The interdependencies between economic growth, energy consumption and pollution in Europe

Abstract

The strong interdependency between economic growth and conventional energy consumption have led to significant environmental impact, especially with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. Conventional energy-intensive industries release increasing quantities every year, which has prompted global leaders to consider new approaches based on sustainable consumption. The main purpose of this research is to propose a new energy index that accounts for the complexity and interdependences between the research variables. The methodology is based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and combines the key components determined into a score that allows for both temporal and cross-country comparisons. All data analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25™. The main findings show that most countries improved their economic performance since 2014, but the speed of the improvement varies a lot from one country to another. The final score determined reflects the complex changes taking place in each country and the efficiency of the governmental measures for sustainable economic growth based on low energy consumption and low environmental pollution.