Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries

► We study the links between CO2 emissions, energy consumption and GDP in MENA region. ► Energy consumption has a positive correlation with CO2 emissions. ► GDP exhibits a quadratic relationship with CO2 emissions for the region as a whole. ► However, the turning points are low in some cases and high in other cases. ► Thus, not all countries need to sacrifice economic growth to decrease CO2 emissions.