Decoupling Analysis of Energy Consumption and Economic Growth of V4 Countries

Energy is a sector that has a direct impact on citizens’ quality of life and the economic growth of the countries. The production and use of energy satisfies human needs, but also gives rise to a host of adverse environmental pressures, such as greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and the generation of nuclear waste. Energy use leads to noise, water pollution, and ecosystem degradation. Energy-related air pollution also has significant negative effects on human health. To avoid these problems, many countries are closely monitoring their energy intensity and implement the politics and tools to its improvement. The aim of the paper is to perform quantitative evaluation on the relationship between economic development and energy consumption based on decoupling model theory. The paper focuses on the case of V4 countries in the period of 1991-2015. Throughout the more than 20 years examined, the countries spread out into many different forms of decoupling. The results of analysis suggest that in most observed partial variables occurs the strong decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption, what can be considered as positive trend. Though decoupling elasticity convey a positive message, the V4 countries will need to accelerate their implementation of new policies, while restructuring the ways how they meet their demand for energy.