Abstract

Income inequality plays as a driver of direct and indirect CO₂ emissions from the household sector. Existing research has done a lot of work on the accounting methods and influencing factors of household direct CO₂ emissions and indirect CO₂ emissions. There are few studies on the impact of income inequality on direct and indirect household CO₂ emissions under different emission levels. This research investigates the impact of income inequality on both direct and indirect CO₂ emissions of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2015 using the STIRPAT model and panel quantile regression method. Theil index is selected to measure income inequality, population, per capita consumption level, energy intensity, urbanization, and industrial structure as control variables. The results indicate that the level of regional inequality is gradually increasing from the east to the west. The household indirect CO₂ emissions in the east increased fastest, while the household direct CO₂ emissions in the west increased fastest. Income inequality significantly promoted direct CO₂ emissions under all quantile levels, while the impact on indirect CO₂ emissions is not significant. Population and per capita consumption will promote direct and indirect CO₂ emissions. Urbanization has no significant impact on direct CO₂ emissions. Only at the 90th percentile level is there a significant negative correlation between energy intensity and indirect CO₂ emissions. Industrial structure significantly increases direct CO₂ emissions at the 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles, while the impact on indirect CO₂ emissions is not significant.

Graphic abstract