sub-Saharan African countries. The study also examines whether globalization modulates the impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions in the studied countries. Unlike some previous studies, the study uses a wide range of modern panel data techniques to examine this linkage, including
i) four cross-sectional dependence tests - Breusch-Pagan LM, Pesaran scaled LM, bias-corrected scaled LM, and Pesaran CD;
ii) the second-generation unit root test based on Pesaran's CIPS approach;
iii) the second-generation cointegration test,
iv) Driscoll-Kraay standard errors for robust inference; and
v) the FMOLS and DOLS In order to fully explore the nexus between renewable energy and carbon emissions, the study also applies heterogenous Granger causality test based on Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012).
To our knowledge, this may be the first study of its kind to examine this linkage on this scale.
