Carbon and energy intensity of the USA and Germany. A LMDI decomposition approach and decoupling analysis

The present study investigates the driving factors leading energy and carbon intensity of the economies of the USA and Germany, being two economies with different structures and dependencies on energy while they are among the world’s economic and geopolitical leading players. Both decoupling and decomposition analysis (overall and sectoral) are applied to identify and rank factors defining carbon and energy intensity during the period from 2000 to 2017, with the so-called financial crisis being within this period. The decoupling analysis denotes that these advanced economies have reached a weak decoupling status, while decomposition analysis confirms the leading role of energy intensity in CO(2) emissions, followed by the income (positive contribution) and the energy mix emerge as important factors with population (positive contribution) trend to be an additional factor only in the USA. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-22978-x.