Heterogeneous assessment of urbanisation, energy consumption and environmental pollution in Africa: the role of regulatory quality

The pace of urbanisation, the intensity of energy consumption, and the quality of environmental regulation level pose a severe threat to environmental sustainability in Africa. Hence, we examine the role of regulatory quality on environmental pollution through urbanisation and energy consumption channel in 33 African nations between 1996 and 2020. Our study considers cross sectional dependence in Africa; as a result, we employ the Augmented Mean Group method and Common Correlated Effect Mean Group for a robustness check to analyse the panel series. The study finds that (i) urbanisation increases environmental pollution, (ii) energy consumption accelerates environmental degradation, (iii) regulatory quality can partially mediate pollution in Africa via urbanisation and energy consumption channels, and (iv) the interaction of regulatory quality with urbanisation and energy consumption, respectively, reduce environmental pollution establishing a moderation effect. The study suggests that African countries tighten environmental regulatory policies to lessen carbon emissions and drive environmental sustainability towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.