Abstract

The threat of climate change has gained its momentum in the last decades. The issue which was previously shrugged off and accused of being sensationalized has been finally recognized because its symptoms have been gradually taking its physical form. Considering the need to continue discourse to the variables that contribute to it, the study was pursued to determine whether there exists a relationship between climate change and the variables economic growth and global competitiveness anchored on the theory of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) Hypothesis for the economic growth- environment relationship, and factor endowment hypothesis and the pollution haven hypothesis for the environment and global competitiveness linkage. To achieve the objective of determining the effect of global competitiveness index and per capita gross domestic product on per capita carbon dioxide emissions, the research employed quantitative research design.  The annual data spanning an eight-year period from 2007 to 2014 on per capita carbon dioxide emissions (in metric tons) and per capita gross domestic product of the five selected newly industrialized countries while the values on global competitiveness index was taken from the Global Competitiveness dataset of the World Economic Forum. The study concluded that Global competitiveness index and per capita gross domestic product has a significant correlation on per capita CO2 emissions.

Keywords: Global competitiveness index, economic growth, climate change, carbon dioxide emissions, Kuznets Curve