Biomass energy consumption and economic growth: An assessment of the relevance of sustainable development goal – 7 in Nigeria

Abstract

In many developing and emerging economies of the world, renewable and non-renewable energy use has been a contentious issue in maintaining a sustainable economy. Renewable energy is popular because of increased oil demand and cost, dependence on external sources of energy and emissions leading to environmental destruction. Particularly in Nigeria, due to poor electricity supply and inadequate access to the use of clean energy; houses and firms have been subjected to the use of fossil fuels which results in increased carbon emissions and productivity distortion. In the light of this, the need for clean energy as identified by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal-7, describes the need for access to affordable, dependable and clean energy for all. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between Nigeria’s consumption of biomass energy and economic growth sustainability. The data used for this study covers a sample period of 1981–2017 annual time series dataset on these variables: GDP growth rate, labour force, gross fixed capital formation, biomass energy consumption and international crude oil price, as sourced from World Bank World Development Indicators. Using Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Granger Causality, this study identifies the quantitative significance of biomass energy consumption in contributing to economic growth sustainability in Nigeria. Therefore, the implication of the findings highlight that for Nigeria to grow and sustain its economy, there is need to invest more in clean energy sources to growth and sustain the economy.