Environmental Impact Determinants: An Empirical Analysis based on the STIRPAT Model

This paper attempt to investigate the impact of economic and population growth, urbanization level, energy intensity and Kyoto protocol obligations on carbon dioxide emissions using the STIRPAT model (STochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology). Our sample of countries is decomposed into groups according to the revenue level and the analyzed period extends from 1980 through 2010. Using several methods to estimate panel data, we find that there is a significant effect of economic growth, population growth, urbanization level and Kyoto protocol on emissions level and this effect depends on the revenue level.