title: A new LDMI decomposition approach to explain emission development in the EU: individual and set contribution.
abstract: This study breaks down carbon emissions into six effects within the current 28 European Union (EU) countries group, thereafter, they are divided into two different groups (the first 15 countries (EU-15) and the last 13 entering the EU (EU13)). Country-specific highlights are also examined. It analyses the evolution of the effects using a data span that runs from 1990 to 2014, to determine which of them had more impact on the intensity of emissions, while also breaking down the complete period into two distinct periods (before the Kyoto protocol (1990-2004) and after Kyoto (2005-2014)). In order to add more knowledge to the current literature, both the additive and multiplicative decomposition techniques were used to examine carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the selected six components: carbon intensity, fossil fuel consumption, energy intensity, oil imports intensity, oil dependence, and population effect. Results point to different adapting velocities for Kyoto targets and necessary compromises. The different velocities were translated into different positive and negative impacts in the change of behavior of CO2emissions throughout Europe. A stress in the fluctuations in CO2variations before and after Kyoto and between the two different groups of EU countries could be noticed. Moreover, energy intensity and per capita dependence of oil products were identified as the major responsible components for the total and negative changes of emissions in recent years. A decrease in total changes of emissions is observed due to the fossil fuel energy consumption effect and total petroleum products effects. It is possible to infer from here that increased renewable capacity is contributing in a positive way to eco-efficiency, and should therefore be accounted for in national policymakers' decisions in the strongest way possible. Results also seem to indicate that per capita dependence of oil products has decreased, despite oil imports intensity constancy and increased renewable capacity, however, with clear heterogeneous effects, worthy of consideration when defining policies.
authors.affiliation: GOVCOPP - Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939); DEGEIT - Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. maramadaleno@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Mara
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4905-2771
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Madaleno
authors.affiliation: GOVCOPP - Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939); DEGEIT - Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moutinho
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D004736:Energy-Generating Resources; D005060:Europe; D005062:European Union; D005579:Fossil Fuels
chemical_list: D005579:Fossil Fuels; D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: Components of carbon dioxide; Decomposition analysis; Emissions intensity; European countries; Individual and set contributions; Petroleum per capita dependence