Income distribution and economic growth: Determining factors in the fight against climate change in China

Abstract

In this article, the relationship between economic growth, income distribution, and climate change (CC) in China is analyzed both from a theoretical-conceptual and empirical viewpoint, expressed in its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to the atmosphere. Using an econometric model, it demonstrates the relationship between China's high economic growth and its inequitable income distribution in the first decades of its economic opening and transformation, coinciding with China's rise as the world's leading GHG emitter. Moreover, from the past decade, with a lower GDP growth rate and greater use of alternative energies, coupled with an improvement in income distribution, a reduction in China's GHG emissions is observed, thus contributing more significantly to the global fight against CC.