Convergence of Greenhouse Gas Emissions among G7 Countries

The convergence of air pollutants is a major concern for policy makers since all the countries pursue the goal of allocating the emissions equally internationally in the future. Hence the examination of the existence of convergence is important for the climate change protection of the earth. In this paper, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions convergence among the G7 countries for the period between 1990 and 2011 is examined using the pair-wise testing technique proposed by Pesaran (2007) that aims to analyse probabilistic convergence across a large number of cross section units. Next we proceed with multivariate tests for stability and the existence of unit roots. Finally, the analysis is complemented by the use of the panel stationarity test accounting for structural changes as proposed by Carrion-i-Silvestre et al. (2005) test. Overall, the results do not confirm the hypothesis of convergence for the countries in question, although, more recently, the countries have shown a small decline in their GHG emissions.