Environmental Kuznets Curve At Home? New Evidence On CO2 Emissions and Income of Polish Households Living In Detached Houses

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the housing sector remains an important challenge for a climate policy. This study provides new evidence on the ability of Poles inhabiting single-family houses to reduce the pressure on the environment as income grows. We apply the environmental Kuznets curve to consider different cross-sections of households. The study operates on micro-level data from the Polish energy consumption survey complemented with data from budget survey both compiled by Statistics Poland in 2018. We estimate CO2 emissions as a proxy of environmental degradation based on the households' consumption of eight energy sources. To highlight the importance of the national energy mix, we examined two scenarios: the current mix, and zero carbon electricity.Our findings confirm the existence of the inverted U-shaped EKC, which is prominent in the case of small houses. This is due to the under-consumption of energy for the poorest households and the higher energy efficiency of buildings and use of less carbon-intensive fuels for wealthier households. Insulated modern houses are found on the falling part, whilst hidden energy poverty corresponds to the raising part of the curve