Climate neutrality through economic growth, digitalisation, eco-innovation and renewable energy in European countries

What is it about?

Climate change and global warming are an increasingly acute concern for the entire planet and the European Green Pact is one of the initiatives to improve the environment. This study analyses the influence of economic growth, digitalisation, eco-innovation, primary energy consumption, renewable energy, and patents on environmental technologies on the volume of greenhouse gases (GHG) recorded in EU27 member countries for a period of nine years. We used multiple linear regression (MLR), the extended version of the OLS model, and a non-causal analysis as a robustness method, Dumitrescu-Hurlin. MLR results show that the number of individual internet users and patents on environmental technologies determine the amount of GHG in Europe, and economic growth continues to have a significant effect on the amount of emissions, as well as the consumption of renewable energy. Non-causality does not allow European countries to be framed in well-established patterns, but the study shows that the factors analysed impact the amount of GHG in one way or another. Although the method confirms the MLR conclusions, there are situations of non-causality. In many European countries, the amount of GHGs is decreasing as a result of economic growth, changes in the energy field and digitalisation.

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