Are Driving Forces of CO2 Emissions Different across Countries? : Insights from Identity and Econometric Analyses
This paper investigates factors behind the growth of carbon dioxide emissions over the 35 years between 1980 and 2015 in more than 100 countries, using an index decomposition technique (the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index). The results are further c...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/777121529433693727/Are-driving-forces-of-CO2-emissions-different-across-countries-insights-from-identity-and-econometric-analyses http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29930 |
| Summary: | This paper investigates factors behind
the growth of carbon dioxide emissions over the 35 years
between 1980 and 2015 in more than 100 countries, using an
index decomposition technique (the Logarithmic Mean Divisia
Index). The results are further confirmed using an
econometric technique (the general method of moments). The
study finds that economic growth, measurred in per capita
gross domestic product, and population growth are the main
drivers of the growth of carbon dioxide emissions during
1980–2015. Although economic growth is mainly responsible
for the growth of emissions in high-, upper-middle-, and
lower-middle-income countries, population growth that is
primarily responsilble for it in low-income countries. More
than 70 percent of the global growth in carbon dioxide
emissions over the past 35 years was contributed by
upper-middle-income countries. Improved energy efficiency,
reflected in the declining energy intensity of gross
domestic product, has substantially contributed to limit
global carbon dioxide emissions at the current level;
otherwise, the world's current carbon dioxide emissions
would have been 40 percent higher. Despite the recent rapid
expansion of renewable energy, its contribution to slowing
the growth of global carbon dioxide emissions is not
noticeable yet, due to its small share in the global energy
supply mix. |
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