Abstract
Research background: The production and use of energy satisfies human needs, but also gives rise to a host of adverse environmental pressures, such as air pollution and waste generation. The issue of energy efficiency and climate chance resonates in the energy sector as one of the main producers of green-house gas emissions (GHG). While the European Union in general is doing well in reducing emissions and increasing the share of renewables, unfortunately, there are countries that are still far from reaching their goal.
 Purpose of the article: The paper is focused on the quantitative assessment of the link between the economic growth of the energy sector and the production of GHG emissions by the energy sector in V4 countries during the period 1995?2016. For this purpose, decoupling analysis will be realized.
 Methods: The decoupling of economic growth and the environmental pressures caused by this growth has a rich tradition within the sustainable development literature. The decoupling method was chosen for its ability to link economic and environmental indicators. Decoupling elasticity will be calculated with the aim of assessing the relationship between the economic growth of the energy sector (measured in GVA) and GHG emissions produced by the energy sector in V4 countries within the research period. Decoupling elasticity indicates different forms of the decoupling and coupling of the two variables.
 Findings & Value added: The results of the analysis suggest the prevailing strong decoupling of the economic growth of the energy sector and GHG emissions produced by the energy sector, which can be considered a positive trend. The findings of this paper are relevant for the government, state and public institutions and stakeholders in general, who play important roles in the preparation of programs, projects and policies to make energy generation, transport and use more efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Highlights
Energy is currently one of the key factors of economic growth, and under the conditions of the gradual depletion of limited resources, it becomes a strategic issue
Decoupling elasticity will be calculated with the aim of assessing the relationship between the economic growth of the energy sector and green-house gas emissions (GHG) emissions produced by the energy sector in V4 countries within the research period
The aim of the paper is to discuss the link between the GHG emissions produced by the energy sector in V4 countries and the economic growth of the energy sector
Summary
Energy is currently one of the key factors of economic growth, and under the conditions of the gradual depletion of limited resources, it becomes a strategic issue. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, set the objective of the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” “within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner” (UN, 1992) This objective quantified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, requiring an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% by the end of 2012 (by the end of the first control period 2008–2012) compared to the reference year 1990 for the countries included in Annex I of the UNFCCC
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