The relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and Portuguese agricultural productivity

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship among carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, agricultural labour productivity, agricultural land productivity and agricultural raw material exports using a time series for the period 1960-2015. In this article, some theroretical hypotheses are formulated, aiming to explain the bidirectional causality between agricultural productivity and climate change. These hypotheses are tested by using Vector Autoregression (VAR), Granger causality and Vector Error Correction Models (VECM). Results confirm revelant theoretical hypotheses between agricultural productivity and climate change and show that the variables used are stationary. Agricultural labour and land productivity as well as agricultural raw material exports are positively related to CO2 emissions, meaning that these variables stimulate environmental pollution. Empirical results presented in the paper might be of interest to the academic community and also to policymakers.