Advancing sustainable industrial development in Africa: the role of institutional quality and renewable energy

Industrial development has unarguably created economic benefits that could drive structural economic transformation but its associated environmental consequences undermine sustainable development. Thus, African countries constantly face balancing industrial progress with environmental sustainability. We, therefore, evaluated whether sustainable industrial development is feasible in Africa and accounted for the role of institutional quality and renewable energy in achieving this feat. Using the feasible generalized least square estimator to analyse relevant data of 46 African countries spanning 2000–2021, we found that (i) Africa is yet to achieve sustainable industrial development; (ii) weak institutional quality impedes the attainment of sustainable industrial development in Africa, although the effects depend on the measure of institutional quality; and (iii) renewable energy considerably improves the prospects of achieving sustainable industrial development in Africa. Thus, implementing a holistic and integrated approach that combines efforts to reduce industrial environmental impact, promote renewable energy, and enhance institutional quality can yield synergistic effects and contribute to more sustainable industrial development in Africa.