CO emissions, renewable energy, and environmental regulations in the EU countries.

This paper analyzes the factors explaining the slight decrease of CO emissions in the European Union (EU), recorded during the last period. With a focus on 12 EU countries, we apply a panel data analysis over the period 1990 to 2017 and we investigate the impact of renewable energy share in energy production, and the role of EU environmental regulations, in explaining the level of CO emissions. Our static and dynamic panel data analysis points to a negative impact of an increased renewable energy share on CO emissions, while there is no clear evidence about the role of environmental regulations.