Renewable energy, agriculture, and carbon dioxide emissions nexus: implications for sustainable development in sub-Saharan African countries

Abstract Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced a high economic growth rate over the last two decades, which has been accompanied by concerns about increasing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. This study aims to find out whether renewable energy and agriculture can help reduce CO 2 emissions for selected SSA countries. A balanced dataset incorporating CO 2 emissions, renewable energy consumption, agricultural land per capita, GDP per capita, urbanization level and energy intensity of 38 SSA countries covering the period 2000–2019 is utilized. The differentiated-generalized method of moments (GMM) is employed as a benchmark estimation method to estimate the effects of renewable energy and agriculture on CO 2 . The regional heterogeneity analysis of countries at different income levels is then carried out. The moderating role of government governance in the energy-agriculture-environment nexus is also investigated. The following conclusions are highlighted: (1) the consumption of renewable energy can reduce CO 2 emissions, while agriculture increases them; (2) the mitigating effect of renewable energy on CO 2 emissions is relatively larger in countries at a low income level countries than in high-income countries, while agriculture aggravates CO 2 emissions in lower middle-income and low-income regions, but mitigates emissions in upper middle-income regions; and (3) governance quality turns the mitigating role of renewable energy use on CO 2 emissions into an increasing one, and exaggerates the polluting effect of agriculture. Finally, the study proposes policy implications for improving renewable energy use and green agricultural growth to achieve sustainable development in SSA.