EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EMISSIONS-INNOVATION NEXUS: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Authors

  • Yogeeswari Subramaniam Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
  • Hanini Ilyana Binti Che Hashim Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
  • Vikniswari Vija Kumaran School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33736/ijbs.14438.2026

Keywords:

Education, Environmental emissions, Innovation, sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

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.

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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.

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Published

2026-09-21

How to Cite

Yogeeswari Subramaniam, Hanini Ilyana Binti Che Hashim, & Vikniswari Vija Kumaran. (2026). EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EMISSIONS-INNOVATION NEXUS: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. International Journal of Business and Society, 27(2), 621–641. https://doi.org/10.33736/ijbs.14438.2026