Convergence of clubs between per capita carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cement production

Abstract

Various studies have addressed the issue of convergence in carbon dioxide emissions at an aggregate level, ignoring the analysis of such emissions at a higher level of disaggregation. In order to cover this gap, the present study offers a new perspective to the hypothesis of relative convergence in carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and the manufacture of cement for a sample of 139 countries in the period 1960 to 2017 through the methodology of Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009). This methodology enables the flexibility to explore whether the units under study converge to a common equilibrium state in per capita carbon dioxide emissions or whether they converge into different groups. The results show that per capita carbon dioxide emissions converge into different groups and not into a single one as is the case of countries considered lowermiddle income and upper-middle income countries. In contrast, countries classified as low-income and highincome do converge in their respective groups. These results show that countries currently contribute unequally to climate change policies, a differential that could be determined by their level of development and economic growth. The above highlights the need to take into account differences in economic development and growth prospects when examining emissions convergence between countries.