Weryfikacja środowiskowej krzywej Kuznetsa dla krajów Unii Europejskiej
Testing Environmental Kuznets Curve in European Union Countries

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of energy consumption, trade openness, foreign direct investment and GDP on CO2 emissions in European Union countries within the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. The econometric study was conducted using a sample covering the UE-28 countries (excluding Luxembourg) in years 1990–2013. The empirical results of the analysis support (for the sampled countries) the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis which assumes an inverted U-shaped relationship between CO2 per capita emissions and GDP per capita. The results also indicate that an increase in energy consumption per capita leads to a relatively large increase in CO2 emissions per capita, which can provide the basis for recommendations on energy policy in terms of its impact on the environment. Moreover, greater trade openness decreases environmental degradation in European Union countries. Foreign direct investment inflows are not identified in the analysis as statistically significant.

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