This study examines the role of governance in reducing the use of unclean energy in trade and its impact on environmental sustainability. The empirical findings are based on Twostep System Generalized Method of Moments (TSGMM). The dataset was collected for 45 African countries that spans the period of 2008 to 2022. The initial result revealed that governance has a neutral effect on environmental sustainability while trade openness reduces environmental sustainability. Furthermore, strengthening governance towards clean trade by mitigating unclean energy and logistics in trade improves environmental sustainability. More concisely, the finding shows that consolidation governance has a joint impact of improving environmental sustainability by 0.03%. The policy implication of this finding is that clean trade can be achieved by consolidating the region’s governance index. This will then assist in reducing the use of unclean energy in trade and subsequently improve environmental sustainability.