Environmental performances in Europe: An empirical analysis of the convergence among manufacturing sectors

This study focuses on the environmental performances of the European manufacturing industry. Our aim is to test the existence of both absolute and conditional β-convergence as well as σ-convergence in the environmental productivity (i.e., for each sector, the ratio between value added and carbon dioxide emissions) of fourteen sectors for the period 1995-2009 using data from the WIOD database. The results s upport the hypothesis of β-convergence and highlight other factors such as trade openness. In addition, the results indicate that the sectorial share of value added can affect sectorial environmental performances, as shown by a higher speed of convergence. No statistical evidence of σ-convergence is found.