Testing the Mineral Resources-Induced Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in Africa

Mineral resources are indispensable in manufacturing clean energy equipment, and this technology is going through a flourishing era at the stake of climate change. However, the extraction of these mineral resources poses several environmental concerns. This article aims to evaluate the effects of mineral resources, energy intensity, urbanization, and economic development on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. For this purpose, this study sampled 33 African mineral resources endowed countries with available data from 1990 to 2015. The empirical analysis focused on the main panel and its subpanels—low income (LI), lower middle income (LMI), upper middle income (UMI) panels—to capture the income inequality effects. We employed the heterogeneous fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares models to generate robust and reliable long-run parameters. The estimation results suggest that mineral resources endowment worsens carbon diffusion in the panel countries, such as LI, LMI, and overall. Similarly, energy intensity increases CO 2 emissions for LMI, UMI and overall panels. As for urbanization, it has a bicephalous inference that harms the environment at the panel level of LI countries while it decarbonizes at the level of LMI, UMI, and overall panels. The LI, UMI, and overall panels support a U-shaped curve rather than an EKC. Moreover, CO 2 emissions have a feedback Granger causality relationship with all its determinants. The findings have useful policy insights for green policy.