Measuring Carbon Emissions Performance in 123 Countries: Application of Minimum Distance to the Strong Efficiency Frontier Analysis

In this paper, we have proposed a general approach to obtain a projection of the nearest targets and minimum distance for a given unit. The method takes undesirable output into account. The idea behind it is that nearest targets and minimum distance lead to less variation in inputs and outputs of the inefficient decision making units (DMUs) being evaluated to reach the production possibility set (PPS) frontier. Our results have shown that the carbon emissions comprehensive performance indexes (CECPIs) of developing countries are lower than those of developed countries, and that the inefficiency shares of energy consumption, capital stock and desirable output are declining while those of labor force and undesirable output are climbing. Further, using cluster analysis, we have shown that nine countries, including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Iraq, should take severe measures to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. Moreover, the gap in CECPIs among the 123 countries is narrowing by kernel density estimation