Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/88250 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 1211
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
Drawing on the Kaya identity, we assess the role of the main driver of the decline in carbon intensity, namely the (economic) energy intensity. Using meta-significance testing for a sample of 44 studies, dealing with the causality between energy and GDP, we find that both variables are strongly coupled. Hence, after having exhausted energy savings from nonrecurring structural changes, the economic energy intensity may soon converge than being arbitrarily reducible. We suggest, therefore, not to rely on further reductions of economic energy intensity but rather to invest in the reduction of the carbon intensity of energy to mitigate climate change.
Subjects: 
Climate change mitigation
Kaya identity
Energy intensity
Meta-significance testing
JEL: 
C83
Q43
Q51
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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