The study assesses the effect of financial development and foreign direct investment (FDI) on carbon emissions by making a comparative study on West and Southern Africa regions. In a panel data analysis, the study used 10 countries from West Africa and 7 countries from Southern Africa regions respectively by applying dynamic panel data estimation methods thus generalized method of moment two-step method estimation as well as panel quantile regression method to ascertain level of effects and to make a robust inference. The results report positive effect of financial development on carbon emissions and FDI has negative effect on carbon emissions, also found that EKC hypothesis exist in the Southern Africa region thus economic growth and carbon emissions have a U-inverted relationship. The study recommends green policies to be considered in both regions since the evidence revealed that domestic credit to private sector increases carbon emissions.