Climate Action ( SDG 13) and Sustainable Development in Africa: A Quantile Systems Approach to the SDI

ABSTRACT Climate action variables function as structural levers for sustainable development, but their evolving roles across performance regimes in Africa's diverse institutional landscape remain underexplored. This study models climate–sustainable development dynamics across 10 African economies (2000–2023) using a Quantile VAR framework, connectedness measures, and impulse‐response analysis. By stratifying the Sustainable Development Index (SDI) across four quantiles, the analysis captures regime‐dependent interactions among renewable energy, CO 2 emissions, climate resilience (ND‐GAIN), net carbon balance, forest area, and trade in low‐carbon technologies (TLC). The results reveal a non‐linear evolution from fragmented interactions at low SDI levels to feedback maturity at higher levels, with Total Connectedness Index rising from 8.45% to 8.62%. Renewable energy, ND‐GAIN, and TLC emerge as dominant transmitters, while CO 2 and SDI act as net absorbers, and forest area remains structurally isolated. Regime‐sensitive strategies that sequence institutional resilience, clean energy, and green trade to unlock compounding sustainability gains are recommended.