ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CARBON EMISSION: ANALYZING THE VALIDITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE HYPOTHESIS IN NIGERIA
Jennifer Uvbi Omodamwen and Felix Eromosele Obainoke
Volume 10 Issue 1
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between economic growth (EGTR) and carbon emission (CE) in Nigeria for a period ranging from 1982-2022 in the often-cited environmental pollution emission-growth relationship encapsulated in the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). An index of carbon emission intensity was regressed on economic growth rate- measured by GDP growth rate, along with three other mitigating explanatory variables of trade openness, human capital investment and electricity consumption. Employing the ECM Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ADL) estimation technique, the result shows no evidence and validation of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Nigeria. Economic growth (EGTR) activities increase carbon emission (CE) in Nigeria both in the short run and long run period while electricity consumption significantly reduced carbon emission (CE) in the long run in Nigeria. From the findings, the study concludes that industrial based production technology is still very prevailing in Nigeria economy without reducing carbon emission (CE) for environmental sustainability development. The study therefore recommends that strong institutional framework, and implement effective policy, rules and regulations that will support sustainable development should be enacted. The implementation of these measures will eventually lead to greater environmental responsibility and sustainability strategies in Nigeria, and eventually, the entire ECOWAS sub-region. Keywords: ARDL, ECM Economic growth, Carbon emission, Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)
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