In order to promote a sustainable and clean environment, environmental taxation was introduced in Ghana to regularize harmful environmental activities. The main objective of the study is to assess the role of environmental taxation in promoting a sustainable and clean environment in Ghana and the main research question asked was …
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In order to promote a sustainable and clean environment, environmental taxation was introduced in Ghana to regularize harmful environmental activities. The main objective of the study is to assess the role of environmental taxation in promoting a sustainable and clean environment in Ghana and the main research question asked was to what extent environmental taxation promotes a sustainable and clean environment in Ghana. Using a sequential mixed methods design, secondary data covering 2012-2022 was collected and analyzed to ground the development of interview schedules for qualitative data collection. The qualitative data analysis found that environmental taxation can potentially promote environmental quality and sustainability in Ghana. The study further employed the Ordinary Least Square Method of Moment Quantile Regression to analyze the quantitative data. Sanitation and pollution levy was estimated to be negative and significant at a 5 percent alpha level. The negative coefficient for sanitation and pollution levy indicates that levies on C02 emissions in Ghana reduce the emission of CO2 and thereby enhancing environmental sustainability. Petroleum tax was also estimated to be negative and significant at a 10 percent alpha level. The negative coefficient for petroleum tax indicates that petroleum tax reduces CO2 emissions in Ghana, thereby enhancing environmental sustainability. Airport tax was also estimated to be negative and significant at a 5 percent alpha level. This implies that the negative coefficient for airport tax indicates that airport tax reduces CO2 in Ghana and thereby enhances environmental sustainability. The findings from the Ordinary Least Square showed that some of the environmental taxes (sanitation and pollution levy, petroleum tax and airport tax) had a significant effect on environmental sustainability. In order to design solid legislation and policy to enhance the effectiveness of environmental taxation, a strong collaboration between the government, industry and academia is required to promote enforcement and compliance with environmental taxes in Ghana. This will provide a foundation for promoting a safe, clean, healthy environment and the transition to clean energy sources and low-carbon development.
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