Decoupling of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Economic Growth in V4 Countries

The growing concern of climate change has made greenhouse gas emissions, mostly as a result of anthropogenic activities, an important matter of research. The aim of the paper is to perform quantitative evaluation on the relationship between economic development and production of greenhouse gas emissions based on decoupling model theory. The paper focuses on the case of V4 countries in the period of 1991 – 2012. Throughout the more than 20 years examined, the countries spread out into many different forms of decoupling. The results of analysis suggest that in most observed partial variables occurs the strong decoupling of economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions, what can be considered as positive trend. Though decoupling elasticity convey a positive message, data indicate that, in order to meet its 2050 ambitious objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the V4 countries will need to accelerate their implementation of new policies, while restructuring the ways how they meet their demand for energy, food, transport and housing.