The role of services in the environmental Kuznets curve

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of services activity in the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) model regarding carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The analysis is applied for Spain during the period 1940-2014. It compares the standard environmental Kuznets curve model and its modification by isolating the evolution of services effect. The results through the autoregressive distributed-lag (ARDL) estimation strategy confirm that even though all economic activities tend to be more and more sustainable, it is the evolution of services sector that becomes fundamental in the reduction of per capita CO2 emissions.