Decoupling of economic growth and CO2 emissions in 11 European Union Member States in Central and Eastern Europe

The long-term strategy of the European Union (EU) aiming at climate neutrality by 2050 requires fast decarbonization of the energy sector. Here, we study the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in EU Member States in Central and Eastern Europe since 1990. Systemic transformation considerably influenced energy production and greenhouse gas emissions in the region. After having reviewed the geopolitical framing, we discuss the conceptual linkages from energy to climate, climate impact, and sustainability, followed by the examination of national challenges in the implementation of current EU energy and climate policy. The analysis is mostly done on a per capita, per US$, and per MWh basis to render comparisons between large and small countries meaningful. We examine installed electricity generating capacity using renewables, energy intensity of economy, carbon intensity of energy, and carbon intensity of economy. We analyze the time series of GDP per capita and CO2 emissions per capita and examine the relationship between the two. We demonstrate a decoupling: the GDP per capita has grown while CO2 emissions per capita have decreased. We also examine decoupling elasticity using moving time windows. In most cases, either absolute or relative decoupling is observed.