scholarly journals Assessment of Green Investments’ Impact on Sustainable Development: Linking Gross Domestic Product Per Capita, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Renewable Energy

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 3891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhiy Lyeonov ◽  
Tetyana Pimonenko ◽  
Yuriy Bilan ◽  
Dalia Štreimikienė ◽  
Grzegorz Mentel

The paper analyses the linkages between GDP per capita, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and renewable energy (RE) in the total final energy consumption and green investments (PICE) which are measured as private investments, jobs, and gross value added related to circular economy sectors. The object of the analysis is the EU countries during the 2008-2016 period (crisis and post-crisis period). In the paper, data from the following databases was used: the Eurostat, the World Data Bank, and the European Environmental Agency. For addressing the linkages between the aforementioned indicators, the following methods were applied: panel unit root test, Pedroni panel cointegration tests, and the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) panel cointegration techniques. The findings show that FMOLS and DOLS demonstrate the same results as GHG, PICE, RE influence on GDP of the EU countries. The findings prove there is linking between gross domestic product per capita, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy in the total final energy consumption and green investments. The findings also show that green investment (PICE) could provoke the growth of GDP per capita by 6.4%, the decline of GHG by 3.08%, and the increase of renewable energy in the total final energy consumption by 5.6%.

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihaela Simionescu ◽  
Wadim Strielkowski ◽  
Manuela Tvaronavičienė

The deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) is considered to be an important objective for the energy sector in the European Union (EU). The EU Directive adapted in 2009 fixed mandatory national targets for the use of renewable energy in transport as well as for the share of RES in the gross final energy consumption. Contrary to previous studies, this paper does not examine the link between the RES and economic growth but rather focuses on real gross domestic product (GDP) and the implementation of national renewable energy targets. We employ panel data models for the case of the EU-28 countries covering the period between 2007 and 2017 that yield a low and positive relationship between the impact of GDP per capita and the share of RES in the final consumption. Our results show that there is a significant causality only from real GDP per capita to the share of renewable energy in final consumption, marking the potential of developed countries to consume more RES. We list some groups of countries according to these variables using a cluster analysis approach. Starting from the proposed panel data models, we constructed the scenarios for the 2020 for various shares of RES and different EU Member States. Overall, it appears that more attention should be attributed to policy proposals in which funding opportunities would be dependent on the achievements of national targets and economic benefits should be given to countries with very good performance in achieving high shares of renewable energy in their final energy consumption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10327
Author(s):  
Anca Mehedintu ◽  
Georgeta Soava ◽  
Mihaela Sterpu ◽  
Eugenia Grecu

This article is part of the concerns generated by the need to increase the consumption of renewable energy, so that in the European Union (EU) countries, its share in the final energy consumption, to reach 32% by 2030, increases. In the context in which, in the specialized literature, the analysis of renewable energy consumption by activity sectors is approached very little, such an analysis has high utility. The variables of interest are the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption, and the share of renewable energy sources in the final energy consumption in transport, electricity, and heating and cooling. The study performs a comparative analysis of the evolution of these indicators for the period 2004–2019 for Romania and the EU, an empirical estimate of the evolution of indicators using time regression and autoregressive models, a forecast of the share of renewable energy consumption in the final energy consumption and by the main sectors (transport, electricity, and heating and cooling) for the 2030 horizon, providing appropriate scenarios for achieving the EU established goals, as well as an analysis of the interdependence between the indicators. Through the results obtained, the paper can contribute to improving the framework for the sustainable development of energy consumption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 915 (1) ◽  
pp. 012018
Author(s):  
H Niameshchuk ◽  
V Bozhanova ◽  
V Chala ◽  
A Hlushchenko

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyze the indicators of environmental and resource productivity of European countries to identify leaders and outsiders and study their trends over recent decades. The results of the analysis showed that the indicators are characterized by uneven development, due to the characteristics of countries and their green policies. The key indicators of the Europe 2020 policy have been used for the analysis, namely resource productivity, greenhouse gas emissions per capita, recycling rate of municipal waste, eco-innovation index, final energy consumption in households. Linear trends for the period 1995-2019 with indication of trend equations were constructed for each indicator. The slope of the functions has been analyzed in order to identify the dynamics of trends. According to the results of the analysis, all indicators except greenhouse gas emissions per capita were characterized by positive dynamics, ie increased. It has been determined that the problematic indicator for EU countries is final energy consumption in households, which requires further detailed research.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3714
Author(s):  
Anna Komarnicka ◽  
Anna Murawska

The use of energy is a precondition for global economic and civilisational development. However, the growing demand for energy is depleting traditional energy resources and, most importantly, causing environmental pollution, mainly through the emission of greenhouse gases. As energy is necessary for the functioning of all sectors of the economy, such as industry, services, transport as well as households, these sectors are the largest contributors to energy consumption. Renewable energy sources are an alternative to generating energy from conventional fossil fuels. The main objective of this paper was to determine and compare the level, trends and variation in energy consumption by different economic sectors in countries of the European Union in 2010–2019. An analysis of the share of renewable energy consumption in different economic sectors was also carried out, as well as an assessment of the relationship of these indicators with the level of economic development of the countries and environmental impacts in the form of greenhouse gas emissions from energy consumption. To explore the topics under discussion, a dozen of indicators have been considered in the article. The source of empirical data collected was the European Statistical Office. The researched period covered the years 2010–2019. The empirical data was statistically analysed. The article considers changes in the values of the studied indicators, differentiation between countries and the results of correlation and regression analysis. As shown by the data from 2010–2019, the countries of the European Union vary significantly in respect of primary and final energy consumption. The highest final energy consumption occurs in the transport sector, followed by slightly lower consumption in the industrial sector and households sector and the lowest but also significant consumption in the commercial and public services sector. Since 2010, total primary and final energy consumption has decreased in the EU (27) countries. Total energy consumption and consumption by individual sectors in modern economies of the EU (27) countries are reflected on the one hand in economic development and on the other—in exacerbation of adverse climate changes. Therefore, all EU Member States, aware of their energy consumption and their own contribution to environmental pollution, should take effective and sustainable corrective action in this area as soon as possible.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Brożyna ◽  
Wadim Strielkowski ◽  
Alena Fomina ◽  
Natalya Nikitina

Our paper focuses on the renewable energy and EU 2020 target for energy efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We study the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in these two EU Member States through the prism of the Europe 2020 strategy and the 3 × 20 climate and energy package and economic growth (represented by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that allows to measure the national dynamics and provide cross-country comparisons) without attributing specific attention to issues such as the electrification of transport or heating, and thence leaving them outside the scope of this paper. Both Czech Republic and Slovakia are two post-Communist countries that still face the consequences of economic transformation and struggle with the optimal management of natural resources. Both countries encountered profound system transformation after 1989 that are apparent in all three measures of sustainable development used in our study. We show that it is unlikely that the planned increase in renewable energy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia will reach its targets, but they might succeed in reducing their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Our findings show that the energy intensity of Czech and Slovak economies increased in the early 2000s and then stabilized at a level about twice of the EU average. It appears that this value is likely to remain the same in the forthcoming years. However, implementation of GHG emissions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia may be at risk in case the proper energy policy is not maintained. Moreover, our results show how the increase in the share of renewable energy and improvement in energy efficiency go hand-in-hand with mining and exploiting the energy sources that is notorious for the transition economies. We also demonstrate that a proper energy policy is required for effectively reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need for commitments made by relevant stakeholders and policymakers targeted at achieving sustainable economic growth and energy efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a need for maintaining a proper balance between economic development and environmental protection, which is a must for the EU sustainable energy development agenda and all its accompanying targets for all its Member States.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuriy Bilan ◽  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
Tetyana Vasylieva ◽  
Oleksii Lyulyov ◽  
Tetyana Pimonenko ◽  
...  

This paper investigates the impact of renewable energy sources (RESs), CO2 emissions, macroeconomics, and the political stability in a country on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The authors analyse the dynamics of RESs use, CO2 emissions, and GDP development and also test the following hypotheses: (1) The country’s economic growth is related to the energy consumption, in terms of both human resources and capital; (2) the share of the renewable energy consumption of the total energy consumption has a positive impact on the economic growth; and (3) the share of the renewable energy consumption of the total energy consumption is unrelated to the economic growth. To test the above hypotheses, the authors use the modified Cobb-Douglas production function, which also considers RES production volumes, CO2 emissions, and economic growth. The study employs data between 1995 to 2015 from the candidate and potential candidate countries for the EU membership. The data are drawn from the World Bank and Eurostat. The analyses entail panel unit root tests, Pedroni panel cointegration tests, fully modified OLS (FMOLS), dynamic OLS (DOLS) panel cointegration techniques, and the Vector Error Correction model (VECM). The findings confirm the relationship between RESs, CO2 emissions, and the GDP. For the EU countries, RESs as human resources and capital have an impact on the GDP. Moreover, the results reveal a correction retraction when the economic growth leads to an increase in renewable energy consumption. The investigation also finds that candidate and potential candidate countries for the EU membership should foster renewable energy development. The authors conclude that developing affordable and effective instruments and mechanisms to boost the RES implementation is necessary to decrease the anthropogenic impact on the environment (in particular, decreasing CO2 emissions) without any attendant reduction in the economic growth.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 914-932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgeta SOAVA ◽  
Anca MEHEDINTU ◽  
Mihaela STERPU ◽  
Mircea RADUTEANU

This study examines the causal relationship between economic growth and renewable energy consumption using data for 28 countries of European Union, taken from Eurostat database for years from 1995 to 2015. In addition, motivated by EU Directive 2009/28/EC, the tendency of the share of renewable energy consumption into the final energy consumption is analysed. Various panel data techniques implemented in EViews are used. The empirical results suggest a positive impact of renewable energy consumption on economic growth, and emphasize bidirectional or unidirectional Granger causalities between the two macroeconomic indicators, for each country in the panel. These results justify the political decisions of EU concerning the necessity of increasing the renewable energy consumption, and prove that this type of energy consumption has a strong positive impact on economic growth. Thus, the inclusion of such policies in future EU and national strategies is further motivated. Finally, by means of linear regression, an increasing trend was found for the ratio between renewable energy consumption and final energy consumption for all but one of the EU countries.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5272
Author(s):  
Gina Ionela Butnaru ◽  
Alina-Petronela Haller ◽  
Raluca Irina Clipa ◽  
Mirela Ștefănică ◽  
Mihaela Ifrim

Economic and social progress is directly and closely related to energy consumption. In the latest decades, there is a higher need to reduce energy consumption from conventional sources, replacing it with energy obtained from unconventional sources. The environmental concern is one of the objectives of the European economic policy, with a particular focus on renewable energy consumption and energy efficiency in order to lower the environmental impact. In this context, we analyzed energy consumption per capita and renewable energy consumption per capita in the EU with the help of parametric methods, using the β-convergence model, and semiparametric methods, using the σ-convergence model. In this research we proposed to study six analysis models of the period 1960–2015, based on the availability of data. We concluded that the EU states went through a convergence process in a slow pace of energy consumption per capita and renewable energy per capita, showing a convergence pattern. The results of the study show that there is a relationship between the convergence of conventional energy consumption and the convergence of renewable (unconventional) energy consumption. The study covers a long period of time in which EU member states had different economic and social systems, implicitly different degrees and rates of development. In addition, the interest in renewable energy is relatively recent in the whole world. There is a possibility that future research will provide more optimistic results, in terms of accelerating the convergence rate, as appropriate measures and technologies are applied to renewable energy production in all EU member states.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holub Svitlana ◽  
◽  
Shynkaruk Nataliia ◽  

The article explores the features of the legal regulation of bioenergy in the European Union, analyses the concepts of bioenergy and biofuels in Ukrainian and European legislation and highlights the main provisions of the European Union Directives, concerning the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, including biomass. In particular, bioenergy has been identified in the EU as the leading source of renewable energy for heating and cooling (88 per cent of all RES), representing 16 per cent of the total European final energy consumption in this sector. Consequently, in view of the demand for and the need to use such a resource, the EU legislative framework contains a number of principles (bases) and mandates for regulating the relationship in the area of manufacturing, handling and decontamination of waste biofuels as a primary feedstock for bioenergy. In particular, the fundamental principles of the EU bioenergy legislation are, first, the principle of sustainable production and consumption of biomass, and second, the prevention of reduction of negative impacts from the use of this resource, Third, increasing the share of alternative energy sources to 75 % of final energy consumption by 2050. Keywords: bioenergy, permanence, alternative energy sources, biofuels


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document