FACTORS AFFECTING ROAD TRANSPORT CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS IN THE VISEGRAD GROUP: A PANEL COINTEGRATION APPROACH

This paper investigates the existence of the long-run relationship between transport carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and road transport energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness in the Visegrad Group countries over the period of 1992-2012. The background of empirical research constitutes the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) approach. Panel cointegration tests confirm the existence of the long-run relationship between CO2 emissions in the transport sector and economic growth, but the results concerning the verification of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis are inconclusive in the Visegrad Group countries. Moreover, the panel cointegration tests show the robustness of the EKC results on the inclusion of two important factors of transportation development, namely road transportrelated energy consumption and trade openness, into the carbon dioxide emissions model.