Pathway to environmental sustainability: Assessing the role of productive capacity, remittances, and uncertainty in sub-Saharan Africa.

Unlike previous studies that have examined the association between different economic development parameters and environmental sustainability, the present study utilised an index of productive capacity to offer an in-depth understanding of the ecological impact of improving a nation's productive resources. It also emphasised the importance of remittances in reducing environmental degradation in uncertain economic and political environments. This study applied the system GMM technique and an advanced panel quantile regression technique to 36 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region countries from 2000 to 2022. The findings showed that improvements in productive capacity might exert pressure on environmental quality, uncertainty, and the inflow of remittances, which tended to have a positive effect, ultimately leading to better environmental outcomes. Furthermore, the study indicated that these variables' impacts differed depending on each country's prevailing ecological conditions. It is, therefore, vital that efforts to achieve sustainable development in the SSA region consider the combined impact of these factors on environmental quality.