Analysis of the international inequality in CO₂ emissions. The contribution of income inequality and other factors

This paper analyzes the inequality in per capita CO2 emissions across countries and studies the relationship of this inequality with the international inequality in per capita income. In order to analyze the driving forces of emissions inequality we apply the methodology developed by Duro and Padilla (2006) for decomposing this inequality into different components. This will allow us to show the importance of income, energy intensity and carbon intensity of energy (carbonization index) inequalities and two interaction terms in determining the inequality in emissions. We also undertake the analysis for different groups of countries, classified according to their GNI per capita, studying the contribution of income inequality and the other components to between and within group inequality. The results confirm the main relevance of income inequality in explaining inequality in CO2 emissions across countries, and that the reductions in emissions inequality experienced in the period analyzed are mainly attributable to the reductions in income inequality. However, the other factors also make a significant contribution-especially to the within-groups inequality. © 2009 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.