Exploring the Deep Roots of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (Ekc): Evidence from a Global Sample

Our paper adopts a deep-roots approach to examining the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) by tracing its origins beyond industrialization and into the dawn of human civilization. We hypothesize that the roots of environmental degradation lie not only in modern-day markets or technology, but in the evolutionary arc of societies themselves. Using a two-stage empirical framework applied to a sample of 130 countries, we show that early transitions into agriculture, technology adoption, and human settlement patterns shaped modern growth trajectories, which in turn influence environmental degradation in line with EKC dynamics. Our findings imply that climate change is not merely a policy failure but also a civilizational inheritance, and sustainable futures cannot be engineered solely through contemporary interventions. Therefore, climate policy must evolve from reactive governance to deep-time reengineering to realign humanity’s path with the planet’s limits, not just for today, but for millennia ahead.