The moderating role of natural resources between governance and CO2 emissions: Evidence from MENA countries.

Despite the diversity of theoretical studies, natural resources' moderating role between governance indicators and environmental quality remains a controversial issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to clarify the nature of this role in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries from 1996 to 2017 relying on the generalized method of moments system estimators. The empirical results reveal that corruption control, political stability, rule of law, voice and accountability, and government effectiveness increase CO₂ emissions, while regulation quality does not affect CO₂ emissions. Our findings also show that FDI and GDP increase CO₂ emissions. However, natural resources moderate the governance indicators to reduce CO₂ emissions. Therefore, policy-makers should increase public awareness of the best use of natural resources. Thus, improving governments' institutional framework will generally contribute to reducing the greenhouse gas emission levels in the MENA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]