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Urban, Frauke and Nordensvard, Johan (2018) 'Low Carbon Energy Transitions in the Nordic Countries: Evidence from the Environmental Kuznets Curve.' Energies, 11 (9).

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Alternative Location: https://doi.org/10.3390/en11092209

Abstract

Low carbon energy transitions are important to mitigate climate change, reduce air pollution, and reduce fossil fuel resource depletion. The Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) are seen as leaders in low carbon energy transitions. This paper provides a comparative data analysis of low carbon energy transitions in the Nordic countries from the 1960s to 2015, and assesses evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The paper finds that the EKC has been observed in Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden in terms of total CO2 emissions, but not in Norway and Finland. For per capita CO2 emissions, there is evidence for the EKC in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden, but not for Norway. For energy use per capita, the EKC is only observed for Denmark, while improvements are needed for the other countries. Norway is an outlier, in comparison with the other Nordic countries, hence the country should implement more stringent climate change mitigation policies to reduce its emissions. Overall, the research suggests that the Nordic countries, particularly Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, can provide valuable lessons for national, regional, and global low carbon energy transitions.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: low carbon energy; energy transition; Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; Sweden; hydro; geothermal; wind; Environmental Kuznets Curve
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Interdisciplinary Studies > Centre for Development, Environment and Policy
ISSN: 19961073
Copyright Statement: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.3390/en11092209
Date Deposited: 10 Oct 2018 10:32
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/26569

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