MITIGATING CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) EMISSIONS IN NIGERIA: THE ROLE OF OIL RENT IN BALANCING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

This study aimed at mitigating CO2 emissions in Nigeria by adopting oil rent in moderating the drivers of climate change for the period of 1982-2024. The study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation technique as a method of data analysis. Findings from the study shows the F-stat. coefficient (7.74) at 1% significant level which is above the upper boundary (4.12) at 1% thereby confirming a long-run linear relationship (cointegration) among the estimated variables. Also, the drivers of climate change distinctively exhibits diverse influence on CO2 emissions. Variables such as gas flaring (6.78), economic growth (25.7) and energy consumption (7.58) are found to be positive and statistically significant and aggravate the level of CO2 emissions, while green finance (-2.3) and population growth (-1.6) reduces it. With the inclusion of oil-rent as a moderating element, the result of the interaction term (-6.39) and that of energy consumption (-3.91) are negative and statistically significant suggesting that CO2 emissions is mitigated through economic growth and energy consumption as its major contributory factors. In light of the foregoing, the study recommends for the reduction of fossil fuels utilization and the encouragement of green lifestyle in all aspects of socio-economic endeavors.