Environmental Emissions and the Role of Technological Change by Sector of Economic Activity in Greece: An Input – Output Analysis (1988-‘98)

This article presents measures of environmental emissions related to economic activity in Greece for the year 2000, using the environmental input-output approach. More precisely, two different technical coefficients matrices, i.e. for 1988 and 1998 respectively, are used for the calculations concerning year 2000. Any differences in the results have their roots in technological change and are expressed through each year’s technical coefficients matrix. The application derives the air pollutant production intensities by sector of economic activity for the economy as a whole, as well as for each type of emission. The economic data and environmental data are obtained from the Greek NAMEA tables. The paper’s findings demonstrate show that technological change has, in general terms, led to the decrease in emissions and, consequently, air pollution in the 1988-’98 time span.