Income inequality and climate change: An analysis on BRICS+ countries

Global climate change and income inequality are two of the most important structural problems facing humanity at the beginning of the 21st century. The simultaneous deterioration trends observed in both areas have made investigating whether these two problems are interrelated an important agenda from an environmental policy perspective. The main objective of this thesis is to empirically analyze the relationship between income inequality and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. To reveal how this relationship differs in country groups with different economic structures and inequality levels, OECD and BRICS+ countries are analyzed comparatively. Within the scope of the analysis, the relationship between per capita CO₂ emissions and income inequality indicators (Gini coefficient, income shares of the richest 10% and the poorest 50%) is evaluated through Excel-based distributional analysis and graphical comparisons. The findings reveal that income distribution is significantly related to carbon emissions and that this relationship varies according to the economic structure of countries. Especially in BRICS+ countries, the level of inequality is higher and this is associated with higher carbon emissions. In this context, it is evaluated that improvements in income distribution may have a mitigating effect on emissions. This study offers a new perspective on the multidimensional relationship between income distribution and environmental sustainability and aims to contribute to the literature in this respect.