Climate change in the EU: analysis by clustering and regression

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions, social factors of climate change, energy efficiency, modern technologies, renewable energy sources, demographic trends

Abstract


Climate change is often seen as the most global and complex problem the world has been facing during its current development. The emissions of harmful gases, rising temperatures, variable amounts of precipitation, the occurrence of extreme weather conditions affect all countries regardless of their geographical position and level of development. The subject and goal of this paper is to examine the impact of economic, technological and demographic determinants on CO2 emissions in 18 EU countries in the period from 2011 to 2020. In the research are used k-means clustering and panel regression analysis. By the application of k-means clustering, 18 EU countries were grouped into 2 clusters according to the level of emissions of selected greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, HFC, PFC, SF6) per capita. In the “green cluster”, there are the following countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, and Netherlands. The “red cluster” includes the other analyzed EU countries. The results of the panel regression model in the “green cluster” showed that CO2 emissions are statistically significantly and positively influenced by Energy efficiency and Production of electricity by solid fossil fuels. On the other hand, the results of the analysis in the “red cluster” suggested that Research and developments costs turn out to be the most important predictor of CO2 emissions.

Author Biography

Miloš Krstić, Univerzitet u Nišu, Prirodno-matematički fakultet, Departman za matematiku

Miloš Krstić is a research associete who is worked at Faculty of Science and Mathematics at University of Niš (Serbia). He earned his MSc and PhD degree at the Faculty of Economics in Niš. He is a member of the editorial board of the Ekonomika – Journal for Economic Theory and Practice and Social Issues and a member of publishing council of the scientific journal Economics of Sustainable Development. He is an assembly member of the Society of Economists "Економика" Niš and Scientific Society of Economists of Serbia. His main research interests include contemporary economic paradigms (rational choice theory, game theory, social choice theory, rational expectations theory), and macroeconomics. He is an author or coauthor of one book and more than 50 scientific papers.

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Published
2023/06/20
Section
Original Scientific Paper