scholarly journals Assessment of the Dependence of GHG Emissions on the Support and Taxes in the EU Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7650
Author(s):  
Astrida Miceikienė ◽  
Kristina Gesevičienė ◽  
Daiva Rimkuvienė

The reduction of GHG emissions is one of the priorities of the EU countries. The majority of studies show that financial support and environmental taxes are one of the most effective measures for the mitigation of the negative consequences of climate change. The EU countries employ different environmental support measures and environmental taxes to reduce GHG emissions. There is a shortage of new studies on these measures. The aim of the present study is to compare the effectiveness of the environmental support measures of the EU countries with the effectiveness of environmental taxes in relation to the reduction of GHG emissions. This study is characterized by the broad scope of its data analysis and its systematic approach to the EU’s environmental policy measures. An empirical study was performed for the EU countries with the aim of addressing this research problem and substantiating theoretical insights. A total of 27 EU member states from 2009 to 2018 were selected as research samples. The research is based on a cause-and-effect relationship, where the factors affecting environmental pollution (environmental taxes and subsidies) are the cause, and GHG emissions are the effect. Statistical research methods were used in the empirical study: descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), simple regression and cluster analysis. The results show that the older member countries of the EU, which had directed the financial measures of environmental policy towards a reduction in energy consumption, managed to achieve a greater reduction in GHG emissions compared to the countries which had not applied those measures. The Central and Eastern European countries are characterized by lower environmental taxes and lower expenditure allocated to environmental protection. The countries with a higher GDP per capita have greater GHG emissions that the countries with lower GDP per capita. This is associated with greater consumption, waste, and energy consumption. The study conducted gives rise to a discussion regarding data sufficiency in the assessment and forecasting of GHG emissions and their environmental consequences.

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-477
Author(s):  
Sandra Jednak ◽  
Jelena Minović ◽  
Dragana Kragulj

Abstract Energy is a globally important factor of production - the growth of population and income increase energy consumption, so there is an urge to decrease it. However, there are different ways to reduce energy consumption, and one of them is energy efficiency. The aim of the paper is to give a theoretical review of energy efficiency and its benefits. The purpose of the paper is the analysis of economic and environmental indicators and energy efficiency in EU27 (after 2020) and Serbia. The trends of energy efficiency, GDP per capita and GHG emission are shown for the observed countries. The European and Serbian policies and targets for energy efficiency are presented and also the level these countries have reached the set targets. In order to see the relationship between energy efficiency, GDP per capita and GHG emission, the correlation among all variables is applied. The results show that energy efficiency is higher in EU27 than in Serbia. Even though Serbia had energy efficiency increase during the observed period (1995-2018), it lags behind the EU27. However, there is a positive correlation between energy efficiency and GDP and GHG emission in both EU27 and Serbia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihaela Sterpu ◽  
Georgeta Soava ◽  
Anca Mehedintu

This study analyses the relationship between per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, gross domestic product, gross inland energy consumption, and renewable energy consumption for a panel of 28 countries of European Union in the period 1990–2016. Two theoretical models, a quadratic and a cubic one, are used to estimate the shape of the environmental curve and to test the Kuznets hypothesis. The panel cointegration approach proved the existence of long-run equilibrium relations among the four macroeconomic indicators. Empirical estimations, using panel data techniques, as well as heterogeneous regression for each individual country in the panel, show non-conclusive evidence for the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The least square estimates, with the variables in log per capita form, reveal that the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis is verified for the panel and for 17 of the 28 EU countries. Estimates of the cubic model show that the environmental curve has an inverted N-shaped form. These results do not hold when the values are in non-logarithmic form. In addition, the estimations for all models show that an increase of gross energy consumption leads to an increase of GHGs, while an increase of renewable energy consumption leads to a reduction in GHG emissions.


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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Mazurek

Abstract The aim of this article is to compare 2008-2010 recession magnitudes in individual EU countries. For the comparison the recession magnitude scale was used. The strongest recession during the examined period took place in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Greece and Ireland, while the weakest recessions in the EU occurred in France, Malta and Cyprus. Poland and Slovakia were the only two EU countries that didn’t fall into a recession, that’s why they were not included in the study. The main findings of the paper are that EU19’s recession was much smaller than both the Great Depression of the 1930s and the recent Great Recession in the USA. Furthermore, with the use of a linear econometric model it was found that recession magnitudes in EU countries were directly proportional to the countries’ GDP per capita in 2008 and growth prior to recessions, while countries’ economic openness was indirectly proportional to recession magnitudes, all the relationships being statistically significant.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 513
Author(s):  
Nikola Petrović ◽  
Nebojša Bojović ◽  
Marijana Petrović ◽  
Vesna Jovanović

In view of the European Union as one of the main polluters in the word and the fact that GDP per capita in the European Union is equivalent to the 282 percent of the world`s average, it is interesting to study the relationship between transport GHG emissions and the economic activity within the European Union. In the paper, the authors check the environment Kuznets curve hypothesis for members of the EU over the period 2000-2014. The analysis results show that an inverse-U relationship exists between transport GHG emissions and GDP per capita. At the same time, the results indicate that the change of economic structure has influenced the transport GHG emissions in the developed countries, that is, in the countries that record a higher level of GDP per capita.


2020 ◽  
Vol 185 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 4-14
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Sushchenko ◽  
◽  
Ievgen Volkovskyi ◽  
Viktor Fedosov ◽  
Nadiya Ryazanova ◽  
...  

The concept of sustainable development brought new constraints for the old-fashioned business models. At the same time, it created new opportunities for those who have a forward-looking strategy and strive to overcome «the limits to growth», in other words, to ensure a long-term blended value creation with economic and non-economic benefits. There are numerous sets of the sustainable development indicators and indices, but the weights of each particular component are different and need further clarification. Nowadays, the environmental risks in general and climate-related in particular are priced (e.g. environmental taxes) and have a strong impact on the social and economic relations by creating negative and positive externalities for our daily life. For this reason, economic agents are forced to become sustainable to the non-financial risks through switching to the new environmental and social business models. For this reason, better sustainable development indicators are crucial for an improved management of the non-financial risks and sustainable blended value creation. Hence, the aim of this paper is to examine the role of environmental risks in shaping sustainable development conditions on the macrolevel and to elaborate the ways for a better management of the non-financial risks (Environmental, Social and Governance - ESG). For this purpose, the impact of the most important environmental risks on the main economic and social indicators has been examined (e.g. Human Development Index and GDP per capita). Such an approach allowed us to identify the extent to which specific environmental factors influencing social and economic development can reshape the sustainable development conditions. In course of research, two sets of countries have been singled out to verify statistical significance of elaborated models. To achieve this goal, the authors have split an available dataset into two groups: EU and non-EU countries. The reason behind it is the fact that EU countries are among the leaders in the area of sustainable development and have already undertaken related environmental improvements in the last decades. Moreover, the above-mentioned countries are continuing such successful pathways today and with the new European Green Deal could go even far beyond this frontier. The results of current research suggest that existing indicators cannot fully encompass all the aspects of sustainable development and should be revised. Such findings relate both to the composition of the indicators and the weights attributed to each particular component. The application of regression analysis showed that such factors as water and air quality and biodiversity have the strongest explanatory power - 67% of the fluctuations in GDP per capita and 87% in case of HDI. The R -squared is ranging from 0.7 to 0.8 in both cases and confirms consistency of the elaborated models. To verify the results achieved, the similar models have been prepared only for the EU countries. As a result, all independent variables demonstrated the same significant impact on GDP per capita also for the EU countries. However, in this case the R -squared is only 0.27 due to the fact that ESG indicators within the EU area are rather homogenous. The impact of environmental factors on the level of HDI for the EU countries is much stronger comparing to GDP per capita. An overall explanatory power of the model for the EU countries exceeds 0.45 (R -squared). The most influential factor is the quality of water resources. Other important independent variables in the model for the EU member states are biodiversity and air quality. The authors argue that it is necessary to incorporate the above-mentioned environmental factors into the updated version of the Human Development Index as the most appropriate indicators of sustainable development. Consequently, the weights of the components should be recalculated to improve management of the non-financial risks on macrolevel, facilitating the blended value creation process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 127-129
Author(s):  
Wim Heijman ◽  
Johan Van Ophem ◽  
Job Van Logtestijn

This research note compares the results of the measurement of the relationship between happiness and GDP in the EU based upon unweighted data with the results based upon weighted data. The data are weighted in order to correct for the different sizes of the populations in the EU countries concerned. The result of the weighing is an even stronger relationship between happiness and GDP per capita than in the case with unweighted data.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 5414
Author(s):  
Tomasz Rokicki ◽  
Grzegorz Koszela ◽  
Luiza Ochnio ◽  
Kamil Wojtczuk ◽  
Marcin Ratajczak ◽  
...  

The main purpose of this paper is to present the differences in the volume of energy consumption in transport in the EU (European Union) countries. The specific objectives aim to determine the directions of changes and the degree of concentration in the volume of energy utilized by the transport sector in EU states, showing various models in this area, to establish the association between energy absorption and the parameters of the economy and in the field of transport. All EU countries were selected for research by the use of the purposeful selection method as of 31 December 2018. The analyzed period covered the years 2004–2018. For the examination of data, grading data analysis was used as one of the methods of multivariate data analysis. Descriptive, tabular and graphic methods were used to present the results. Findings reveal that there is a general tendency to reduce total energy consumption in the EU countries. The same is the case of energy in transport. Only in 2016–2018 was there an increase in energy absorption in transport. The reason was the better economic situation in this period. Road conveyance is the most important factor in energy utilization (over 90%). The share of other modes of transport was very small. Economically developing countries were the fastest in increasing energy absorption in transport per capita. In turn, highly developed states recorded slight growth and were stable in this aspect. There was a close relationship between energy utilization in transport per capita and GDP per capita. The reduction of energy consumption in transport depends on changes in road haulage, e.g., the pace of introducing innovative energy-saving technologies in automotive transport.


Equilibrium ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariusz Próchniak ◽  
Bartosz Witkowski

The study examines the concept of stochastic convergence in the EU28 countries over the 1994–2013 period. The convergence of individual countries’ GDP per capita towards the EU28 average per capita income level and the pair-wise convergence between the GDP of individual countries are both analyzed. Additionally, we introduce our own concept of conditional stochastic convergence which is based on adjusted GDP per capita series in order to account for the impact of other growth factors on GDP. The analysis is based on time series techniques. To assess stationarity, ADF tests are used. The study shows that the process of stochastic convergence in the EU countries is not as widespread as the cross-sectional studies on b or s convergence indicate. Even if we extend the analysis to examine conditional stochastic convergence, the number of converging economies or pairs of countries rises, but not as much as it could be expected from the cross-sectional studies.


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