The impact of environmental protection policies on greenhouse gas emissions in Tanzania: An empirical analysis
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of environmental protection policies on greenhouse gas emissions in Tanzania. Total natural resources rent, foreign direct investment, gross domestic product and environmental protection policy were applied as determinants of greenhouse gas emission. Ordinary least squares - Heteroskedasticity corrected was appropriate for the current study’s analysis of time series data from 1990 to 2021. The environmental protection policy entered the model as a dummy variable with 0 before policy adoption and 1 during and after adoption. No effect on greenhouse gas emission resulted from foreign direct investment and economic growth. Total natural resources rent had a negative significant impact implying that the 1997 environmental protection policy and other afterward laws and regulations affected natural resources in that could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The country also experienced higher greenhouse gas emissions in the years after the environmental protection policy of 1997 was adopted compared to the period before its adoption. This was likely due to the fact that from 1997 onward, economic growth was higher than the years before the policy was adopted. The study introduced a dummy variable in the model to reflect the effect of policy on emission.