TITLE:
Does Greenhouses Gases Emissions Reduction Harms Economic Growth? A Lesson from Togolese Economy
AUTHORS:
Mikémina Pilo
KEYWORDS:
ARDL Model, Renewable Energy, Togo
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.8 No.8,
August
8,
2017
ABSTRACT: The move towards lower greenhouses gases (GHGs)
emissions as a solution to mitigate climate change is not costless. Focusing on
Togolese economy, we assessed in this article the role played by the shift to
renewable energy consumption path in the search for higher economic growth.
Based on the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) model and with the help
of time series data that cover the period 1983-2012, our estimates indicate
that the effects of higher renewable energy consumption on per capita economic
growth varies depending on time horizon. A 1% increase of renewable energy
consumption reduces per capita economic growth by 2.33% in the short run while
it boosts economic growth by 1.22% in the long run. These findings are partly
explained by the high technological rigidity of the country. The message to be
sold to policy makers is that switching from fossil energy technology to
technology based on renewable energy is an expensive and time consuming process
which is economically efficient only in the long run. Consequently, the country
might need relatively considerable time to fully shift to a cleaner path in
terms of carbon emissions mitigation. Thus, the country move towards lower GHGs
emissions must be tactically managed and done progressively.