Manu, Emmanuel Kwaku

Chen, George S

Hoang, Nam

Leu, Chen-Yu

2025-03-07

<p> This thesis investigates the dynamics and determinants of environmental sustainability in SubSahara Africa (SSA), focusing on the interplay between financial development, environmental regulations, technology, natural resources, and renewable energy. The urgent need to address the region's environmental challenges, encompassing degradation, pollution, and climate change impacts, is emphasised. Through rigorous empirical analyses, this thesis assesses the impact of financial development on key environmental indicators, including carbon emissions, methane emissions, pollution levels, ecological footprint indicators, and natural resource depletion. Additionally, it critically evaluates the effectiveness of existing environmental regulations and policies through a comparative analysis of regulatory frameworks across various SSA countries. Furthermore, it explores the role of technological innovation in fostering environmental sustainability, specifically focusing on clean technologies, renewable energy solutions, and eco-friendly practices. By synthesising empirical insights, the thesis provides refined perspectives on the dynamics shaping environmental sustainability in SSA and offers actionable policy recommendations to address the region's environmental challenges effectively. </p> <p>Chapter 1 introduces the thesis, setting the stage for the subsequent discussions. Following this, Chapter 2 investigates the literature review and theoretical underpinnings of the study, laying the foundation for the empirical analyses. </p> <p> Chapter 3 (objective 1) investigates the impact of the development of financial institutions on environmental sustainability in Africa. Drawing on a distinctive panel data set encompassing 34 countries from 1980 to 2017, with carbon emissions serving as an indicator of environmental sustainability, we discover that enhancing the development of financial institutions leads to increased carbon emissions, especially about the depth of these institutions. Furthermore, our study supports the environmental Kuznets curve, heterogeneous slopes and shifts over time in the finance–emissions nexus. Our results remain robust to different model specifications. Our conclusions indicate that developing financial institutions and implementing pro-growth policies are essential for attaining environmental sustainability on the African continent. </p> <p>Chapter 4 (objective 2) explores the regulation–technology–environment nexus in SSA, one of the world’s most rapidly growing regions. Using a comprehensive panel dataset of 32 countries om 2000 to 2022, we find that stronger environmental regulations and technological innovation enhance environmental well-being. Moreover, we identify stronger environmental regulations to be the catalyst of pro-environment innovation. Finally, we present clear evidence for a dynamic and nonlinear regulation–technology–environment nexus, ruling out one-sizefits-all policy approaches to environmental well-being. Our results remain robust to different estimators, measurements, and sample selections. </p> <p>Chapter 5 (objective 3) explores the relationship between natural resources–environmental sustainability, and the mediating role of voice and accountability in African nations. We used data from 2004 to 2021 in 30 African countries (16 resource-rich and 14 resource-poor). We show that the results obtained using the System-GMM estimation method suggest that natural resources have a degrading effect on the environment across all African regions. Additionally, our findings indicate that an improvement in natural resource management positively impacts environmental quality, as demonstrated by the results from the long-run Panel Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) estimation method. Furthermore, voice and accountability (government policies and practices) do not significantly improve environmental sustainability in resourcerich regions; however, in resource-poor regions, voice and accountability have a positive impact on improving the environment, suggesting that effective policies and accountability can contribute to better environmental outcomes, particularly in regions with fewer resources. Finally, we demonstrate that resource-rich regions in Africa are associated with more detrimental environmental outcomes compared to resource-poor regions. Our study identifies issues related to sustainable development and governance, the absence of well-defined national policy guidelines, and weak institutions that impact environmental sustainability in Africa. We recommend the establishment of strong policy institutions that focus on environmental sustainability in the continent. </p>

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/69195

University of New England

Essays on financial development, environmental regulations, technology, natural resources, and renewable energy: empirical insights from environmental sustainability in Sub-Sahara Africa

Thesis Doctoral

Publication