Greenhouse gas emission, GDP, tertiary education, and rule of law: A comparative study between high-income and lower-middle income countries

Global climate change is a pressing concern, particularly in underdeveloped countries. Because greenhouse gases are a key cause of climate change and economic growth is tied to emissions. The study aimed to determine how the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Tertiary Education, and Rule of Law could be utilized more effectively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study used data from 30 Lower-Middle Income Countries (LMICs) and 10 High-Income Countries (HICs), as grouped by the World Bank, for the period between 2000 and 2014. In this study, sum of greenhouse gas emission is the response variable and GDP value, Gross enrollment in tertiary education, Rule of law index are the key explanatory variables. Independent sample t-test and multiple linear regression models were applied to analyze the data. The study found a significant impact of GDP on greenhouse gas emissions [0.722, (0.653, 0.790), p < 0.01] for LMICs and [-0.605, (-0.728, -0.482), p < 0.01] for HICs. For Tertiary Education, the regression model coefficient is [-0.187, (-0.274, -0.100), p < 0.01], and [0.480, (0.356, 0.603), p < 0.01], respectively for the LMICs and HICs. And the Rule of Law index [-0.046, (-0.112, 0.020), p = 0.170], and [0.099, (-0.028, -0.227), p = 0.125] for LMICs and HICs respectively came out as statistically not significant although from the mean test, the difference between the mean of the variable Rule of Law of LMCs and HICs is statistically significant [p < 0.01] thus, it has some impact on the efficient use of economic growth. This study concludes that in the LMICs, greenhouse gas emissions are highly positively associated with GDP and the negative coefficient for tertiary education indicates it holds down the emissions. For the HICs, it is evident that GDP is not a major driver and positive significance for tertiary education indicates that the greenhouse gas emissions may result from extravagant operations that might be linked with higher tertiary education, which requires further analysis.