World economies' progress in decoupling from CO2 emissions

The relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions has been analyzed testing the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, but traditional econometric methods may be flawed. An alternative method is proposed using segmented-sample regressions and implemented in 164 countries (98.34% of world p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Freire-González, Jaume, Padilla Rosa, Emilio, Raymond, Josep Ll
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/371840
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/371840
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85202994430
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:CO2 emissions
Decoupling
Economic growth
Environmental Kuznets curve
Multicollinearity
Segmented-sample regressions
Descripción
Sumario:The relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions has been analyzed testing the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, but traditional econometric methods may be flawed. An alternative method is proposed using segmented-sample regressions and implemented in 164 countries (98.34% of world population) over different periods from 1822 to 2018. Results suggest that while the association between GDP per capita and CO2 emissions per capita is weakening over time, it remains positive globally, with only some high-income countries showing a reversed association in recent years. While 49 countries have decoupled emissions from economic growth, 115 have not. Most African, American, and Asian countries have not decoupled, whereas most European and Oceanians have. These findings highlight the urgency for effective climate policies because decoupling remains unachieved on a global scale, and we are moving away from, rather than approaching, the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature increase to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels.