Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region

Ali Badi; Driss Effina

doi:10.29333/ejosdr/18722

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Ali Badi ¹ ^* , Driss Effina ¹

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¹ Laboratory of Applied Methods in Statistics, Actuarial Science, Finance and Quantitative Economics, National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics, Rabat, MOROCCO^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine whether economies can achieve sustainable economic growth without compromising the environment, and to assess Morocco’s position within the MENA Region. The study focuses on a panel of 16 countries from the region, using CO₂ emissions and gross domestic product (GDP) over the period 1990-2023. The logarithmic series are decomposed into trend and cyclical components using the Hodrick-Prescott filter, and robust econometric methods are applied to estimate the Kuznets trend elasticity, notably fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS). The empirical results show that countries in the panel experience a moderate relative decoupling between economic growth and CO₂ emissions, meaning that emissions increase at a slower rate than GDP. Morocco ranks seventh in the panel, indicating relatively favorable environmental performance compared to several high-emission countries. However, this level of decoupling remains insufficient to trigger a path of absolute emissions reduction.

Keywords

decoupling
FMOLS
DOLS
carbon
emissions
climate change
GDP

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES, Volume 10, Issue 3, 2026, Article No: em0412

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722

Publication date: 01 Jul 2026

Online publication date: 06 Jun 2026

Article Views: 9

Article Downloads: 7

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How to cite this article

APA

Badi, A., & Effina, D. (2026). Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 10(3), em0412. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722

Vancouver

Badi A, Effina D. Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region. EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES. 2026;10(3):em0412. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722

AMA

Badi A, Effina D. Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region. EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES. 2026;10(3), em0412. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722

Chicago

Badi, Ali, and Driss Effina. "Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region". European Journal of Sustainable Development Research 2026 10 no. 3 (2026): em0412. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722

Harvard

Badi, A., and Effina, D. (2026). Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 10(3), em0412. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722

MLA

Badi, Ali et al. "Decoupling economic growth from climate change: Morocco’s position within the MENA Region". European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, vol. 10, no. 3, 2026, em0412. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18722