Abstract
This study was aimed at providing a comprehensive environmental analysis of Germany from 1990 to 2015. First, an ecological footprint analysis of the country was conducted using bio-capacity and ecological footprint data. Second, possible decoupling of the country’s economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions was examined using the decoupling factor adopted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Third, the factors affecting aggregated and sector (electricity and heat production) emission changes were identified using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. The empirical findings revealed that Germany experienced a slowly decreasing ecological deficit over the entire period. The decoupling-factor calculations showed absolute decoupling of the country’s real GDP and CO2 emissions. Based on the LMDI calculations, per capita income and population had increasing impacts on aggregated emissions, whereas energy intensity and carbon intensity curbed them substantially. For electricity and heat production, economic activity was the only CO2-accelerating factor observed in the study period. In addition, the fuel structure effect, pollution effect, and electricity intensity considerably reduced the emissions of electricity and heat production. It, therefore, is possible to conclude that Germany is an impressive example of environmental sustainability for other nations.
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Appendix
Appendix
The data utilized for this study were collected from various databases. The annual bio-capacity and ecological footprint data for 1990–2013 were sourced from the GFN (2017), as presented in Table 6.
The decoupling factor calculations required Germany’s data on real GDP and CO2 emissions. For this study, real GDP data were sourced from World Bank’s (2017) World Development Indicators, and CO2 emission data from the UNFCCC (2017). The data covered 1990–2015, as shown in Table 7.
In addition to real GDP and CO2 emission data, the aggregated and sector decomposition analyses required annual data on population, energy use, sector CO2 emissions, and total and fossil-based electricity production. The annual data covered 1990–2015, as presented in Table 8.
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Rüstemoğlu, H. Factors affecting Germany’s green development over 1990–2015: a comprehensive environmental analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 6636–6651 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04132-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04132-2