Global inequality, energy consumption and CO2 emissions from an econophysics perspective
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Abstract
We examine the relationship between global inequality, energy consumption, and CO$_2$ emissions from an econophysics point of view. Wealthier countries tend to consume more energy and emit more carbon, while poorer countries have limited access to energy and bear a disproportionate burden of the negative impacts of climate change. Both energy consumption and CO$_2$ emissions can be used as indicators of inequality. Apart from the decrease in inequality over the last 30 years, we observe an asymptotic relaxation of the system towards thermodynamic equilibrium with a Gini coefficient of 0.5 . Interestingly, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly seen in the analysis as a perturbation towards inequality. Economic, social, political, or technological factors are driving the dynamics but, in our opinion, the econophysics analysis is successful in aggregating all the contributions and offering a new point of view of the global situation.
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econo-physics, Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution, Gini coefficient, inequality
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