The vulnerability to climate change in Africa: Does industrial development matter?

Abstract In a context marked by an upsurge in the scale of climate change and its consequences in Africa, this article explores ways to increase the resilience of African economies. It aims to analyze the effect of industrialization on the continent's vulnerability to climate change (VCC). The sample used for this purpose consists of 41 African countries from 2010 to 2021. A dynamic panel model is estimated using the system generalized method of moments. Results show that industrialization reduces the VCC in African countries. It reduces their sensitivity to climate change while increasing their adaptive capacity. Furthermore, results show that industrialization is more likely to reduce the VCC in sectors such as ecosystems, habitat, health, and infrastructures whereas it increases vulnerability to climate change in the food and water sectors. The results, however, reject the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis between industrialization and VCC. These results are robust to the change in industrialization measures. Therefore, African countries would benefit from pursuing their industrial development through greater use of renewable energy. This can help them to sustainably reduce their VCC. In addition, they need to implement specific measures to adapt to climate change in the food and water sectors.