Electric power in the EKC : Empirical study of Sweden 1960-2014

This thesis focuses on consumption of electric power and is an attempt to add it to the theoretical framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), which theorizes an inverted U-shaped relation between environmental degradation and economic growth. CO2 emissions per capita, real GDP per capita and electricity consumption per capita in Sweden under the period 1960-2014 are used as variables. Sweden has relatively clean electricity, which I theorize will result in a negative effect on CO2 emissions. The empirical method will be characterized by comparing two regression models, one to test the standard EKC relation and the other to introduce electric power consumption to the EKC. The models are initially estimated by an OLS regression, followed by a series of econometric tests to investigate validity and reliability of the models. The basic EKC-relation seems to exist in Sweden, whereas adding electricity consumption to the equation appears to not be possible in this case