Energy Access Versus Environmental Sustainability: A Dynamic Investigation of Population Growth and Carbon Emissions in a Developing Country

ABSTRACT Curtailing environmental hazards from CO 2 emissions remains challenging for developing economies, especially for countries with high population growth and fossil‐energy dependence. Therefore, to drive decarbonisation policy for climate action (SDG 13), our study explores the nexus among population growth, electricity access and CO 2 emissions in Nigeria between 1990 and 2023. We use Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and the Simulated ARDL for data analysis. The ARDL and simulated ARDL estimates complement each other. Hence, we find that electricity access has a negative and insignificant effect on short‐run CO 2 and ecological footprint, but the effect is positive in the long run. However, population positively and significantly impacts short‐ and long‐run CO 2 and ecological footprint. The study concludes advocating for a shift toward renewable energy sources to promote clean electricity production for the rising population for climate action.