Detecting the Environmental Kuznets Curve in African Countries

Abstract

The growth of the African economy is increasing rapidly since the last decades, but those economic activities affect environmental quality. Researches have shown that an increase in economic activities would lead to environmental degradation which may eventually cause environmental collapse. In this study we intend to examine the relationship between CO2 emission as a proxy of the environmental quality and gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy of economic growth in Africa, then to detect and compare the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) between African economic groups. An annual data of forty-eight (48) African countries classified into four economic levels according to World-Bank classification: lower income, lower middle income, lower upper income, and higher income countries for the period between 1960 to 2014, using panel data regression technique. The main findings show that there is a significant positive relationship between CO2 emission and GDP in Africa, as one unit of GDP increase, CO2 emission will increase by 0.37 metric ton in the African continent. Moreover, the analysis shows the existence of the EKC hypothesis of an inverted U-shape curve for all African economic levels with a higher turning point in higher income countries.