Energy sector: a cross-country resource and impact decoupling analysis

Traditionally energy consumption and economic growth have been closely related, in an unsustainable manner. However, common concerns with energy security and climate change has led developed and emerging countries to promote resource and impact decoupling to achieve energy sustainability. This paper presents a cross-country comparison of decoupling trends in order to assess the impact of economic growth on energy consumption and on energy-related CO2 emissions, between 1990 and 2013. Results show a greater decoupling dynamic between energy and carbon emissions as environmental pressures from GDP PPP than population as a driving force. Therefore policy-makers should take into consideration not only technical but also behavioural features to attain effective energy decoupling, regarding resource and impact aspects.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.