scholarly journals Energy system decarbonization and productivity gains reduced the coupling of CO2 emissions and economic growth in 73 countries between 1970 and 2016

One Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranran Wang ◽  
Valentina A. Assenova ◽  
Edgar G. Hertwich
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Productivity Gains

scholarly journals Empirical Explanations of Carbon Mitigation during Periods of Economic Growth

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranran Wang ◽  
Valentina A. Assenova ◽  
Edgar Hertwich
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Emissions Reductions ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2

Prior research on the empirical relationship between anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and economic growth, as measured by increases in gross domestic product (GDP), indicate that a 1% growth in GDP can lead to anything between an increase in emissions by 2.5% to a decline by 0.3%. Studies have paid little attention to independent mechanisms that reduce emissions. Statistical properties of the data undermine the estimation techniques used in many studies. To address these shortcomings, we used novel methods and panel data integrating emissions, economic, and energy-system characteristics across 70 economies over 1970-2013 to derive a universal GDP-emissions relationship and identify key emissions-reduction mechanisms. We found that, robust to a variety of estimation procedures, every 1% increase in GDP was associated with a 1% increase in CO2 emissions when controlling for other mechanisms. Emissions reductions were mainly driven by four mechanisms: (i) energy system decarbonization, (ii) increased economic efficiency, (iii) electrification, and (iv) deindustrialization. A 1% increase in these factors was associated with 0.2-1.8% reductions in CO2 emissions per year; together, these factors contributed to 18 petagrams of emissions reduction globally over 1970-2013. Decarbonization contributed most to emissions reductions in high-income economies, while economic efficiency and electrification contributed most to reductions in low-income economies.

Uneven Decoupling

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Thombs ◽  
Xiaorui Huang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
Global North ◽  
Organization Of Production ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

The macro-comparative decoupling literature has often sought to test the arguments made by the treadmill of production (TP) and ecological modernization (EM) theories. However, due to data limitations, these studies have been limited to analyzing the years after 1960. Given that both theories discuss historical processes operating before 1960, analyzing pre-1960 data is warranted to more comprehensively test the propositions made by both theories. We assess the long-term relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions from 1870 to 2014 using a sample of global North nations. We use Prais-Winsten regression models with time interactions to assess whether, when, and how much CO2 emissions have decoupled from economic growth over time. We find that significant relative decoupling has occurred twice since 1870: during the last 30 years of the nineteenth century, the timing of which is contrary to what both the EM and TP theories might expect, and after 1970. We also observe that the relationship remained relatively stable from the turn of the twentieth century to approximately 1970, which aligns with the arguments made by the classical TP work. We conclude that shifts in the global organization of production have shaped the magnitude of the economic growth–CO2 emissions relationship and its changes over time, which has implications for climate mitigation policy.

scholarly journals Economic Development, CO2 Emissions and Energy Use Nexus-Evidence from the Danube Region Countries

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3165
Author(s):  
Eva Litavcová ◽  
Jana Chovancová
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Mutual Cooperation ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Danube Region ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this study is to examine the empirical cointegration, long-run and short-run dynamics and causal relationships between carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in 14 Danube region countries over the period of 1990–2019. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing methodology was applied for each of the examined variables as a dependent variable. Limited by the length of the time series, we excluded two countries from the analysis and obtained valid results for the others for 26 of 36 ARDL models. The ARDL bounds reliably confirmed long-run cointegration between carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Economic growth and energy consumption have a significant impact on carbon emissions in the long-run in all of these four countries; in the short-run, the impact of economic growth is significant in Austria. Likewise, when examining cointegration between energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth in the short-run, a significant contribution of CO2 emissions on energy consumptions for seven countries was found as a result of nine valid models. The results contribute to the information base essential for making responsible and informed decisions by policymakers and other stakeholders in individual countries. Moreover, they can serve as a platform for mutual cooperation and cohesion among countries in this region.

Measuring energy and environmental efficiency interactions towards CO2 emissions reduction without slowing economic growth in central and western Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 279 ◽  
pp. 111704
Author(s):  
Jijian Zhang ◽  
Ataul Karim Patwary ◽  
Huaping Sun ◽  
Muhammad Raza ◽  
Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Environmental Efficiency ◽  
Emissions Reduction

scholarly journals Revisiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Case of Central Europe

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3415
Author(s):  
Bartosz Jóźwik ◽  
Antonina-Victoria Gavryshkiv ◽  
Phouphet Kyophilavong ◽  
Lech Euzebiusz Gruszecki
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ekc Hypothesis ◽  
Central European ◽  
Long Run

The rapid economic growth observed in Central European countries in the last thirty years has been the result of profound political changes and economic liberalization. This growth is partly connected with reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, the problem of CO2 emissions seems to remain unresolved. The aim of this paper is to test whether the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis holds true for Central European countries in an annual sample data that covers 1995–2016 in most countries. We examine cointegration by applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag bound testing. This is the first study examining the relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth in individual Central European countries from a long-run perspective, which allows the results to be compared. We confirmed the cointegration, but our estimates confirmed the EKC hypothesis only in Poland. It should also be noted that in all nine countries, energy consumption leads to increased CO2 emissions. The long-run elasticity ranges between 1.5 in Bulgaria and 2.0 in Croatia. We observed exceptionally low long-run elasticity in Estonia (0.49). Our findings suggest that to solve the environmental degradation problem in Central Europe, it is necessary to individualize the policies implemented in the European Union.

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