Regional patterns of transport CO2 and total CO2 emissions in the EU15 countries

The decarbonisation of the economy is a well-established international trend in environmental research. Decarbonisation is normally defined as a decreasing carbon intensity of the economy, measured by dividing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with the gross domestic product (GDP). The paper compares two aspects of the carbon intensity of the economy: (1) The total CO2 emission intensity of the economy and (2) the transport CO2 emission intensity of the economy. Data is gathered from the current fifteen European Union (EU15) countries from 1960 to 1999. The countries are grouped by cluster analysis and regional patterns of the groupings are analysed. It can be concluded that while the total CO2 intensity of the economy has decreased, the transport CO2 intensity has in fact increased in the EU15 countries. Regarding the whole period, only Ireland and Austria showed decreasing transport CO2 intensity. It seems, that in the 1990?s a change in the trend was achieved also in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom. In the United States, transport CO2 intensity began to decrease already in the mid 1970?s, but still in 1999 the figures were approximately two times greater than that of the EU15. Key words: carbon dioxide emissions, transport, carbon intensity, european union

Energy Revolution in Cuba : Pioneering for the Future?

The aim of this report is to make Cuban energy reforms more widely known. Cuba has succeeded in achieving high human development index while keeping its ecological footprint small. This is largely because of the low energy consumption in the country. At the same time the electrification rate is one of the highest in the Caribbean region. Even at the time of energy crisis the electrification continued in the remote rural areas, mostly based on renewable energy sources and having priorities set in electrifying schools, health centres and communal centres

Interlinkages between Energy, Environmental Changes and Livelihoods in Laotian Households : Findings from 14 Focus Group Discussions

This publication presents and discusses the findings of 14 focus group discussions (FGD) conducted in different parts of Laos in early 2011 as a part of the project “Interlinkages Between Energy and Livelihoods – Data, Training and Scenarios for Sustainable Energy Planning in Laos (INES)”, which is a project funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Nordic Development Fund in the framework of Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP) Mekong in South East Asia. The INES project was implemented by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Laos. The overall objective of the project is to improve the capacity of decision makers in Laos to promote sustainable long-term energy planning. In addition, the aim has been to provide qualitative and quantitative data on rural and urban resources and livelihood strategies and increase the knowledge of energy resources and use, and sustainable use of natural resources in Laos

Sustainability and economic growth: a theoretical framework and empirical demonstrations

In the article fundamental principles of sustainable development are discussed first from general points of view. Sustainable development is seen as a late-modern idea of progress, i.e. an ethos for improvement of human partnership within the earth’s life support system in the current late-industrial times and the future. Secondly a macro-oriented conceptual framework of conditions necessary for advancement of ecological sustainability of the economy and society is formulated and analyzed. The theoretical framework presented is a set of logical identities, which define relationships between the total environmental stress (TES) and basic indicators of economic, technological and social development. The framework, called the Total Environmental Stress Approach of FFRC, provides necessary but not sufficient conditions for advancing ecological sustainability

Decomposition method in sustainability analysis

Decomposition approach is a way to analyse a society and its structural changes. It can be applied in the analyses of energy, material, labour and capital use. Linking the decomposition analyses to sustainability remarkably widens the scope of efficiency analysis that has been the traditional way to utilise decomposition in the case of energy studies. The formulas given above can be utilised in sector or international analyses and comparisons of economies. The presented exact decomposition method together with the developed sustainability models are powerful tools to analyse the development of societies and their sustainability in quantitative terms