The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis postulates an inverted U-shaped relationship between different pollutants and economic growth. In Ghana, as in many other developing countries, there exist scanty studies that confirm or otherwise the EKC hypothesis with regards to CO2 emissions as well as the factors that drive CO2 emissions. This work aims to bridge this knowledge gap by addressing these two major questions using data from 1970 to 2010 and the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds Testing approach. The results rather suggest a U-shaped relationship between per capita GDP and CO2 emissions per capita indicating the non-existence of the EKC hypothesis for CO2 in Ghana. This implies that further increase in per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will only be associated with increase in CO2 emissions as the income per capita turning point of about $624 at constant 2000 prices occurred between 1996 and 1997. Furthermore, our results reveal energy consumption and trade openness are positive long run drivers of CO2 emissions. It is therefore recommended that the enhancement of trade liberalization policies should ensure the use of cleaner technologies and products while investment in cleaner energy alternatives could help reduce CO2 emissions. We also recommend the implementation of the Low Carbon Development Strategy which integrates development and climate change mitigation actions.

This paper investigates the dynamics of energy poverty in Ghana using two nationwide cross-sectional datasets (Ghana Living Standards Surveys Round 5 and Round 6). Employing the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) as a measure of energy poverty, this paper estimates that the share of energy poor people decreased from 88.4% in 2005/2006 to 82.5% in 2012/2013. The results indicate that although there has been a significant decline in the overall energy poverty in Ghana during the study periods, the incidence of energy poverty remains high.Moreover, the study findings show a large gap between urban and rural energy poverty over the two periods; rural people are almost twice as energy poor as urban people. These findings suggest the need for the incorporation of energy poverty reduction strategies into income poverty reduction strategies to help improve not only access to modern energy but also in terms of affordability.

This study examines the factors affecting household energy expenditures in Ghana. We employ the double-hurdle model to investigate whether the factors affecting fuel choice differ from those affecting fuel expenditures. The following results are obtained using a nationwide representative household dataset. First, we show that the factors influencing the household's decision to participate in either the LPG or charcoal market differ from those influencing how much is spent. Second, households that already use and, therefore spend money to acquire LPG or charcoal are indifferent to prices of other fuels. At the same time, households using and spending positive amounts on multiple cooking fuels (charcoal and LPG) are insensitive to the prices of other fuels. Third, although income plays a role in rural and urban residents' expenditures on LPG, it is insignificant in terms of urban residents' spending on charcoal. These findings suggest that different programs and policies may be necessary for (1) households that already use modern cooking fuels and those that do not and (2) households in urban and rural areas.

PurposeCarbon dioxide emission is one of the key causes of global warming and climate change. This study investigates the effects of domestic credit and manufacturing indicators on the emission of carbon dioxide in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relied on time series data from 1975 to 2014 and employed regression and variance decomposition methods to analyze the data.FindingsIn the long run, manufacturing output increases total carbon emissions and emissions from solid fuel; manufactures trade reduces carbon emissions and domestic credit reduces emissions from the manufacturing industries and construction. The long-run effect of the changing technical characteristics of the manufacturing sector is sensitive to the estimation technique used. In the short run, however, changing technical characteristics of the manufacturing sector affect the level of carbon emissions. Income increases emissions from manufacturing industries and construction and urbanization increases total carbon emissions.Research limitations/implicationsPolicymakers have to initiate effective policies to promote energy-efficient technologies among manufacturing firms.Originality/valueThe paper examines the effect of manufacturing on carbon dioxide emissions in South Africa. It also examines the possible effect of manufactures trade on carbon emissions. Moreover, the possible effect of the changing characteristics of the manufacturing sector on carbon emissions is investigated.

Urbanization and population have been viewed as two of the major contributors to global CO 2 emissions. This paper aims at examining empirically the relationship between urbanization, population and CO 2 emissions in 45 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This goal was achieved by using a panel data from 1990-2010 and the newly established pooled mean group (PMG) estimator for dynamic heterogeneous panels. This study is a contribution to the empirics of climate change which has been an ongoing debate over the past decades now. The study establishes that an increase in both urbanization and population significantly increases CO 2 emissions both in the long and short run. Furthermore, the study finds that, CO 2 emissions of countries with large population like Nigeria and Ethiopia tend to grow faster following energy consumption as compared to countries with small population like Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea. The study contributes to the existing literature and ongoing debate on climate change by using the newly developed heterogeneous panel cointegration techniques which have rarely been used to examine the impact of population and urbanization on CO 2 emissions of SSA countries.