A Review of Economic and Environment Indicators and Energy Efficiency: Evidence from the EU and Serbia

Abstract Energy is a globally important factor of production - the growth of population and income increase energy consumption, so there is an urge to decrease it. However, there are different ways to reduce energy consumption, and one of them is energy efficiency. The aim of the paper is to give a theoretical review of energy efficiency and its benefits. The purpose of the paper is the analysis of economic and environmental indicators and energy efficiency in EU27 (after 2020) and Serbia. The trends of energy efficiency, GDP per capita and GHG emission are shown for the observed countries. The European and Serbian policies and targets for energy efficiency are presented and also the level these countries have reached the set targets. In order to see the relationship between energy efficiency, GDP per capita and GHG emission, the correlation among all variables is applied. The results show that energy efficiency is higher in EU27 than in Serbia. Even though Serbia had energy efficiency increase during the observed period (1995-2018), it lags behind the EU27. However, there is a positive correlation between energy efficiency and GDP and GHG emission in both EU27 and Serbia.