The Impact of Renewable Energy Consumption and Economic Growth on Environmental Quality in Africa: A Threshold Regression Analysis

Nonrenewable energy makes up a sizeable portion of Africa's gross domestic product. The continent heavily relies on nonrenewable energy sources, such as gasoline, for industrial and commercial uses, which helps it expand and develop, especially in oil-producing nations. Incorporating nonrenewable energies when analyzing the relative effects of renewable energy consumption and economic growth on environmental quality is paramount. The transition to renewable energy has been identified as a contributing factor in clean energy and sustainable development, but the consumption of renewable energy in Africa is negligible. This study employed panel threshold regression and covered data from 1990 to 2019, and examined the non-linear relationship between renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and environmental quality. According to the study's findings, the consumption of renewable energy has a nonlinearly negative relationship with carbon emission proxied environmental quality. The relationship between environmental quality and economic growth was also shown to be nonlinearly positive, pointing to the dominance of nonrenewable resources in the African industry. The report recommends an effective policy for boosting the use of renewable energy sources in order to support clean energy and sustainable development.