Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Agricultural and Industrial Sectors—Change Trends, Economic Conditions, and Country Classification: Evidence from the European Union

The decrease in the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from industry and agriculture is one of the biggest challenges that European Union (EU) countries have to face. Their economic development should occur under the conditions of limiting the pressure on the environment. The agricultural and industrial sectors play a key role in ensuring food security, technological progress, job security, social well-being, economic competitiveness, and sustainable development. The main purpose of this article was to identify and compare the level, trends, and variability in greenhouse gas emissions from industry and agriculture in EU countries in 2010–2019, to create classes of countries with similar gas emissions, and to analyze the average values of their economic conditions. The original contribution to the article was to investigate whether there is a relationship between the level of greenhouse gas emissions and the economic development of countries and other economic indicators characterizing the sectors of industry and agriculture. Empirical data were obtained from the Eurostat and Ilostat databases. Basic descriptive statistics, classification methods, multiple regression, and correlation methods were used in the study. The industrial and agricultural sectors in EU countries emit similar amounts of greenhouse gases into the environment. In the years 2010–2019, the percentage share of emissions from these sectors in total gas emissions was growing dynamically, but no evidence was found indicating that those countries that emitted the most greenhouse gases significantly reduced their emissions in the decade under review. Moreover, EU countries are still significantly and invariably differentiated in this respect. Greenhouse gas emissions from industry and agriculture are influenced by the economic characteristics of these sectors, such as the level of GDP per capita, the scale of investment by enterprises, the expenditure on research and development, as well as employment in these sectors. The findings of this study show that total greenhouse gas emissions from all sources increase with countries’ economic growth, while a higher level of support of EU countries for research and development, and a greater share of employment in both industry and agriculture, translate into higher greenhouse gas emissions from these sectors. These conclusions may be useful for decision makers in developed and developing countries, as well as those in the industrial and agricultural sectors, in controlling and verifying the possible causes of greenhouse gas emissions in terms of the need to reduce their negative role on the environment and human health.