Environmental economics studied has become increasingly most popular in local and international communities. This is due to the fact that we are currently facing pressing issues about climate change effects in our planet. In this paper we empirical testing the environmental kuznet curve hypothesis by analysis the relationship between environmental quality (Proxy carbon (VI) oxide (CO2) emission per capita) and per capita income. The panel estimation such as fixed effect and random effect were applied. From the results, the fixed effect model for CO2 revealed that population density, per capita income, per capita income squared, trade openness, exchange rate(real effective exchange rate proxy), and agriculture were statistically significant. The negative coefficient indicated in the following variables-agriculture, exchange rate, and trade openness. Any percentage increases in those variables, reduces the Environmental quality (proxy CO2) in selected West African countries. The results further indicated that trade openness lead to an increases in environmental pollution by improving key economic activities such as mining, which may reduce CO2 per capita emission in the selected West Africa countries. For the population density has positive and significant effects on environmental quality and has the a-priori expectation in our model.
Keywords: CO2 Emission, Growth Rate, Per Capita Income, environmental quality, panel estimation
