scholarly journals Are CO2 emissions converging in the European Union? Policy implications

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Rafael Morales-Lage ◽  
Aurelia Bengochea-Morancho ◽  
Immaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

This paper focuses on the process of convergence in per capita CO2 emissions that would occur if the measures taken by the European Union to meet the Kyoto Protocol commitments had been effective. We apply a time series and cross-sectional analysis to test for the existence of convergence among countries and for different economic sectors. The sample covers data for the 28 member countries from 1960 to 2012. The results show weak absolute convergence across countries but clear evidence of conditional convergence, with GDP, the weight of industrial sector and the use of renewable energies being the main drivers of divergence. Concerning sectors, there is an increase of emissions in the agricultural sector, but a reduction in the industrial and energy sectors. Different patterns arise in the energy subsectors where manufacturing and electricity notably reduced their emissions while the transport sector increased them in all countries.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Holobiuc

The recent waves of enlargement of the European Union have created not only opportunities, but also challenges, emphasizing the complexity of the integration process and the difficulty to assure cohesion between Members. The aim of this paper is to examine real convergence in an enlarged European Union and to conduct a comparative analysis between the New (13) and the Old Members (15). In this respect, we have studied absolute and conditional convergence between 1995 and 2019, taking into consideration the level of GDP per capita. The methodological tools of the research were β-convergence based on cross-sectional and panel regressions and σ-convergence. The results of our study confirm the 2% law of convergence within the European Union between 1995 and 2019. However, the analysis of the economic performances among the New and Old Members led us to opposite results: while the catching-up speed among the New Member States reached on average 2.7%, in the Old Members we didn’t identify a statistically significant relationship between the initial income and the subsequent growth rates. In order to account for economic and social differences between the Member States, we have examined conditional convergence, illustrating the defining role of investment, trade and labor productivity in catalyzing convergence both in the New and Old Members. In contrast, the empirical study suggests that an increased level of public expenditures and over-indebtedness within the European Union threaten the catching-up process. The results of our paper can be useful for the European decision makers, illustrating the factors that might contribute to the achievement of the objective of real convergence within the European Union. Keywords: real convergence, European Union, New Member States, β-convergence, σ-convergence.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-182

One efficient way to control the CO2 emissions from the transport sector is the replacement of gasoline passenger cars by Diesel ones, which emit less CO2. This can be more effective in Finland, where the Diesel penetration is only 13.6%, which is very low compared to the other member countries of the European Union. The benefit in CO2 emitted from the new passenger cars is studied in the case of an increased Diesel penetration in this country, after several scenarios using the current and estimated future passenger car registrations and the fuel consumption. The results show that, in the case of new passenger cars, a CO2 benefit of more than 2.6% can be achieved, if a Diesel penetration higher than 30% occurs in the case of the current fleet. If the penetration reaches 50%, this benefit reaches 5.9%. Future total CO2 emissions from transport sector will increase significantly and can be partially controlled by the introduction of Diesel passenger cars or the replacement of heavy passenger cars by lighter ones.


Author(s):  
Jürgen Sturm

As a result of the July 1999 European Summit held in Gothenburg, Sweden, all European Union policy areas are subject to the guiding principle of sustainable development. Within this context, the European Commission published a white paper on transport policy to 2010, focusing on the need to foster more environmentally and socially sustainable means of transport to achieve a modal shift away from road transport. The white paper mentions inland navigation as a mode with great potential to contribute to a shift toward more sustainable modes than roads and recognizes that among other measures, infrastructural improvements must be realized on the European waterways. However, European environmental legislation, namely, the Water Framework Directive (WFD), is likely to challenge the strategy of necessary improvements on European waterways. The target conflict arising from environmental legislation that is capable of contradicting efforts to ensure sustainability in the transport sector is examined. Within this context, several aspects of WFD are described: development; the current implementation status in the national law of European Union member states and the potential consequences for waterway infrastructure, dredging, and navigability; and the general role of inland navigation in a competitive transport market. Possible instruments foreseen in the WFD to balance the interests of environmental concerns and those of the navigation sector are also addressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Dorota Wawrzyniak

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time and several policies trying to mitigate this negative phenomenon have been implemented. The reduction of GHG emissions along with the improvement in energy efficiency and the increase in the share of energy consumption from renewable sources also constitute the European Union policy priority. In this context, the aim of this article is to explore factors that affect changes in CO2 emissions in the four EU member states that form the Visegrad Group, during the period 1993–2016. The analysis was conducted using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition method and the Kaya identity, which enables the factors contributing most to the CO2 emissions changes to be identified. It also allows the results to be discussed in relation to the European Union’s climate policy. According to the decomposition analysis results, energy intensity and economic growth measured in terms of GDP per capita were the main factors driving changes in CO2 emissions across all countries considered. The emissions decrease resulted mainly from an improvement in energy efficiency and to a lesser extent from the change in the energy mix towards renewables.


2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 486-494
Author(s):  
Z. Chrastinová

In the year before the accession to the European Union, the Slovak agricultural sector reported a loss of SKK 2.4 billion and following a profitable year, the earnings were reduced by SKK 2.8 billion. The situation was caused by a number of reasons, namely reduced sales of agricultural products, damage resulting from adverse weather effects (cold weather, hail, drought and  swine fever), as well as widening of the price gap compared to the year before (increasing input prices in agriculture and decreasing purchase prices of agricultural products, especially in livestock production). Legal entities and natural persons experienced mixed business success. While 51% of legal entities made profit, the figure rose to 76% in the group of natural persons. Both the agricultural cooperatives and trading companies performed with a loss. The loss per hectare of agricultural land (a.l.) was substantially lower in the case of business companies. Natural persons - private farmers were profitable over the period. The gap between the profitable and loss-making enterprises has widened. Some 60% of profitable enterprises owned by legal entities made only a small profit below SKK 0.5 million. The loss-making performance was typical for more productive areas of Slovakia. This was related to stronger effects of adverse climate in 2003.


2022 ◽  
pp. 001573252110579
Author(s):  
Phan Thanh Hoan ◽  
Duong Thi Dieu My

Vietnam is one of the top information and communication technologies (ICT) exporters globally, and the ICT products constitute nearly one-fifth of Vietnam’s total exports to the European Union (EU). This study empirically investigates the determinants of Vietnam’s ICT exports to the EU by applying the gravity model for trade with panel data from 2000 to 2019. Besides the traditional variables of the gravity model, we added gross capital formation, patent application and exchange rates as explanatory variables. The results show that among factors affecting Vietnam’s ICT export to the EU, market size, patent applications, and exchange rate are the most significant determinants. The article also suggests some policy implications for the development of ICT exports between the two parties. JEL Codes: F14, C2


2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (51) ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Svetlana Rastvortseva ◽  
Aizhan Amanalieva

Abstract The development of national innovative systems is intended to solve a number of issues: from decreasing socio-economic inequality in countries and regions to creating environments favourable to new high-tech production and diversification of industrial composition. Determination of the possibilities for expanding the set of innovative types of economic activity must be scientifically substantiated, since significant financial, material and human resources may be consumed in creating and supporting new economic sectors within the framework of state policy. This article contains an attempt to create a mechanism for revealing promising trends in the development of an innovative economic sphere, taking into account comparative advantages in the commodity composition of exports by determining technological proximity indicators. The article aims to substantiate the possibility of using the concept of technological proximity in developing national innovative systems. The study employs technological proximity indicators based on the revealed comparative advantages (RCA) of countries by commodity groups of export. A matrix of technological proximity in the industrial fields (at a six-unit level) for 28 countries of the European Union in 2007–18 was made. The results revealed comparative advantages by groups of high-tech products in EU countries in real time. The analysis of technological proximity in the industrial sector has shown the types of economic activity connected with the innovative sector, which was used to determine the countries’ degree of participation in the manufacture of high-tech products. The proposed mechanism can be used in the development and implementation of national and regional policy in the sphere of innovative systems, since it allows promising areas for creation and support of new high-tech productions to be determined.


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