Comparative sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa

Motivated by sustainable development challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, this study assesses the comparative persistence of environmental unsustainability in a sample of 44 countries in the subregion for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on Generalized Method of Moments. Of the six hypotheses tested, it is not feasible to assess the hypothesis on resource-wealth because of issues in the degrees of freedom. For the remaining hypotheses, the following findings are established. (i) Hypothesis 1 postulating that middle-income countries have a lower level of persistence in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is valid for CO2 per-capita emissions, CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production and CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption. (ii) Hypothesis 2 that countries on the edge of French civil law is valid for CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption and CO2 intensity, but not for CO2 per-capita emissions. (iii) Hypothesis 3 on the postulation that politically unstable countries reflect more persistence is valid for CO2 per-capita emissions. (iv) Hypothesis 5 on the propensity for landlocked countries to be associated with more persistence in CO2 emissions is valid for CO2 per-capita emissions but not for CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption. (v) Hypothesis 6 maintaining that Christianity-dominated countries are more environmentally friendly with regard to CO2 emissions is valid for CO2 per-capita emissions but not for CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption and CO2 intensity. Implications for policy and theory are discussed.