Regional Integration and Energy Sustainability in Africa: Exploring the Challenges and Prospects for ECOWAS

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which regional integration can be a viable tool in driving energy sustainability in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region of Africa and vice versa. It examines the existing opportunities and the attendant challenges for improved firm productivity in the region through the appraisal of the ECOWAS West African Power Pool. Using three measures of energy sustainability, namely energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability; the study presents the performance of the ECOWAS sub-region in ensuring regional integration for energy sustainability. The findings from the study reveal, inter alia, that there are prospects and benefits for energy integration for sustainable development in the region. However, even though some progress had been made, there are many challenges. Also, where progress had been made, it is not uniform across the region, though factors such as rising population and political instability could be responsible. It is recommended that the political economy surrounding regional energy integration should be given a priority among member states to ensure that there is positive political will for speedy achievement of set goals. Also, investment in human capital to manage the different projects and maintain the facilities cannot be overemphasized.

Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…It is worthwhile to also emphasize that, in addition to departing from the mainstream literature on the finance-"environmental sustainability" nexus as discussed above, the focus of this study also steers clear of the two main strands of environmental sustainability literature, notably on, nexuses between economic development, energy consumption and energy pollution. The first group has focused on linkages between environmental degradation and economic growth (Layachi, 2019;Bah, Abdulwakil & Azam, 2019;Bah, Abdulwakil & Azam, 2020;Magazzino, Bekun, Etokakpan & Uzuner, 2020) while the second is concerned with nexuses between energy consumption and pollution of the environment (Wang & Dong, 2019;Adams & Nsiah, 2019;Nathaniel & Iheonu, 2019;Akinyemi, Efobi, Osabuohien & Alege, 2019;Acheampong, Adams &Boateng, 2019;Kuada & Mensah, 2020).…”

A social network analysis of the structure and evolution of intra‐African trade

“…Membership in the same REC ( rec ) is positively but not significantly related to intra‐African trade in Table 5. This revelation suggests that although the presence of RECs is likely to enhance trade relationship in a particular region, it might not do so in another, partly because of the generally low level of integration among Africa's RECs and their unbalanced stage of development (Akinyemi et al, 2019), as well as the widely existed phenomenon of ‘spaghetti bowl’ as demonstrated in Figure 1. Trade barriers, especially nontariff barriers within RECs, still largely impact bilateral trade and decrease the benefits of regional economic integration.…”

Calibrating the Impacts of Regional Trade Integration and Renewable Energy Transition on the Sustainability of International Inbound Tourism Demand in South Asia

“…Similarly, Mamat et al [28] recommended integration of regional markets to facilitate the augmentation of renewable energy into the energy-mixes of the ASEAN members. Besides, Akinyemi et al [29] showed how regional integration can be a viable tool for facilitating energy trade and ensuring energy sustainability within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Africa. Hence, it is evident that regional integration creates opportunities for renewable energy trade among the regionally integrated nations which, in turn, can be expected to boost the IITD as well.…”