Complete decomposition analysis of CO2 emissions intensity in the transport sector in Europe

Abstract

This article identifies which effects contribute to the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) intensity in the transport sector in the period 2008–2018, in EU 27 European countries. The technique of Complete Decomposition was applied to calculate six effects: (i) CO2 emissions, compared to the consumption of fossil fuels (Effect CF); (ii) consumption of fossil fuels compared to electricity (Effect FE); (iii) electricity consumption compared to the total energy consumption (Effect EEn); (iv) total energy consumption compared to the capital used (Effect EnK); (v) capital per capita (Effect KP) and (vi) inverse work average of productivity (Effect LVA). The study revealed that emissions intensity in the transport sector have diminished and that the more relevant effects were Effect EnK and Effect KP in the majority of the countries analyzed. Denmark and Lithuania show a distinctive pattern with Effect CF, Effect LVA and Effect Een presented as the more important. This article add value as its results are relevant for adequating environmental policies to the transport sector, and as there is a main shortcoming found in the literature review, related with the lack of studies applied to Europe regarding the analysis of CO2 emissions intensity and in particular for the transport sector.