The impacts of economic growth, corruption, energy consumption and trade openness upon CO2 emissions: West African countries case

Purpose This research paper aims to handle the effects of economic growth, corruption, energy consumption as well as trade openness on CO2 emissions for a sample of West African countries during the period 1980 and 2018. Design/methodology/approach The current work uses the pooled mean group (PMG)-autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) panel model to estimate the dynamics among the different variables used in the short and long terms. Findings The findings demonstrate that all variables have long-term effects. These results suggest that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita exhibits a positive and prominent effect on CO2 emissions. Corruption displays a negative and outstanding effect on long-term CO2 emissions. In contrast, energy consumption in West African countries and trade openness create environmental degradation. Contrarily to long-term results, short-term results demonstrate that economic growth, corruption and trade openness do not influence the environmental quality. Originality/value Empirical findings provide useful information to explore deeper and better the link between the used variables. They stand for a theoretical basis as well as an enlightening guideline for policymakers to set strategies founded on the analyzed links.