The carbon dioxide emissions effect of income growth, electricity consumption and electricity power crisis

Abstract

PurposeAttaining higher economic growth and development is among the topmost agenda for many countries. However, the process to attain such growth and development involves higher level of energy consumption and that may not spare the quality of the environment. A similar concern has been raised for Ghana as it aims to attain an upper middle-income status in the near future. The country's energy sector has however not been robust in meeting the electricity demand, leading to a recurrent power crisis. The study seeks to analyze the effect of income growth, electricity consumption and power crisis on Ghana's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relies on annual time series data from the World Bank (2020) and employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) estimation techniques for regression analysis.FindingsThe results showed that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is valid for Ghana in the case of carbon emissions. Also, while electricity consumption has an insignificant effect on carbon emissions, electricity power crisis exerts a positive effect on emission of CO2. It was also noted that industrialization and financial development increase CO2 emissions.Research limitations/implicationsPolicy implications from the study include the EKC hypothesis can be a sound basis for environmental policy in Ghana. Other recommendations and areas for future research have been provided.Originality/valueThe study empirically estimates the effect of electricity crisis on CO2 emissions.

Dynamic Nexus Among CO2 Emissions, Fossil Energy Usage and Human Development in East Africa: New Insight From Novel DARDL Simulations

“…Additionally, as shown in Table 4, the electricity consumption coe cient is signi cantly positive in the short term as well as in the long term. This indicates that electricity usage increases environmental degradation, which is in line with (Lawson, 2020) and (Kwakwa, 2021 In terms of other variables, like foreign direct investment, the outcomes obtained from Table 4 demonstrate that FDI has a negative effect on CO 2 emissions but is statistically inconsequential in the short and long run, which is consistent with recent outcomes of (Acheampong et al, 2019). This nding contradicts the outcomes of (Akinlo & Dada, 2021), who discovered that FDI raises carbon emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa(SSA).…”

Environmental degradation effect on agricultural development: an aggregate and a sectoral evidence of carbon dioxide emissions from Ghana

“…It also calls for the need to reduce the rate of carbon dioxide emission so as to meet the below 2 8C temperature by 2050. To attain this, researchers have been concerned with identifying the economic and non-economic forces behind carbon dioxide emission (Aboagye et al, 2020;Gyamfi et al, 2021;Kwakwa, 2021;Adom et al, 2018).…”

“…For instance, changes in climate affect crop and livestock production, hydrological balance, input supplies and other components of the agricultural system. It is also evident that climate change, mainly driven by carbon dioxide emission (Kwakwa, 2021;Kizito et al, 2021), has increased pest infestation, reduced soil fertility and irrigation resources, and agricultural opportunities (Malhi et al, 2021). The increasing extreme weather events like irregularities in rainfall affect food production and distribution (Salvo et al, 2013).…”

The Impacts of Market Segmentation on Thermal Power Generation Efficiency

“…Thermal power generation accounts for more than 70% of the total power generation in China (Cheng et al, 2019), and the installed capacity of thermal power accounts for more than 60% of the total power generation capacity. In recent years, the twin problem of global warming and climate change have raised concerns about thermal power generation (Kwakwa, 2021). And the goal of energy structure optimization has made the proportion of thermal power decrease slightly, as shown in Figure 1.…”