Decoupling Analysis of Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Economic Growth in Poland

Zbigniew Gołaś ()
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Zbigniew Gołaś: Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Economics, Poznań University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Poznań, Poland

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-27

Abstract: This paper addresses the conditions behind energy-related carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in Poland following its accession to the European Union. The study analyzed some energy, fossil fuel, economic, and environmental indicators, such as energy use, CO 2 emissions, driving factors, decoupling elasticity status, and decoupling effort status. It relied on the Kaya identity and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) in determining the drivers of CO 2 emissions. As shown by the results, between 2004 and 2020, energy consumption in Poland grew at an average annual rate of 0.8%, while fossil fuel carbon emissions declined at 0.7% per year. Energy intensity was found to be the key force behind the reduction in CO 2 emissions, whereas rapid economic growth was the main driver of CO 2 emissions. While other factors, i.e., carbon intensity, energy mix, and population, also contributed to reducing the emissions, they had a much smaller—if not marginal—effect. In turn, the decoupling elasticity analysis showed that Poland mostly witnessed strong decoupling states, which means a strong decoupling of CO 2 emissions from economic growth. Furthermore, it follows from the decoupling effort analysis that strong decoupling effort statuses prevailed throughout the study period, suggesting that the changes in the considered factors significantly contributed to reducing CO 2 emissions. However, both the decoupling elasticity indices and the decoupling effort indices revealed the presence of an adverse trend. The above means that Poland witnessed a decline both in the strength of decoupling CO 2 emissions from economic growth and in the efficiency of policies and measures designed to reduce CO 2 emissions.

Keywords: energy; fossil fuels; CO 2 emissions; economic growth; LMDI; decoupling; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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