Search

Despite considerable research attention given to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), little has been known about its true form and particularly the mechanisms that explain it. Using panel quantile regression, this paper designs a multivariate framework for exploring the EKC in the European Union in the period 2004–2017 and unveils the distributional heterogeneity effect hidden therein. It reveals that complexity in the relationship under consideration turned out to be higher than evidenced or assumed in the literature so far since its shape changed the form across the conditional distribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moreover, the paper shows that the use of efficient energy and renewable energy has the power to outweigh the scale effect. Simultaneously, it questions the efficiency of environmental and energy taxes and opens the issue of the rebound effect and the association between energy poverty and GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers energy as a basic resource which together with capital and labor contributes to output creation. It aims to explore whether European Union (EU) regions use these production factors in an efficient way as well as to assess the impact of various environmental variables on technical and energy efficiency. To that end, a two-stage analysis was conducted for the period 2005–2013. The first stage included an estimation of pure technical and total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) scores using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology, while the second one included an exploration of the factors affecting efficiency scores obtained in the first stage by using random-effects panel Tobit regression. The results of DEA show that regional differences in technical and energy efficiency are considerable, whereby most of EU regions failed to utilize efficiently all of their resources. More developed EU regions are more technically and energy efficient. Moreover, most of EU regions experienced deterioration in TFEE in the recession years. The results of Tobit regression analysis, showing that there is a difference in the determinants of technical and energy efficiency, point out that human capital and innovation are particularly important for improving the region's efficiency or ecological performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an industry to succeed in a competitive market, it should continuously take care of not only its stakeholders but also its technical efficiency and productivity. In this paper, data envelopment analysis was combined with Malmquist productivity analysis to investigate the pattern of multifactor productivity changes in the European energy industry over the period from 2005–2016. The results showed that the whole industry was technically inefficient and had large potential for improvement. A slight average increase in productivity that was observed over the studied period proved to be sensitive to the financial and economic situation and equally sensitive to technological and efficiency advances. As for efficiency gains, they reflected the nature of the energy industry, implying that they were due to scale efficiencies rather than human resource improvements. Although technological innovation and the optimal scale of production increased productivity, the slow pace at which this occurred and the negative outlook highlighted by the observed trends call for more serious consideration of the future productivity deployment of the European energy industry, particularly in the context of its decarbonisation, diversification, and modernisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global competition and climate change are changing the nature of economic activity and impose the urgent need to have environmentally sensitive productivity growth. The paper addresses both desirable and undesirable output to assess technical efficiency and productivity changes, as well as evaluate the importance of an energy input in the production function and productivity change differentials in the European Union (EU) over the period 2000–2018. To that end, it uses output-oriented data envelopment analysis and Malmquist productivity analysis. The results reveal that the EU is facing significant challenges due to a decreasing trend in technical efficiency and slow productivity growth. The absence of major improvements in human resource performance has reduced the benefits of technological innovations which are the main source of productivity growth. Additionally, the results show that energy use did not critically influence efficiency and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European energy industry has undergone major transformations over the last twenty years. To grow under new and changing business conditions, it has to reformulate its business strategy and redesign its business model taking into account technical efficiency. The main aim of this paper is to explore technical efficiency and its determinants in the European energy industry in a comparative setting for the period 2005–2016. To that end, a two-stage bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) was employed. In the first stage, the bias-corrected DEA efficiency scores were calculated. Then, in the second stage, they were regressed on selected factors in bootstrap truncated regression to determine the sources of energy company technical efficiency. The results indicate considerable variability in efficiency scores between companies and generally large room for efficiency improvement. The differences in efficiency may be explained by the company-specific characteristics and environmental factors. Particularly, technical efficiency of energy companies may be improved having more educated employees, being agile and prone to the internalization of business and open to competition, as well as less relying on state financial assistance and being more resilient to its pressures. • European energy companies are struggling to cope with technical efficiency. • The company-specific and environmental factors are responsible for differences in efficiency. • Desirable and undesirable output is included in the two-stage bootstrap DEA. • Changes in energy markets demand changes in policy at the business and national/European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]