Ofelia Ema Aleca

ABSTRACT This study investigates how economic growth affects renewable electricity consumption in the European Union, using Tapio and LMDI on data from 2013 to 2022. Our analysis reveals that Western European countries decouple growth from energy use more effectively than Eastern ones. Economic instability and the weakness of green policies hinder the progress, economic fragility and poverty further slow the transition to sustainability.

1. Introduction Industry 4.0 represents a major digital transformation in society. It relies on advanced technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning. These innovations help organizations improve their operations and increase productivity. However, implementing these technologies also requires new skills from the workforce and, sometimes, significant financial investments.

1. Introduction Emerging digital technologies such as AI, machine learning, robots, big data, and cloud computing have sparked a growing interest in economic process automation as a means of driving economic growth [1]. Applications that integrate AI are increasingly replacing tasks traditionally performed by professionals such as lawyers, accountants, teachers, and people in other professional categories [2]. These changes also cause controversy regarding social inclusion [1].