The Relationship between Economic Growth and Pollution in Some New European Union Member States: A Dynamic Panel ARDL Approach

Considering the necessity of achieving economic development by keeping the quality of the environment, the aim of this paper is to study the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions in a sample of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (V4 countries, Bulgaria and Romania) in the period of 1996-2019. In the context of dynamic ARDL panel and environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), the relationship between GHG and GDP is N-shaped. A U-shaped relationship was obtained in the renewable Kuznets curve (RKC). Energy consumption, domestic credit to the private sector, and labor productivity contribute to pollution, while renewable energy consumption reduces the GHG emissions. However, more efforts are required for promoting renewable energy in the analyzed countries.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions in Central and Eastern European countries from 1996 to 2019, finding an N-shaped relationship between GHG and GDP, and a U-shaped relationship in the renewable Kuznets curve. It highlights the importance of promoting renewable energy to reduce emissions in the analyzed countries.