IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jsd123/v12y2024i4p40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Development Goals Synergies/Trade-offs: Exploring Long- and Short-Run Impacts of Economic Growth, Income Inequality, Energy Consumption and Unemployment on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Bertrand Tessa Ngankam

Abstract

This study examines the short- and long-run impacts of economic growth and unemployment (SDG 8), energy consumption (SDG 7) and income inequality (SDG 10) on CO2 emissions in South Africa over the period 1980-2012 to establish potential synergy/trade-off to achieve these goals. We use the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration technique. Our results show that the promotion of economic growth (SDG 8) as well as the reduction in energy consumption/increase in energy efficiency (SDG 7) can be achieved in synergy with the reduction of CO2 emissions (SDG 13). On the other hand, our results suggest a trade-off between reducing unemployment rate or achieving productive employment and decent work (SGD 8) and mitigating CO2 emissions (SDG 13). Neither a synergy nor trade-off (neutral relationship) is found between the reduction of income inequality (SDG 10) and the reduction of CO2 emissions (SDG 13). Our findings highlight the importance of mainstreaming SDG’s policy interactions to achieve sustainable development goals, while also stressing the potential for South Africa to achieve low-carbon development should economic growth be decoupled from carbon-intensive energy use through policies that promote access and effective use of clean energy. The transition to clean energy is therefore emphasized and relevant factors underpinning such as transition should be explored further. Highlights This study examines the short- and long-run impacts of economic growth and unemployment (SDG 8), energy consumption (SDG 7) and income inequality (SDG 10) on CO2 emissions in South Africa The autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration is employed A synergy is established between the promotion of economic growth (SDG 8) and the reduction of CO2 emissions (SDG 13), and between the reduction in energy consumption/increase in energy efficiency (SDG 7) and the reduction of CO2 emissions (SDG 13) A trade-off is confirmed between reducing unemployment rate or achieving productive employment and decent work (SDG 8) and mitigating CO2 emissions (SDG 13) A neutral relationship is found between the reduction of income inequality (SDG 10) and the reduction of CO2 emissions (SDG 13) Policymakers need to mainstream SDG’s policy interactions to achieve sustainable development goals South Africa can achieve low-carbon development should economic growth be decoupled from carbon-intensive energy use through policies that promote access and effective use of clean energy

Suggested Citation

  • Bertrand Tessa Ngankam, 2024. "Sustainable Development Goals Synergies/Trade-offs: Exploring Long- and Short-Run Impacts of Economic Growth, Income Inequality, Energy Consumption and Unemployment on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Sout," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 1-40, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:12:y:2024:i:4:p:40
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/download/0/0/40299/41442
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/40299
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema, 2010. "Carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth: Panel data evidence from developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 661-666, January.
    2. Hamisu Sadi Ali & Sallahuddin Hassan & Yusuf Ibrahim Kofarmata & Yusuf Ibrahim Kofarmata, 2016. "Dynamic Impact of Income Inequality on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Africa: New Evidence from Heterogeneous Panel Data Analysis," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 760-766.
    3. Yip, Chi Man, 2018. "On the labor market consequences of environmental taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 136-152.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zanin, Luca & Marra, Giampiero, 2012. "Assessing the functional relationship between CO2 emissions and economic development using an additive mixed model approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1328-1337.
    2. Brown, Marilyn A. & Li, Yufei & Soni, Anmol, 2020. "Are all jobs created equal? Regional employment impacts of a U.S. carbon tax," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    3. Ehigiamusoe, Kizito Uyi & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "The moderating role of energy consumption in the carbon emissions-income nexus in middle-income countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    4. Serhan Cevik, 2024. "Climate change and energy security: the dilemma or opportunity of the century?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 653-672, July.
    5. Sinha, Avik & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2018. "Estimation of Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: Role of renewable energy generation in India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 703-711.
    6. C. Seri & A. de Juan Fernandez, 2021. "The relationship between economic growth and environment. Testing the EKC hypothesis for Latin American countries," Papers 2105.11405, arXiv.org.
    7. Muhammad Uzair Ali & Zhimin Gong & Muhammad Ubaid Ali & Fahad Asmi & Rizwanullah Muhammad, 2022. "CO2 emission, economic development, fossil fuel consumption and population density in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh: A panel investigation," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 18-31, January.
    8. Kingsley Appiah & Jianguo Du & Michael Yeboah & Rhoda Appiah, 2019. "Causal relationship between Industrialization, Energy Intensity, Economic Growth and Carbon dioxide emissions: recent evidence from Uganda," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 237-245.
    9. B. Venkatraja, 2021. "Does China exhibit any evidence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve? An ARDL bounds testing approach," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 88-110,111-.
    10. Thomas Bassetti & Nikos Benos & Stelios Karagiannis, 2013. "CO 2 Emissions and Income Dynamics: What Does the Global Evidence Tell Us?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(1), pages 101-125, January.
    11. Hussein Moghaddam & Robert M. Kunst, 2023. "The Role of Natural Gas in Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Major Gas-Producing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    12. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasreen, Samia & Ahmed, Khalid & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2017. "Trade openness–carbon emissions nexus: The importance of turning points of trade openness for country panels," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 221-232.
    13. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "An analysis of the driving forces of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in China’s industrial sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 838-849.
    14. Jiamin Liu & Xiaoyu Ma & Bin Zhao & Qi Cui & Sisi Zhang & Jiaoning Zhang, 2023. "Mandatory Environmental Regulation, Enterprise Labor Demand and Green Innovation Transformation: A Quasi-Experiment from China’s New Environmental Protection Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-31, July.
    15. Chindo Sulaiman & A. S. Abdul-Rahim, 2018. "Population Growth and CO2 Emission in Nigeria: A Recursive ARDL Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, April.
    16. Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Boachie, Micheal Kofi, 2020. "The environmental impact of industrialization and foreign direct investment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Ben Youssef, Adel & M'henni, Hatem & Rault, Christophe, 2012. "Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 342-349.
    18. Ampofo, Gideon Minua Kwaku & Jinhua, Cheng & Bosah, Philip Chukwunonso & Ayimadu, Edwin Twum & Senadzo, Patrick, 2021. "Nexus between total natural resource rents and public debt in resource-rich countries:A panel data analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    19. Anver C. Sadath & Rajesh H. Acharya, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation: How to balance the interests of developed and developing countries," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 25-47.
    20. Munir, Qaiser & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN-5 countries: A cross-sectional dependence approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:12:y:2024:i:4:p:40. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.