The Effect of Environmental Degradation, Climate Change, and the European Green Deal Tools on Life Satisfaction

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The most important recommendation for the peer-reviewed article is the inexhaustive discussion of the results obtained and the very laconic summary and conclusions. The article is based on solid empirical foundations and an extensive econometric model. The results are presented in a clear way in the form of tables. On the other hand, the main comments to this article relate to the discussion of the results obtained and then translating them into a solid summary. It should refer to the literature review conducted in the introductory part and in particular make more reference to the European Green Deal, which is so strongly emphasised in the title. In the reviewer's opinion the superficial treatment of this part wastes the potential of the results obtained in the empirical part. 

Author Response

In the text, following your recommendations and suggestions, we have introduced and improved those parts that you have indicated to us. Mainly, the introduction in which more references to the European Green Deal have been included. 

I am sending you again the work with the revisions made. 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript examines the impact of how the broader environmental issues of the European Green Deal affect the well-being of the European population.

The article is well written and organised; however, for a better understanding of the data analysed, please supplement the manuscript text with the following information:

111 - please list which European countries were taken into account in your research. The article mentions 33 European countries. Which countries are these? According to which key were they selected? Are they e.g. EU27 and ...?

123 - please list the names/abbreviations of countries (e.g. UK, DE, AT, ES) classified in H1

128 - please, list the names/abbreviations of countries (e.g. UK, DE, AT, ES) classified in H2

131 - List names/abbreviations of countries (e.g. UK, DE, AT, ES) classified in H3

133 - list the names/abbreviations of countries (e.g. UK, DE, AT, ES) classified in H4

135 - please list country names/abbreviations (e.g. UK, DE, AT, ES) classified in H5

136:139 - please add information: over the analysed years 1999-2019, were all countries in the analysis treated equally (e.g. without division into EU membership, less developed countries, from the former Eastern bloc, etc.)? Or were they grouped?

136:139 - Over the period 1999-2019, the membership of European countries in international organisations, economic and political unions, e.g. the European Union, changed. Did the authors take into account in their research the impact of such changes on the welfare of the analysed European population?

Author Response

111 - The changes you have indicated have been made.

123 - The changes you have indicated have been made.

128 - The changes you have indicated have been made.

131 - The changes you have indicated have been made

133 - The changes you have indicated have been made.

135 - The changes you have indicated have been made.

136:139 - In line 201-203, it has been indicated that "In this study we have not introduced fixed effects that distinguish the peculiarities of the countries as this would reduce the number of observations in the model".

Thanks you for your comments and suggestion

Reviewer 3 Report

The proposed article studies the important question - The effect of environmental degradation, climate change and the European Green Deal tools on Life Satisfaction. From the overall presentation I would say that an interesting research work has been done. However, I have a few more significant challenges with the paper. 

From my point of view, there are some revisions the authors should consider to improve the paper. 

• To be consistent with the aims of the Journal- “Energies”, the theme of energy must be central or in any case strongly interdependent with the object of the research. Therefore, the authors should include more arguments in order to show the link between the aim of article and aim of the Journal. 
• The theoretical part remains at a modest level. At this stage, it does not yet provide an in-depth review of the previous literature. It is more a description than analysis. Therefore, a more detailed explanation of theoretical background and research design needs to be supplemented for this paper to be published. 
• The original contribution of the research has to be presented by focusing on the research results based on the research questions. 
• It would be appropriate to specify in more detail how this research differs from the already published paper that deals with a similar topic. To increase the significance of the results, the discussion part should embrace the differences and similarities among your findings and those of other scholars. 

• The discussion and implications are rather short, and they should be extended.  
• Conclusions should be expanded, pointing to the limitations of the analyzed problem and defining the directions of further research. You need to improve the practical and academic implications. 

 

 

 

Author Response

First of all thank you very much for your comments and suggestions to improve the paper. 
In the revision we have modified all those aspects that you have indicated. The introduction has been improved by including a larger bibliography and focusing it in a different way. Among them, different articles on energy, environment and welfare have been included. The focus has been placed on the importance of energy consumption for environmental deterioration. On the other hand, the conclusions have been improved and, in it, the results have been related not only to the hypotheses but also compared with other studies that appear in the literature review.
We hope that this version will be better realized.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors, 

In the revised version, the manuscript has been extended and improved and my comments have been covered.  

Conclusions should be expanded, pointing to the limitations of the analyzed problem and defining the directions of further research. You need to improve the practical and academic implications. 

 

Best regards 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

The conclusions have been expanded, limitations have been shown, and new lines of future research have been proposed. In addition, practical and academic implications of this work are indicated at the end of the conclusions.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions, we hope we have done all that you have indicated.