CO2 emissions, renewable energy and the Environmental Kuznets Curve, a panel cointegration approach

This study combines a panel cointegration analysis with a set of robustness tests to assess the short and long-run impacts of renewable energy on CO2 emissions, as well as the Kuznets Environmental Curve hypothesis for 25 selected african countries, over the period 1980-2012. The results provide no evidence of a total validation of EKC predictions. However, CO2 emissions are found to increase with income per capita. The overall estimations strongly reveal that renewable energy, with a negative effect on CO2 emissions, coupled with an increasing long-run effect, remains an efficient substitute for the conventional fossil-fuelled energy. Nonetheless, the impact of renewable energy is outweighed by primary energy consumption in both the short and long run, entailing more global synergy for outpacing the environmental challenges.