Greenhouse Gas Emissions Growth in Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Determinants
Understanding the underlying reasons for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trends in dierent countries is fundamental for climate change mitigation. This paper identifies the main determinants that aect GHG emissions growth and assesses their impact and dierences among countries in Europe. Previous stu...
| Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2020 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia |
| Repository: | e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/11903 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/11903 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | greenhouse gas emissions European Union climate change mitigation drivers of GHG emissions determinants of GHG emissions |
| Summary: | Understanding the underlying reasons for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trends in dierent countries is fundamental for climate change mitigation. This paper identifies the main determinants that aect GHG emissions growth and assesses their impact and dierences among countries in Europe. Previous studies have produced inconclusive results and presented several limitations, such as the lack of quality of the data used, the reduced identification of determinants and the use of methods that did not enable hypothesis testing. Conversely, this research identifies an extended list of determinants of GHG emissions, performs an in-depth statistical analysis and contrasts the significance of determinants using panel data and multiple linear regression models for the period 1990–2017 for the main Eurozone countries. The study found that GDP and final energy intensity are the main drivers for the reduction of GHG emissions in Europe. Furthermore, energy prices are not significant and heterogeneous results are found for the renewable energy, fuel mix and carbon intensity determinants, pointing to a dierent behavior at the country level. The uneven impact of the main determinants of GHG emission growth suggest that a dierentiated application of European policies at country level will enhance the eciency of mitigation eorts in Europe. |
|---|