The environmental and resource productivity as the key element of green economy in EU

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the indicators of environmental and resource productivity of European countries to identify leaders and outsiders and study their trends over recent decades. The results of the analysis showed that the indicators are characterized by uneven development, due to the characteristics of countries and their green policies. The key indicators of the Europe 2020 policy have been used for the analysis, namely resource productivity, greenhouse gas emissions per capita, recycling rate of municipal waste, eco-innovation index, final energy consumption in households. Linear trends for the period 1995-2019 with indication of trend equations were constructed for each indicator. The slope of the functions has been analyzed in order to identify the dynamics of trends. According to the results of the analysis, all indicators except greenhouse gas emissions per capita were characterized by positive dynamics, ie increased. It has been determined that the problematic indicator for EU countries is final energy consumption in households, which requires further detailed research.