EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EMISSIONS-INNOVATION NEXUS: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33736/ijbs.14438.2026Keywords:
Education, Environmental emissions, Innovation, sub-Saharan AfricaAbstract
This study explores the moderating impact of education on innovation and environmental emissions. The empirical analysis was conducted for 41 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000 to 2022, employing the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag estimation technique. From the estimation techniques, it is confirmed that education is a significant variable that moderates the impact of innovation on emissions in both the short and long run. Additionally, this study computes the threshold and marginal effect of education on innovation's impact on emissions, signifying that the impact of innovation on emissions is conditional upon the education level. Thus, policymakers in sub-Saharan African countries must emphasize education as a key instrument to strengthen the beneficial impact of innovation on environmental quality and foster more sustainable development.
Boluk, G., & Karaman, S. (2024). The impact of agriculture, energy consumption and economic growth on ecological footprint: testing the agriculture-induced EKC for Türkiye. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-21.
Cai, X., Li, K., Wang, W., Lu, Y., & Wang, R. (2023). The role of resource rent in shaping CO2 emissions in BRICS countries: A panel data approach. Resources Policy, 85, 103857.
Demena, B. A., & Afesorgbor, S. K. (2020). The effect of FDI on environmental emissions: Evidence from a meta-analysis. Energy policy, 138, 111192.
Demir, C., Cergibozan, R., & Ari, A. (2020). Environmental dimension of innovation: time series evidence from Turkey. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22, 2497-2516.
Djellouli, N., Abdelli, L., Elheddad, M., Ahmed, R., & Mahmood, H. (2022). The effects of non-renewable energy, renewable energy, economic growth, and foreign direct investment on the sustainability of African countries. Renewable Energy, 183, 676-686.
Dilanchiev, A., Sharif, A., Ayad, H., & Nuta, A. C. (2024). The interaction between remittance, FDI, renewable energy, and environmental quality: a panel data analysis for the top remittance-receiving countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 31(10), 14912-14926.
Erdogan, S. (2024). On the impact of natural resources on environmental sustainability in African countries: a comparative approach based on the EKC and LCC hypotheses. Resources Policy, 88, 104492.
Erdoğan, S., Yıldırım, S., Yıldırım, D. Ç., & Gedikli, A. (2020). The effects of innovation on sectoral carbon emissions: Evidence from G20 countries. Journal of environmental management, 267, 110637.
Fatima, T., & Munir, Q. (2021, December). Reexamining the EKC Hypothesis in a Islamic Country: Evidence from Threshold Regression. In 2021 International Conference on Sustainable Islamic Business and Finance (pp. 176-181). IEEE.
Farhani, S., & Shahbaz, M. (2014). What role of renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption and output is needed to initially mitigate CO2 emissions in MENA region?. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40, 80-90.
Ganda, F. (2024). The influence of democracy, corruption, economic growth and ICT on carbon emissions in Sub-Saharan African countries: Does FDI matter?. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 10(3), 100324.
Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1995). Economic growth and the environment. The quarterly journal of economics, 110(2), 353-377.
Habiba, U., & Xinbang, C. (2022). The impact of financial development on CO2 emissions: new evidence from developed and emerging countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(21), 31453-31466.
Han, T. T. T., & Lin, C. Y. (2025). Exploring long-run CO2 emission patterns and the environmental kuznets curve with machine learning methods. Innovation and Green Development, 4(1), 100195.
Idroes, G. M., Hardi, I., Rahman, M. H., Afjal, M., Noviandy, T. R., & Idroes, R. (2024). The dynamic impact of non-renewable and renewable energy on carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint in Indonesia. Carbon Research, 3(1), 1-21.
Iqbal, A., Tang, X., & Rasool, S. F. (2023). Investigating the nexus between CO2 emissions, renewable energy consumption, FDI, exports and economic growth: evidence from BRICS countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 25(3), 2234-2263.
References
Abid, A., Mehmood, U., Tariq, S., & Haq, Z. U. (2022). The effect of technological innovation, FDI, and financial development on CO2 emission: evidence from the G8 countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-9.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15993-x
Adams, S., & Acheampong, A. O. (2019). Reducing carbon emissions: the role of renewable energy and democracy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 240, 118245.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118245
Ahmad, M., Muslija, A., & Satrovic, E. (2021a). Does economic prosperity lead to environmental sustainability in developing economies? Environmental Kuznets curve theory. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(18), 22588-22601.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12276-9
Ahmad, M., Khan, Z., Rahman, Z. U., Khattak, S. I., & Khan, Z. U. (2021b). Can innovation shocks determine CO2 emissions (CO2e) in the OECD economies? A new perspective. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 30(1), 89-109.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2019.1684643
Alola, A. A., & Donve, U. T. (2021). Environmental implication of coal and oil energy utilization in Turkey: is the EKC hypothesis related to energy?. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 32(3), 543-559.
https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-10-2020-0220
Apergis, N., Pinar, M., & Unlu, E. (2023). How do foreign direct investment flows affect carbon emissions in BRICS countries? Revisiting the pollution haven hypothesis using bilateral FDI flows from OECD to BRICS countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(6), 14680-14692.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23185-4
Awan, A., Kocoglu, M., Bandyopadhyay, A., Rej, S., & Altuntaş, M. (2023). A quantile-based analysis of the nexus between hydropower generation, trade and urbanization for China utilizing the EKC hypothesis. Environmental Modeling & Assessment, 28(5), 843-857.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-023-09889-y
Anwar, A., Chaudhary, A. R., & Malik, S. (2023). Modeling the macroeconomic determinants of environmental degradation in E‐7 countries: the role of technological innovation and institutional quality. Journal of Public Affairs, 23(1), e2834.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2834
Bhowmik, R., Syed, Q. R., Apergis, N., Alola, A. A., & Gai, Z. (2022). Applying a dynamic ARDL approach to the Environmental Phillips Curve (EPC) hypothesis amid monetary, fiscal, and trade policy uncertainty in the USA. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(10), 14914-14928.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16716-y
Boluk, G., & Karaman, S. (2024). The impact of agriculture, energy consumption and economic growth on ecological footprint: testing the agriculture-induced EKC for Türkiye. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-21.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04672-9
Cai, X., Li, K., Wang, W., Lu, Y., & Wang, R. (2023). The role of resource rent in shaping CO2 emissions in BRICS countries: A panel data approach. Resources Policy, 85, 103857.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103857
Demena, B. A., & Afesorgbor, S. K. (2020). The effect of FDI on environmental emissions: Evidence from a meta-analysis. Energy policy, 138, 111192.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111192
Demir, C., Cergibozan, R., & Ari, A. (2020). Environmental dimension of innovation: time series evidence from Turkey. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22, 2497-2516.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-00305-0
Djellouli, N., Abdelli, L., Elheddad, M., Ahmed, R., & Mahmood, H. (2022). The effects of non-renewable energy, renewable energy, economic growth, and foreign direct investment on the sustainability of African countries. Renewable Energy, 183, 676-686.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.10.066
Dilanchiev, A., Sharif, A., Ayad, H., & Nuta, A. C. (2024). The interaction between remittance, FDI, renewable energy, and environmental quality: a panel data analysis for the top remittance-receiving countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 31(10), 14912-14926.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32150-2
Erdogan, S. (2024). On the impact of natural resources on environmental sustainability in African countries: a comparative approach based on the EKC and LCC hypotheses. Resources Policy, 88, 104492.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.104492
Erdoğan, S., Yıldırım, S., Yıldırım, D. Ç., & Gedikli, A. (2020). The effects of innovation on sectoral carbon emissions: Evidence from G20 countries. Journal of environmental management, 267, 110637.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110637
Fatima, T., & Munir, Q. (2021, December). Reexamining the EKC Hypothesis in a Islamic Country: Evidence from Threshold Regression. In 2021 International Conference on Sustainable Islamic Business and Finance (pp. 176-181). IEEE.
https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEECONF53626.2021.9686342
Farhani, S., & Shahbaz, M. (2014). What role of renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption and output is needed to initially mitigate CO2 emissions in MENA region?. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40, 80-90.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.170
Ganda, F. (2024). The influence of democracy, corruption, economic growth and ICT on carbon emissions in Sub-Saharan African countries: Does FDI matter?. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 10(3), 100324.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2024.100324
Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1995). Economic growth and the environment. The quarterly journal of economics, 110(2), 353-377.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2118443
Habiba, U., & Xinbang, C. (2022). The impact of financial development on CO2 emissions: new evidence from developed and emerging countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(21), 31453-31466.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18533-3
Han, T. T. T., & Lin, C. Y. (2025). Exploring long-run CO2 emission patterns and the environmental kuznets curve with machine learning methods. Innovation and Green Development, 4(1), 100195.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.igd.2024.100195
Idroes, G. M., Hardi, I., Rahman, M. H., Afjal, M., Noviandy, T. R., & Idroes, R. (2024). The dynamic impact of non-renewable and renewable energy on carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint in Indonesia. Carbon Research, 3(1), 1-21.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s44246-024-00117-0
Iqbal, A., Tang, X., & Rasool, S. F. (2023). Investigating the nexus between CO2 emissions, renewable energy consumption, FDI, exports and economic growth: evidence from BRICS countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 25(3), 2234-2263.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02128-6
Irokanulo, J. U., & Beton Kalmaz, D. (2024). Revisiting the EKC validity in Luxembourg and the time-varying causality between environmental quality and its main determinants. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal.'
https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-01-2024-0048
Khattak, S. I., Ahmad, M., Khan, Z. U., & Khan, A. (2020). Exploring the impact of innovation, renewable energy consumption, and income on CO2 emissions: new evidence from the BRICS economies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(12), 13866-13881.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07876-4
Kuang, H., Akmal, Z., & Li, F. (2022). Measuring the effects of green technology innovations and renewable energy investment for reducing carbon emissions in China. Renewable Energy, 197, 1-10.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2022.06.091
Kwakwa, P. A., Adzawla, W., Alhassan, H., & Oteng-Abayie, E. F. (2023). The effects of urbanization, ICT, fertilizer usage, and foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions in Ghana. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(9), 23982-23996.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23765-4
Kwilinski, A., Lyulyov, O., & Pimonenko, T. (2024). Reducing transport sector CO2 emissions patterns: Environmental technologies and renewable energy. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 10(1), 100217.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2024.100217
Lee, C. C., & Zhao, Y. N. (2023). Heterogeneity analysis of factors influencing CO2 emissions: the role of human capital, urbanization, and FDI. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 185, 113644.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113644
Lima, M. A., Mendes, L. F. R., Mothé, G. A., Linhares, F. G., De Castro, M. P. P., Da Silva, M. G., & Sthel, M. S. (2020). Renewable energy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions: Reaching the goals of the Paris agreement in Brazil. Environmental Development, 33, 100504.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100504
Lin, H., Wang, X., Bao, G., & Xiao, H. (2022). Heterogeneous spatial effects of FDI on CO2 emissions in China. Earth's Future, 10(1), e2021EF002331.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002331
Mahmood, H., Saqib, N., Adow, A. H., & Abbas, M. (2023). FDI, exports, imports, and consumption-based CO2 emissions in the MENA region: spatial analysis. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(25), 67634-67646.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27245-1
Manu, E. K., Chen, G. S., & Adomako, S. (2024). Do environmental regulations and technological innovation enhance environmental well‐being in sub‐Saharan Africa?. Business Strategy and the Environment.
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3772
Massagony, A., & Budiono. (2023). Is the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis valid on CO2 emissions in Indonesia?. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 80(1), 20-31.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2022.2029097
Matenda, F. R., Raihan, A., Zhou, H., & Sibanda, M. (2024). The influence of economic growth, fossil and renewable energy, technological innovation, and globalisation on carbon dioxide emissions in South Africa. Carbon Research, 3(1), 1-18.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s44246-024-00155-8
Mohamed, E. F., Abdullah, A., Jaaffar, A. H., & Osabohien, R. (2024). Reinvestigating the EKC hypothesis: Does renewable energy in power generation reduce carbon emissions and ecological footprint?. Energy Strategy Reviews, 53, 101387.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2024.101387
Obobisa, E. S., Chen, H., & Mensah, I. A. (2022). The impact of green technological innovation and institutional quality on CO2 emissions in African countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 180, 121670.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121670
Pesaran, M. H., Schuermann, T., & Weiner, S. M. (2004). Modeling regional interdependencies using a global error-correcting macroeconometric model. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, 22(2), 129-162.
https://doi.org/10.1198/073500104000000019
Raihan, A. (2023). The influences of renewable energy, globalization, technological innovations, and forests on emission reduction in Colombia. Innovation and Green Development, 2(4), 100071.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.igd.2023.100071
Rehman, A., Ma, H., Ozturk, I., & Radulescu, M. (2022). Revealing the dynamic effects of fossil fuel energy, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and carbon emissions on Pakistan's economic growth. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(32), 48784-48794.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19317-5
Ren, X., An, Y., He, F., & Goodell, J. W. (2024). Do FDI inflows bring both capital and CO2 emissions? Evidence from non-parametric modelling for the G7 countries. International Review of Economics & Finance, 95, 103420.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2024.103420
Saidi, K., & Omri, A. (2020). The impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions and economic growth in 15 major renewable energy-consuming countries. Environmental research, 186, 109567.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109567
Sarkodie, S. A. (2018). The invisible hand and EKC hypothesis: what are the drivers of environmental degradation and pollution in Africa?. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(22), 21993-22022.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2347-x
Şerifoğlu, M. M., & Öge Güney, P. (2024). Is the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis still valid for OECD countries? A comprehensive analysis across multiple sources. Quality & Quantity, 1-27.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-024-01945-3
Shah, W. U. H., Hao, G., Yan, H., Zhu, N., Yasmeen, R., & Dincă, G. (2024). Role of renewable, non-renewable energy consumption and carbon emission in energy efficiency and productivity change: Evidence from G20 economies. Geoscience Frontiers, 15(4), 101631.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2023.101631
Shittu, W., Adedoyin, F. F., Shah, M. I., & Musibau, H. O. (2021). An investigation of the nexus between natural resources, environmental performance, energy security and environmental degradation: evidence from Asia. Resources Policy, 73, 102227.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102227
Su, H. N., & Moaniba, I. M. (2017). Does innovation respond to climate change? Empirical evidence from patents and greenhouse gas emissions. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 122, 49-62.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.04.017
Sun, A., Bao, K., Aslam, M., Gu, X., Khan, Z., & Uktamov, K. F. (2024). Testing load capacity and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for China: Evidence from novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lags model. Gondwana Research, 129, 476-489.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2023.07.018
Syed, Q. R., & Bouri, E. (2022). Impact of economic policy uncertainty on CO2 emissions in the US: Evidence from bootstrap ARDL approach. Journal of Public Affairs, 22(3), e2595.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2595
UNCTAD. (2024). UNCTAD statistical portal. Retrieved November 2024 from: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/reportInfo/US.FTRI
Villanthenkodath, M. A., & Mahalik, M. K. (2022). Technological innovation and environmental quality nexus in India: does inward remittance matter?. Journal of Public Affairs, 22(1), e2291.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2291
Wang, J., Dong, X., & Dong, K. (2021). How renewable energy reduces CO2 emissions? Decoupling and decomposition analysis for 25 countries along the Belt and Road. Applied Economics, 53(40), 4597-4613.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1904126
Westerlund, J. (2007). Testing for error correction in panel data. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and statistics, 69(6), 709-748.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2007.00477.x
Wu, R., Xie, Z., Wang, J., & Wang, S. (2025). Estimating the environmental Kuznets curve and its influencing factors of CO2 emissions: Insights from development stages and rebound effects. Applied Geography, 174, 103475.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2024.103475
World Bank. (2024). Digital Transformation Drives Development in Africa. Retrieved December 2024 from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2024/01/18/digital-transformation-drives-development-in-afe-afw-africa
World Bank. (2024). World Development Indicators. Retrieved December 2024 from: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO).(2023). Africa suffers disproportionately from climate change. Retrieved December 2024 from: https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/africa-suffers-disproportionately-from-climate-change
Yi, J., Hou, Y., & Zhang, Z. Z. (2023). The impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on China's manufacturing carbon emissions. Innovation and Green Development, 2(4), 100086.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.igd.2023.100086
Xie, Q., Wang, X., & Cong, X. (2020). How does foreign direct investment affect CO2 emissions in emerging countries? New findings from a nonlinear panel analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 249, 119422.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119422
Zeraibi, A., Ahmed, Z., Shehzad, K., Murshed, M., Nathaniel, S. P., & Mahmood, H. (2022). Revisiting the EKC hypothesis by assessing the complementarities between fiscal, monetary, and environmental development policies in China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-16.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17288-7
Zhang, C., & Zhou, X. (2016). Does foreign direct investment lead to lower CO2 emissions? Evidence from a regional analysis in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, 943-951.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.226
Zhang, Y. J., Peng, Y. L., Ma, C. Q., & Shen, B. (2017). Can environmental innovation facilitate carbon emissions reduction? Evidence from China. Energy Policy, 100, 18-28.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 UNIMAS Publisher

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal
1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and reference publication in the Journal.
2) For open access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.
3) For subscription articles, the author(s) agree that UNIMAS Publisher holds copyright, or an exclusive license to publish. Readers or users may view, download, print, and copy the content, for academic purposes, subject to the following conditions of use: (a) any reuse of materials is subject to permission from UNIMAS Publisher; (b) archived materials may only be used for academic research; (c) archived materials may not be used for commercial purposes, which include but not limited to monetary compensation by means of sale, resale, license, transfer of copyright, loan, etc.; and (d) archived materials may not be re-published in any part, either in print or online.
4) The author(s) is/are responsible to ensure his or her or their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. Corresponding author(s) has (have) obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained the permission from the copyright owners.
5) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare(s) that the researches in which they have conducted are in compliance with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving human or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
6) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that he or she has no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor or UNIMAS Publisher.