Environmental pollution and economicgrowth in the European Union countries: A systematic literature review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2025.1.1777Keywords:
Kuznets curve, European Union, CO2, environment, economic growth, energy, systematic reviewAbstract
This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between economic growth and CO₂ emissions in the European Union, with a particular focus on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Through a systematic review of approximately 1,250 scientific publications, machine learning techniques, and multivariate statistical analysis, significant yet complex relationships between these variables have been identified. While the EKC hypothesis often posits a U-shaped or N-shaped relationship, the findings of this research indicate that the actual relationship can vary depending on factors such as foreign trade, energy consumption, and econometric methodologies. Numerous studies emphasise the importance of integrating renewable energy into these models. Overall, the results suggest that the EKC may be insufficient to fully comprehend the intricacies of sector-specific environmental-economic dynamics within the EU.
JEL Classification
Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General (C1)
Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis (C55)
Environment and Growth (O44)
Environment and Development • Environment and Trade • Sustainability • Environmental Accounts and Accounting • Environmental Equity • Population Growth (Q56)
Downloads
References
Abdi, H., & Williams, L. J. (2010). Principal component analysis. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 2(4), 433–459. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/wics.101
View in Google Scholar
Acaravci, A., & Ozturk, I. (2010). On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe. Energy, 35(12), 5412–5420. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.07.009
View in Google Scholar
Agresti, A., & Liu, I. M. (1999). Modeling a categorical variable allowing arbitrarily many category choices. Biometrics, 55(3), 936–943. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0006-341X.1999.00936.x
View in Google Scholar
Al-Mulali, U., Ozturk, I., & Lean, H. H. (2015). The influence of economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and renewable energy on pollution in Europe. Natural Hazards, 79(1), 621–644. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1865-9
View in Google Scholar
Albulescu, C. T., Artene, A. E., Luminosu, C. T., & Tămășilă, M. (2020). CO2 emissions, renewable energy, and environmental regulations in the EU countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 33615–33635. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06155-1
View in Google Scholar
Anwar, M. A., Zhang, Q., Asmi, F., Hussain, N., Plantinga, A., Zafar, M. W., & Sinha, A. (2022). Global perspectives on Environmental Kuznets Curve: A bibliometric review. Gondwana Research, 103, 135–145. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2021.11.010
View in Google Scholar
Arévalo, T., & Antonio, J. (2024). Climate change versus economic growth: Case of greenhouse apply a study of European Union countries and England from 2010 to 2019 using linear regression and neural networks. Sustainability, 16(5), 1884. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051884
View in Google Scholar
Azen, R., & Walker, C. M. (2021). Categorical data analysis for the behavioral and social sciences (2nd ed.). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429330308
View in Google Scholar
Bąk, I., & Cheba, K. (2023). Green transformation: Applying statistical data analysis to a systematic literature review. Energies, 16(1), 253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en16010253
View in Google Scholar
Barros, L., & Martínez-Zarzoso, I. (2022). Systematic literature review on trade liberalization and sustainable development. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 33, 921–931. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.08.012
View in Google Scholar
Bengochea-Morancho, A., Higón-Tamarit, F., & Martínez-Zarzoso, I. (2001). Economic growth and CO2 emissions in the European Union. Environmental and Resource Economics, 19(2), 165–172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011188401445
View in Google Scholar
Bibi, F., & Jamil, M. (2021). Testing Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in different regions. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(11), 13581– 13594. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11516-2
View in Google Scholar
Bilgili, F., Koçak, E., & Bulut, Ü. (2016). The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions: A revisited Environmental Kuznets Curve approach. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 54, 838–845. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.080
View in Google Scholar
Böhringer, C. (2003). The Kyoto Protocol: A review and perspectives. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 19(3), 451–466. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/19.3.451
View in Google Scholar
Brock, W. A., & Taylor, M. S. (2010). The Green Solow model. Journal of Economic Growth, 15(2), 127–153. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-010-9051-0
View in Google Scholar
Dogan, E., & Seker, F. (2016). Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: The role of renewable and non-renewable energy. Renewable Energy, 94, 429– 439. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.03.078
View in Google Scholar
Fakher, H. A., Ahmed, Z., Acheampong, A. O., & Nathaniel, S. P. (2023). Renewable energy, nonrenewable energy, and environmental quality nexus: An investigation of the N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve based on six environmental indicators. Energy, 263, 125660. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.125660
View in Google Scholar
Gardiner, R., & Hajek, P. (2020). Interactions among energy consumption, CO2, and economic development in European Union countries. Sustainable Development, 28(4), 723–740. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2023
View in Google Scholar
Goodman, L. A. (1979). Simple models for the analysis of association in cross-classifications having ordered categories. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 74(367), 537–552. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1979.10481650
View in Google Scholar
Grames, E. M., Stillman, A. N., Tingley, M. W., & Elphick, C. S. (2019). An automated approach to identifying search terms for systematic reviews using keyword co-occurrence networks. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 10(10), 1645–1654. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13268
View in Google Scholar
Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1991). Environmental impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement. NBER Working Papers, 3914. https://ideas.repec.org//p/nbr/nberwo/3914.html DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w3914
View in Google Scholar
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2013). Multivariate data analysis: Pearson new international edition PDF eBook. Pearson Higher Ed.
View in Google Scholar
Hasanov, F. J., Hunt, L. C., & Mikayilov, J. I. (2021). Estimating different order polynomial logarithmic Environmental Kuznets Curves. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 41965–41987. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13463-y
View in Google Scholar
Hjellbrekke, J. (2018). Multiple correspondence analysis for the social sciences. Routledge.
View in Google Scholar
Husnain, M. I. U., Haider, A., & Khan, M. A. (2021). Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve reliably explain a developmental issue? Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 11469–11485. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11402-x
View in Google Scholar
Husson, F., Le, S., & Pagès, J. (2017). Exploratory multivariate analysis by example using R (2nd ed.). Chapman and Hall/CRC. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/b21874
View in Google Scholar
Kaika, D., & Zervas, E. (2013). The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory. Part B: Critical issues. Energy Policy, 62, 1403–1411. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.130
View in Google Scholar
Kasman, A., & Duman, Y. S. (2015). CO2 emissions, economic growth, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in new EU member and candidate countries: A panel data analysis. Economic Modelling, 44, 97–103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2014.10.022
View in Google Scholar
Kuznets, S. (1955). Economic growth and income inequality. The American Economic Review, 45(1), 1–28.
View in Google Scholar
Lame, G. (2019). Systematic literature reviews: An introduction. Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 1(1), 1633–1642. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsi.2019.169
View in Google Scholar
Lau, L. S., Yii, K. J., Ng, C. F., Tan, Y. L., & Yiew, T. H. (2023). Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis: A bibliometric review of the last three decades. Energy & Environment, 36(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0958305X231177734
View in Google Scholar
Leal, P. H., & Marques, A. C. (2022). The evolution of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis assessment: A literature review under a critical analysis perspective. Heliyon, 8(11), e11521. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11521
View in Google Scholar
Mardani, A., Streimikiene, D., Cavallaro, F., Loganathan, N., & Khoshnoudi, M. (2019). Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and economic growth: A systematic review of two decades of research from 1995 to 2017. Science of The Total Environment, 649, 31–49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.229
View in Google Scholar
Martínez-Zarzoso, I., Bengochea-Morancho, A., & Morales-Lage, R. (2007). The impact of population on CO2 emissions: Evidence from European countries. Environmental and Resource Economics, 38(4), 497–512. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-007-9096-5
View in Google Scholar
Newell, P., & Paterson, M. (1996). From Geneva to Kyoto: The second conference of the parties to the UN framework convention on climate change. Environmental Politics, 5(4), 729–735. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644019608414300
View in Google Scholar
Nightingale, A. (2009). A guide to systematic literature reviews. Surgery (Oxford), 27(9), 381–384. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mpsur.2009.07.005
View in Google Scholar
Onofrei, M., Vatamanu, A. F., & Cigu, E. (2022). The relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in EU countries: A cointegration analysis. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.934885
View in Google Scholar
Panayotou, T. (1993). Empirical tests and policy analysis of environmental degradation at different stages of economic development. ILO Working Papers, 992927783402676. International Labour Organization. https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/iloilowps/992927783402676.htm
View in Google Scholar
Pejović, B., Karadžić, V., Dragašević, Z., & Backović, T. (2021). Economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the countries of the European Union and the Western Balkans. Energy Reports, 7, 2775–2783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2021.05.011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2021.05.011
View in Google Scholar
Rose, S., Engel, D., Cramer, N., & Cowley, W. (2010). Automatic keyword extraction from individual documents. In M. W. Berry & J. Kogan (Eds.), Text mining: Applications and theory (pp. 1–20). John Wiley & Sons. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470689646.ch1
View in Google Scholar
Samper, J. A., Schockling, A., & Islar, M. (2021). Climate politics in Green Deals: Exposing the political frontiers of the European Green Deal. Politics and Governance, 9(2), 8–16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v9i2.3853
View in Google Scholar
Sarkodie, S. A., & Strezov, V. (2019). A review on Environmental Kuznets Curve hy- pothesis using bibliometric and meta-analysis. Science of The Total Environment, 649, 128–145. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.276
View in Google Scholar
Schleussner, C. F., Rogelj, J., Schaeffer, M., Lissner, T., Licker, R., Fischer, E. M., Knutti, R., Levermann, A., Frieler, K., & Hare, W. (2016). Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal. Nature Climate Change, 6(9), 827–835. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3096
View in Google Scholar
Shahbaz, M., & Sinha, A. (2019). Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emissions: A literature survey. Journal of Economic Studies, 46(1), 106–168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-09-2017-0249
View in Google Scholar
Sovacool, B. K., Griffiths, S., Kim, J., & Bazilian, M. (2021). Climate change and industrial F-gases: A critical and systematic review of developments, sociotechnical systems and policy options for reducing synthetic greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 141, 110759. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.110759
View in Google Scholar
Spreng, C. P., & Spreng, D. (2019). Paris is not enough: Toward an Information Technology (IT) enabled transnational climate policy. Energy Research & Social Science, 50, 66–72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.11.015
View in Google Scholar
Stern, D. I. (2017). The Environmental Kuznets Curve after 25 years. Journal of Bioeconomics, 19(1), 7–28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-017-9243-1
View in Google Scholar
Szpilko, D., & Ejdys, J. (2022). European Green Deal—research directions. A systematic literature review. Economics and Environment, 81(2), 8–38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34659/eis.2022.81.2.455
View in Google Scholar
Tchapchet Tchouto, J. E. (2023). An empirical assessment on the leveraging evidence of economic complexity under Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis: A comparative analysis between Nordic and Non-Nordic European countries. Innovation and Green Development, 2(4), 100074. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.igd.2023.100074
View in Google Scholar
Vela Almeida, D., Kolinjivadi, V., Ferrando, T., Roy, B., Herrera, H., Vecchione Gonçalves, M., & Van Hecken, G. (2023). The “greening” of empire: The European Green Deal as the EU first agenda. Political Geography, 105, 102925. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102925
View in Google Scholar
Voumik, L. C., Rahman, M., & Akter, S. (2022). Investigating the EKC hypothesis with renewable energy, nuclear energy, and R&D for EU: Fresh panel evidence. Heliyon, 8(12), e12447. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12447
View in Google Scholar
Wang, Q., Yang, T., & Li, R. (2023). Does income inequality reshape the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis? A nonlinear panel data analysis. Environmental Research, 216, 114575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114575
View in Google Scholar
Wiedermann, W., & von Eye, A. (2020). Log-linear models to evaluate direction of effect in binary variables. Statistical Papers, 61(1), 317–346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00362-017-0936-2
View in Google Scholar
Xiao, Y., & Watson, M. (2019). Guidance on conducting a systematic literature relanning Education and Research, 39(1), 93–112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X17723971
View in Google Scholar
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Błażej Suproń

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.