GHG Emissions Mitigation in the European Union Based on Labor Market Changes

Mihaela Simionescu,Adam Wojciechowski,Yuriy Bilan,Piotr Zawadzki,Marcin Rabe

doi:10.3390/en14020465

Abstract

The effects of the labor market on environmental issues are an actual problem at the global level, and recommendations are required to achieve equilibrium between labor productivity and environmental protection. Considering the ecological limits of work and the necessity of reducing the working time to mitigate GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, this paper aims to assess the impact of the labor market on GHG emissions in the EU-28 countries. Using panel data models for 2007–2019, a positive effect of working time for employed persons on GHG emissions was detected. Labor productivity has a positive impact on emissions for most of the developed countries in the EU (old member states), while the effect is negative in the case of most of the new member states, which suggests that more efforts should be made by old member states to correlate labor productivity with a sustainable level of GHG emissions. As a novelty for research in the field, we assessed also the effect of targeted labor utilization on GHG emissions in order to describe the context of a sustainable economy that is an objective for each country in the EU. These results suggest that progress in GHG emissions mitigation might be achieved by reducing the working time for employed persons, which will also improve well-being. These recommendations could be useful also for other developed countries outside the EU that encounter the same difficulties.

Highlights

The connection between GDP and carbon emissions has opened up new approaches to dealing with climate change mitigation, including initiatives to slow down output growth
As the main aim of the paper is to assess the relationship between labor market and GHG emissions, the variables used in this research will refer to indicators related to the labor market (working time for employed persons in hours per week provided by Eurostat, labor productivity in GDP per hour worked out from OECD whereby GDP is in USD, constant prices, 2010 PPPs, target labor utilization in hours per year calculated by authors using labor productivity, carbon budget per capita and carbon intensity provided by OECD and Eurostat) and GHG emissions provided by Eurostat
Labor productivity has a positive impact on emissions for most of the developed countries in the EU, while the effect is negative in the cases of most of the new member states, which suggests that more efforts should be made by old member states to correlate labor productivity to a sustainable level of GHG emissions

Summary

Introduction

The connection between GDP and carbon emissions has opened up new approaches to dealing with climate change mitigation, including initiatives to slow down output growth. In this context, working time reduction might be a key policy measure to reduce emissions and protect employment. This study is the first to deal with the relationship between GHG emissions and working hours in EU countries. A similar approach was proposed for the US by Fitzgerald et al (2018) to study the connection between average working hours and carbon emissions [1]. Beside the benefits of reductions in working hours for emissions mitigation, social and economic benefits are enhanced, such as lower unemployment and well-being improvement

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion