• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.583-615
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• 2019

This paper investigates the level of decoupling between greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth in Korea. Despite previous studies mainly stressed the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, the lack of investigations in the level of decoupling constraints further policy suggestions. This study analyzes the level of decoupling in the short- and long-term, focusing on short-term volatility of GHG emissions income elasticity. In the long run, there is no decoupling in Korea because a robust causal relationship exists between GHGs, GDP, and fossil fuels. However, the short-term volatility is clearly identified under the long-term equilibrium(coupling), indicating there is the relative decoupling in the short run. The results show that fossil fuel dependence is a significant factor that increases short-term volatility(decoupling) and breaks the causal link(coupling) between GHGs and GDP.