Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics, Wollega University, Nekemte, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 23;19(10):e0309736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309736. eCollection 2024.
Despite having barely anything to do with the issue of CO2 emissions, Africa has been experiencing more severe climate change and its adverse effects than most other regions of the globe. However, the issue of CO2 emissions and its adverse effects has received relatively little attention in the African research arena. To this end, the present research assesses the effect of trade openness on the CO2 emissions utilizing panel data from 46 African countries spanning 2000 through 2022. To account for the possible heterogeneity and nonlinearity, the panel quantile regression and threshold methods were employed. Moreover, this study investigates the key mediating effects of the channel. The empirical findings show that greater trade openness is associated with significantly higher CO2 emission, additionally; it demonstrates that the influence is heterogeneous across different CO2 emission quantiles in African countries. Besides the result from the double threshold model reveals a complex, nonlinear relationship between trade openness and CO2 emissions in Africa. Moreover, the findings divulge that openness to trade indirectly reduces CO2 emissions through the substitution and technology channels whereas it indirectly increases carbon dioxide production via the economic track. Therefore, it is vital to promote the use of renewable energy, effectively leverage the knowledge spillover effects of trade to decrease energy intensity and formulate pertinent policies aimed at curbing carbon emissions and addressing the imminent threat of climate change in Africa. Besides, the nonlinear and heterogeneous effects of trade openness on CO2 emissions suggest that policies and interventions related to the impact of trade openness on CO2 emissions should consider the current level of carbon dioxide emissions.
尽管与二氧化碳排放问题几乎没有任何关系，但非洲经历的气候变化及其不利影响比全球大多数其他地区都更为严重。然而，二氧化碳排放及其不利影响问题在非洲研究领域并没有得到太多关注。为此，本研究利用 2000 年至 2022 年期间来自 46 个非洲国家的面板数据，评估了贸易开放度对二氧化碳排放的影响。为了考虑可能的异质性和非线性，采用了面板分位数回归和门槛方法。此外，本研究还探讨了渠道的关键中介效应。实证结果表明，贸易开放度的增加与二氧化碳排放量的显著增加有关；此外，还表明这种影响在非洲国家不同的二氧化碳排放分位数之间存在异质性。此外，双门槛模型的结果揭示了非洲贸易开放度与二氧化碳排放之间存在复杂的非线性关系。此外，研究结果表明，贸易开放度通过替代和技术渠道间接地减少二氧化碳排放，而通过经济渠道间接地增加二氧化碳的产生。因此，在非洲，促进可再生能源的使用、有效地利用贸易的知识溢出效应来降低能源强度，并制定相关政策以遏制碳排放和应对气候变化的迫在眉睫威胁至关重要。此外，贸易开放度对二氧化碳排放的非线性和异质性影响表明，与贸易开放度对二氧化碳排放的影响相关的政策和干预措施应考虑当前的二氧化碳排放水平。
