Renewable Energies and CO₂ Emissions in the European Union

Abstract

The expansion of renewable energy in the European Union (EU) constitutes a strategic question that addresses simultaneously the objectives of energy security and the fulfilment of the Kyoto commitment. The EU has strongly supported the generation of green electricity in the past decades but energy obtained from fossil fuels still prevails throughout the region. In order to discover which mechanisms contribute to the deployment of alternatives to fossil fuel energy, we estimate the relationship between green energy, the price of fossil fuels, and CO₂ emissions, being that this covariate is an indicator of the necessary technological renovation in electricity generation. We apply panel data methodology to a sample referred to the EU member countries in the period 1990–2004.

Keywords:

• CO₂ emissions
• European Union
• panel data
• renewable energies