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Given the interest in sustainable development, this study aims to assess the relationship between CO₂ and urbanization as well as the role of world uncertainty in this association in a South African context.

This study focuses on yearly data from 1968 to 2020. To do this, the authors use the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach.

The authors find that urbanization’s effect on CO₂ emissions is only significant when it is augmented with world uncertainty. Moreover, this effect is negative (referring to a reduction in CO₂ emissions). Meanwhile, the authors find that GDP has a positive (that is, increasing) and significant effect on CO₂ emissions. Overall, policymakers should focus on decoupling economic growth from traditional fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gas emissions.

The existing body of research contains numerous studies examining the relationship between urbanization and CO₂ emissions. However, the dearth of research on the impact of global uncertainty on this connection is weak. Hence, this study aims to fill this gap and make a significant contribution to the field.