CARBON EMISSION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN WEST AFRICA; A QUEST FOR AN AVERAGE CARBON EMISSION
Salihu, Ahmadu Yahaya and Abubakar, Idris
Volume 3 Issue 2
Abstract
The study provides a substantiation of a positive relationship between carbon emission and economic growth in West Africa. Seven counties including Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Senegal and Togo makes up the sample with carbon emission per capita, economic growth, and electricity consumption as variables. A panel Autoregressive Distributive Lag model was employed to test for the short and long run relationships considering the nature of the study and outcome of panel unit testing. In the findings of this study in the short run, five counties carbon emission has a negative relation with economic growth while the remaining two counties portend a positive relationship. In the long run, as the economies continue to expand; carbon emission has a significant and positive relationship with economic growth. The study recommends a need for an average carbon emission per country to enable developing countries set up industries and grow their economies with sustainability. Keywords: CO2, GHGs, UNFCCC, REDD+, GDP, African Development Bank, West Africa
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