Rethinking the Climate Change–Inequality Nexus: The Role of Wealth Inequality, Economic Growth, and Renewable Energy in CO2 Emissions

Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and implementing sustainable environmental policies require the identification of the economic, political, ecological, and social factors that affect emission levels. To this end, this study examines, for the first time, the impact of wealth inequality, economic growth, and renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions in 17 countries with the highest wealth inequality over the 1995–2021 period. This study employs a novel and robust approach, the method of moments quantile regression, to analyze the relationships among these variables. Findings support the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis by displaying that economic growth initially increases CO2 emissions but has a dampening effect after a turning point. Moreover, renewable energy consumption reduces CO2 emissions, where certain as increasing wealth inequality contributes to higher CO2 emissions. These results underscore the need for policymakers to adopt more egalitarian socioeconomic models, accelerate the transition to clean energy, and maintain robust environmental policies to achieve sustainable development goals.