Population Growth, Technological Innovation, and Environmental Sustainability

This study made a comparative analysis of 45 African economies and 45 selected developed economies on the effect of population growth, consumption, and technological innovation on environmental sustainability between 1990 and 2020. It was observed that in the case of Africa, consumption and population growth increases ecological footprint, indicative that population growth and consumption impede environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, technological innovation was found to increase ecological footprint, indicative that technologies used in Africa are not eco-friendly as innovation in the countries are insignificant and slow. For the developed economies, the estimated result revealed that consumption has a negative effect on environmental sustainability. Population growth was found to increase ecological footprint. In the same vein, technological innovation decreases ecological footprint, indicative that technologies adopted by the developed economies are eco-friendly in tackling environmental degradation. These findings have implication in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. This study recommends that developing economies need to work in tandem with the developed economies for the advancement of technological innovations, since this will help mitigate environmental degradation.