CO₂emissions convergence among 10 South American countries. A study of Kaya components (1980–2010)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the convergence in CO 2 emissions per capita (CO 2 emissions over population) among ten South American countries from 1980 to 2010 based on their Kaya components [1], namely, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, energy intensity (energy consumption over GDP) and CO 2 intensity (CO 2 emissions over energy consumption). We apply Phillips and Sul (2007) methodology [2] to tests the existence of convergence clubs in the pathway of evolution of each Kaya component. This work tries to find out whether a set of countries in the region share common convergence patterns in CO 2 emission per capita and in its driving forces. Our results show that the region, as a whole, does not present a global convergence pattern regarding CO 2 emissions per capita, however, the evidence suggests the formation of various convergence clubs for each Kaya component and the existence of two groups of countries in which there is full Kaya convergence, i.e,. convergence in CO 2 emissions per capita, gross domestic product per capita, energy intensity and CO 2 intensity. The first group, k 1 , stands for countries with the best general economic performance, Chile and Uruguay. The second full Kaya convergence group, k 2 , includes the two largest economies of the region, Argentina and Brazil, and the country which has a value in the di↵erent Kaya components closer to the regional average, Ecuador. On the other hand, only Colombia seems to show that an improvement in both energy and carbon intensity leads to the stabilization or even to the reduction of CO 2 emissions.

Towards the decarbonisation of Ecuador: a multisectoral and multiregional analysis of its carbon footprint

“…The literature has some studies which mainly analyse the evolution of CO2 emissions, their relation with the GDP trend and the policies of decarbonisation. Some of these works are centred on the region of Latin America and contribute data for Ecuador, as is the case of the analysis of Robalino-López et al (2016) and Román-Collado and Morales (2018). Ecuador was classified by Román-Collado and Morales (2018) as a country with a low GDPppp growth and high CO2 emission growth between 1990 and 2013.…”

“…Concretely, the CO2 emission growth was due to an important increase in population, but there was also a notably increase in fossil fuels use. In fact, Ecuador is identified as a high carbon intensity country compared with the Latin American average (Robalino-López et al 2016). Robalino-López et al (2014a, 2014b) analyse Ecuador's situation regarding the evolution of its economic growth and emissions, showing the importance of promoting renewable energies and the need for a change of the production model to decouple both variables.…”

Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions among developing countries: evidence from stochastic and club convergence tests

“…In the case of sulfur dioxide and/or nitrogen oxide emissions, see List (1999), Lee and List (2004), Bulte et al (2007), Payne et al (2014, , Liu et al (2018), and Solarin and Tiwari (2020); greenhouse gas emissions, see El-Montasser et al (2015) and de Oliveira and Bourscheidt (2017); ecological footprint see Biligili and Ulucak (2018), Ulucak and Apergis (2018), Solarin (2019), Ulucak et al (2020), and Yilanci and Pata (2020); and for protected areas in the measurement of environmental quality, see Bimonte (2009). Yavuz and Yilanci, 2013;Solarin, 2014;Robalino-Lopez et al 2016;Presno et al, 2018;Erdogen and Acaravci, 2019;and Karakaya et al 2019). 4,5 Given the majority of the studies to date have focused primarily on more developed, industrialized countries, we explore the convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the case of developing countries due to the differences in their level of economic development and growth prospects relative to industrialized countries as the EKC hypothesis would suggest.…”

Energy foresight: Exploration of CO2 reduction policy scenario for Ecuador during 2016–2030

“…According to Kaya Identity, CO 2 emissions are estimated through the product of four factors: i) demographic variable, population; ii) economic rent, which is defined as GDP per capita; iii) energy intensity, defined as energy consumed per unit of the GDP; iv) carbon intensity, which is defined as CO 2 emitted per unit of energy consumed [14].…”

“…As a result, CO 2 is the most studied pollutant due to the use of energy in human activities, which represents more than 75% of greenhouse gas emissions [8]. The main reasons for CO 2 emissions increase are: constant growth of energy consumption and the composition of energy and production matrix of the economies [14]. For this reason, the study of the increase in emissions due to economic growth is the most studied empirical relationship in ecological, energetic and social literature of different countries and regions [6,15].…”