Renewables and institutional quality mitigate environmental degradation in Somalia

Mitigating environmental degradation is a global target for every nation amidst its negative consequences on health, economy, and society. However, little is known about factors associated with reducing environmental pollution in the least developed nations. More specifically, empirical studies on renewables-institutional quality-environmental degradation nexus in Somalia are completely limited in the existing literature. To fill this gap, we investigate the effect of renewables and institutional quality on environmental degradation in Somalia, using data spanning 1990 to 2017. The autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and granger causality are applied to examine the relationships and causality between parameters of interest. The long-run results demonstrate that renewable energy and institutional quality enhance environmental quality. While growth in capital declines environmental degradation, population growth, and economic development hamper environmental quality. Besides, the granger causality indicates unidirectional causality from institutional quality to environmental degradation. However, no causality is observed from renewable energy to environmental degradation and vice versa. Our empirical assessment suggests good governance that improves institutional quality and energy policies, viz. enhancing the share of renewables in the energy mix.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of renewable energy and institutional quality on environmental degradation in Somalia, finding that renewable energy and good institutional quality contribute to improved environmental quality, while population growth and economic development have negative effects on environmental quality.