Research of varying levels of greenhouse gas emissions in European countries using the k-means method

Özet

Greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem. Although the EU countries from 1990 to 2012 reducedtheir total emissions by 19.2% (CO2 eq.), it is still necessary to limit their emissions. In the article thepossibility of using the taxonomic methods that allow grouping (classifying) objects described by manyattributes (variables) is presented. In particular, cluster analysis was used, in which some methods for theisolation of homogeneous subsets of surveyed objects can be distinguished. One of such method is kmeansalgorithm. As a measure of similarity of objects in clusters the Euclidean distance was applied. Inthe analysis 28 European countries were taken as objects of research and they were described by fourattributes (variables), i.e. the emission levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogenoxides and nitrous oxide. The aim of the analysis is to grouping objects e the European countriese into clusters that are most similar to each other in the same cluster and most unlike in other clusters.The research was carried out according to total greenhouse gas emissions, and according to emissions ofthese gases per capita of the countries surveyed. The analyses are based on Eurostat reports