Environmental Quality and Employment‐Based Inclusive Growth: Empirical Evidence From Sub‐Saharan Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the effects of environmental quality on employment‐based inclusive growth in 26 Sub‐Saharan African countries, with implications for SDGs 8 (decent work), 9 (infrastructure), and 13 (climate action). Using GDP per person employed as a proxy for inclusive growth and CO 2 emissions as an indicator of environmental quality, the analysis integrates fixed effects with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, method‐of‐moments quantile regression, and System‐GMM estimation. The results indicate that static models substantially overstate the productivity effects of emissions. While fixed effects suggest that a 1% increase in emissions raises productivity by 0.319%, dynamic GMM estimates reduce this effect by approximately 65%–0.113%, improving the feasibility of climate mitigation policies under SDG 13. Strong persistence in productivity underscores the need for sustained policy commitment. The findings suggest that reconciling environmental sustainability with inclusive growth is more economically feasible than static analyses imply.