Access to modern energy is assumed to be a precondition for poverty alleviation, sustainable development and the attainment of the millennium development targets. Ekpo (2013) stressed that the positive multiplier effect of constant power supply cannot be overemphasized. Meanwhile, the greater the energy consumption, the greater is the carbon emission resulting from consumption because the fossil fuel (oil and gas) constitutes almost 75% of Nigeria’s energy consumption, while the renewable energy plays a minimal role. In fact, considering the global warming problem and an increasing concern for limited supply of energy (non-renewable) on the one hand and an emerging paradigm shift on green economy on the other hand, the relationship between economic growth and counterproductive environmental pollution resulting from carbon (CO2) emission attracts the interest of researchers and policy makers. The emission of CO2 is a major cause of global warming (Omojolaibi, 2010; and Mohammed et al., 2012). Consequently, the investigation of whether economic growth and energy consumption result in environmental degradation (pollution) as postulated by the famous Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) (Kuznets, 1995) is inevitable.
Furthermore, the need to determine the relationship and the impact of carbon emission on economic growth derives from the increasing realization of the importance of energy to the growth of a nation. This has led many to question the conventional neoclassical production function analysis where land, labor, and capital are recognized as the main factors of production. This analysis will be extended to include carbon emission.
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