CO₂ emission, life expectancy, and economic growth: a triad analysis of Sub-Saharan African countries

This paper examined the long-period and short-period interdependence among CO₂ emissions, life expectancy, and GDP growth in 45 SSA countries since 1991–2020. To secure the legitimacy and credibility of our results, we employed modern econometric techniques, including cross-sectional dependence, panel dynamic ordinary least square, Dumitrescu–Hurlin, Fisher Johnson co-integration test, and vector error correction method. The findings revealed strong positive correlation between economic factors for instance GDP per capita, industry value added, and inflation along with CO₂ emissions. Similarly, social factors such as life expectancy and urbanization showed a positive relationship with CO₂ emissions. Moreover, our observations validate the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in context of SSA nations. We anticipate that the insights derived from this research will be valuable for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners aiming to concentrate on environmental degradation and encourage sustainable development in the region. Further insights into policy implications are provided.

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Data availability

All data are procured from World Development Indicators Database of the World Bank. Data are publicly available and data source was mentioned into the manuscript.

Abbreviations

Carbon dioxide emissions

Environmental Kuznets curve

World health organization

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Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.