The Factors Behind CO2 Emission Reduction in Transition Economies

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in The Factors Behind CO2 Emission Reduction in Transition Economies SummaryThe Central and Eastern European countries significantly reduced their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions between 1995 and 2003. Was this emission reduction just the fortuitous result of the major economic transformation undergone by countries in the transition? Or is it rather a result of more stringent environmental policy? The objective of the article is to answer this question through a simultaneous equation model of the demand (emissions) and supply (environmental stringency) of pollution. The supply equation takes into account the institutional quality of the country as well as consumer preferences for environmental quality. The results indicate that, all else equal, output growth would have increased industrial CO2 emissions in the Central and Eastern European countries in our sample by 31% between 1995 and 2003, and the composition effect corresponded to an increase of 8.4% of emissions. Nevertheless, the technique effect, induced by more stringent environmental policy, reduced industrial CO2 emissions by 58%, and allowed for a final beneficial result for the environment, i.e., -18% of industrial CO2 emissions in 2003 compared to 1995. Finally, our study confirms the importance of institutional factors in the explanation and further prediction of pollution reduction in transition economies.

Adjusted Net Savings of CEE and Baltic Nations in the Context of Sustainable Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis

“…The literature reports that economic growth-especially in the CEE and Baltic nations-along with other factors such as corruption and political instability contribute to the depletion of natural resources without adequately compensating for the consumption of natural resources (Zugravu et al 2008). It also argues that trade openness promotes environmental quality (Dean 1992(Dean , 2002.…”

On environmental impacts of market-based reforms: Evidence from the European and Central Asian transition economies

“…For example, the stringency of environmental policies set under decentralised regimes also depends on political centralization, measured by the strength of national level political parties (Fredriksson and Wollscheid, 2014). Zugravu et al (2008) demonstrated that increases in stringency of environmental policy led to a significant net reduction in Another study by Tamazian and Rao (2010) investigated the linkage between economic development, financial development and institutional quality on environmental degradation in transition countries using GMM (Generalised Method of Moments) for 24 transition countries from 1993-2004. The results lend support to the EKC hypothesis while also confirming the importance of both institutional quality and financial development for reducing CO2 emissions in the region.…”

The dynamics of delinking in industrial emissions: The role of productivity, trade and R&D

“…For a review of the theoretical reasoning behind the link between trade openness and emissions growth, we refer among others to Zugravu et al (2008), Frankel and Rose (2005), Cole (2003Cole ( , 2004, Cole and Elliott (2002), Dietzenbacher and Mukhopadhay (2006) and . The sign of the relationship depends on two potentially conflicting forces: the delocalisation of polluting industries into less developed areas with lax regulation (pollution haven effect) and the country specialisation in capital intensive and energy intensive industrial sectors (factor endowment effect).…”