Modeling COVID-19 Impact on Consumption and Mobility in Europe: A Legacy Toward Sustainable Business Performance

Abstract

This article has explored the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced decline in consumer durables and mobility on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emission in Europe by providing empirical and graphical justifications based on consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product (GDP) deflator indexes. The empirical estimations show that carbon dioxide (CO2) and NOx emission along with other greenhouse gases drastically decreased in the wake of COVID-19-induced lockdowns and decrease in the demand of consumer goods in Europe. This means that COVID-19 improved environment in the European region. However, high cost (e.g., unemployment, loss of life, and social segregation) makes COVID-19 an unstable solution to environmental woes where positive impact of COVID-19 on environment achieved in short run cannot be guaranteed in the long run. Besides environment, COVID-19 drastically curtailed economic activities and exposed them to the risk of economic crisis particularly in case of Europe.

How do renewable energy consumption, financial development, and technical efficiency change cause ecological sustainability in European Union countries?

“…EF, REC, FD, TE, and GDP respectively indicate ecological footprint, renewable energy usage, financial development, technical efficiency, and economic growth. To capture the joint impact of FD and TE on EF, the interaction term (FD * TE) is included in the previous model, as presented in equation (2).…”

“…1 Fossil fuel consumption comprises a higher share of Europe's energy generation, and their ignition causes a significant increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) and pollutant emissions. 2 EU economies collectively accounted for around 18 percent of worldwide Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission, approximately 2.54 billion metric tons during 2020. Though, a larger share of this emission is caused by France, Italy, and Germany, the three most polluting countries.…”