Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region has implemented a variety of policies to diversify its exports so that it can achieve stable growth rate in per capita GDP. Despite their obvious impact on GDP growth rate, such policies are often overlooked in terms of their impact on the quality of the environme...

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Main Authors: Atif Awad, Mohamed Albaity, Ray Saadaoui Mallek, Ilhan Ozturk
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Sustainable Futures
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188825003612
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author Atif Awad
Mohamed Albaity
Ray Saadaoui Mallek
Ilhan Ozturk
author_facet Atif Awad
Mohamed Albaity
Ray Saadaoui Mallek
Ilhan Ozturk
author_sort Atif Awad
collection DOAJ
description The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region has implemented a variety of policies to diversify its exports so that it can achieve stable growth rate in per capita GDP. Despite their obvious impact on GDP growth rate, such policies are often overlooked in terms of their impact on the quality of the environment. This study examines the impact of export diversification on environmental quality conditional on renewable energy in 24 countries in the SSA region from 1995 to 2020 using Fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimation methods. The findings showed that export diversification tends to degrade the quality of the environment, however, it can produce positive effects when coupled with the use of renewable energy. Further results from the Quantile Regression with Fixed Effects (QRF) technique showed that the above results are conditional on the distribution of the ecological footprint across countries. Our results indicate that for SSA countries, developing renewable energy in conjunction with diversifying of their exports is crucial for achieving sustainable development.
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spelling doaj-art-d9bd3199609a4219a91048e11619d2b62025-08-20T03:20:16ZengElsevierSustainable Futures2666-18882025-06-01910079610.1016/j.sftr.2025.100796Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan AfricaAtif Awad0Mohamed Albaity1Ray Saadaoui Mallek2Ilhan Ozturk3Department of Finance & Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Finance & Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Finance & Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Finance & Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Nisantasi University, Istanbul, Turkey; VIZJA University, Warsaw, Poland; Corresponding author.The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region has implemented a variety of policies to diversify its exports so that it can achieve stable growth rate in per capita GDP. Despite their obvious impact on GDP growth rate, such policies are often overlooked in terms of their impact on the quality of the environment. This study examines the impact of export diversification on environmental quality conditional on renewable energy in 24 countries in the SSA region from 1995 to 2020 using Fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimation methods. The findings showed that export diversification tends to degrade the quality of the environment, however, it can produce positive effects when coupled with the use of renewable energy. Further results from the Quantile Regression with Fixed Effects (QRF) technique showed that the above results are conditional on the distribution of the ecological footprint across countries. Our results indicate that for SSA countries, developing renewable energy in conjunction with diversifying of their exports is crucial for achieving sustainable development.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188825003612Export diversificationEcological footprintsRenewable energySub-Saharan AfricaSustainable development
spellingShingle Atif Awad
Mohamed Albaity
Ray Saadaoui Mallek
Ilhan Ozturk
Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sustainable Futures
Export diversification
Ecological footprints
Renewable energy
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sustainable development
title Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort moderating the role of renewable energy use on the nexus between export diversification and ecological footprint in sub saharan africa
topic Export diversification
Ecological footprints
Renewable energy
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sustainable development
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188825003612
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AT mohamedalbaity moderatingtheroleofrenewableenergyuseonthenexusbetweenexportdiversificationandecologicalfootprintinsubsaharanafrica
AT raysaadaouimallek moderatingtheroleofrenewableenergyuseonthenexusbetweenexportdiversificationandecologicalfootprintinsubsaharanafrica
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