Comparative and Relational Trajectory of Economic Growth and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Coupled or Decoupled?

Taewook Huh
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Taewook Huh: Department of Public Administration, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: This study looks at the global trajectory of the relationship between GDP (gross domestic product) and CO 2 (carbon dioxide) emission in the time-series, comparative, and transitional point of view (from Y1992 to Y2014). It sets up a measurement framework and compares thirty-seven countries (thirty-six OECD countries and China) through the fuzzy-set ideal type analysis while focusing on the comparative and relational types. This research found that economic growth (GDP) and environmental problems (CO 2 emissions) are tied together in a very solid path-dependent relationship. Particularly, the analysis of comparisons among OECD countries and China shows that the relationship between GDP and CO 2 emissions is very firmly coupled, unlike the previous non-combination of one-dimensional statistics that are based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. In short, it draws out and highlights the research implications that the existing conventions regarding the relationship between sustained economic growth and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions reductions are ill-founded at the international comparative level. This paper reiterates the importance of relevant regulatory policies in order to reduce the harmful external effects of GHG and a need for policy measures to solve the problem in the long term.

Keywords: low-carbon economy; CO 2 emission; GDP; Fuzzy-set Ideal Type Analysis; international comparative level (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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