Environmental Degradation Determinants and Economic Growth in Ecowas Countries

The study examined environmental degradation determinants and economic growth in ECOWAS countries. The specific objectives were to: Investigate the impact of non-renewable energy consumption on economic growth in ECOWAS countries and examine the impact of industrial sector carbon emissions on economic growth in ECOWAS countries. This study made use of quantitative research design. The sampled six (6) out of fifteen (15) ECOWAS countries were selected based on availability of detailed data on study variables. The study countries were Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cabo Verde, Mali and Senegal out of Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Guinea-Bissan, Niger, and Togo. These variables consist of NREC is non-renewable energy consumption, ISC is industrial sector carbon emissions, TCE is transportation carbon emissions, FDI is foreign direct investment for a period of 1991 to 2022 as defined in our model specification and were sourced from World Bank development indicators. The data collected was subjected to descriptive statistic, correlation matrix, Panel Augmented Dickey-Fuller Unit Root test statistic and Panel Johansen Co-integration test. The method of data analysis was Panel Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) Approach. The empirical results showed that non-renewable energy consumption (NREC) has negative and significant impact on economic growth in ECOWAS countries because [t-Statistics; -3.4658; P-value (0.0008) < significant value (0.05] and industrial sector carbon emissions (ISC) has negative and insignificant impact on economic growth in ECOWAS countries because [t-Statistic; -1.1588; P-value (0.2490) > its significant value (0.05]. The study recommended that government of ECOWAS countries should implement policies that will encourage the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology involves capturing carbon emission from non-renewable energy consumption and other carbon emission generated by human activities.