Towards sustainable environment in North African countries: The role of military expenditure, renewable energy, tourism, manufacture, and globalization on environmental degradation

: Climate change resulting from increasing emissions has become a pressing concern in North African countries due to its significant environmental and socio-economic impacts. There is a need for extensive research on this topic to raise global awareness of the associated dangers. This study investigates the dynamic impact of economic growth, military expenditure, globalization, renewable energy, manufacturing, tourism, capital formation, and labor on CO2 emissions in North African countries from 1995 to 2021. The long-term results of the ARDL model reveal that globalization, renewable energy and capital formation have a negative impact on CO2 emissions, whereas economic growth, manufacturing, and tourism exhibit a positive impact. Pairwise Granger causality evidence indicates unidirectional causality from economic growth, globalization, military expenditure, manufacturing, tourism, and capital formation to CO2 emissions. These findings provide policymakers with critical insights to shape evidence-based interventions that promote renewable energy investments and globalization, enhance capital formation and high-skilled labor, and implement regulations to mitigate the environmental impacts of economic growth, military expenditure, manufacturing, and tourism. This guidance will help the region transition to a more environmentally friendly economic system.