This study examines the impact of environmental quality on the growth of the manufacturing industry in Africa with specific consideration on the effect of institutional quality, economic performance and trade openness. A Fixed Effects (FE) estimation method has been used in this study because it allows for the consideration of country-specific heterogeneity, and it is done on panel data of 39 African countries over the time frame 2000-2024. The findings indicate that, the higher the environmental quality, the higher the performance of the manufacturing sector, showing that the manufacturing sector is promoting a cleaner and more sustainable environment, and consequently the productivity of industries and investments. The impact of the institutional quality is also positive and significant, meaning that the development of manufacturing needs good governance and transparency, as well as sound regulatory frameworks. On the contrary, GDP growth has an inverse relationship with the performance of manufacturing activities which can be interpreted as an indicator of structural fault in the sense that in most countries, economic growth is mainly driven by natural resources industries instead of industrialization. However, on the other hand, trade openness offers a positive contribution to manufacturing growth, thus promoting technology and efficiency diffusion and market access. The study proposes policies that will encourage green manufacturing, institutional reforms, and export-oriented policies to boost the competitiveness and resilience of the manufacturing sector in Africa’s global value chain.

Keywords: Environmental Quality, Manufacturing Sector Growth, Institutional Quality, Trade Openness, Economic Growth, Africa, Fixed Effects Model.