Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>The aim of this paper is to apply the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model to explore the relationship between economic complexity and carbon emissions by incorporating a structural complexity index derived from input output framework. The analysis is conducted using a panel of countries over the period 1995–2018 and includes income, its quadratic term, and energy consumption as the main determinants of environmental pressure. The results show that carbon emissions follow an inverted U-shaped pattern with respect to income, confirming the EKC hypothesis. In the initial stage, emissions increase as economic development expands, while after a turning point further increases in income contribute to reducing emissions. Energy consumption is found to have a strong positive effect on carbon emissions, while the structural complexity index is statistically significant, indicating that the internal organization of production systems plays an important role in shaping environmental outcomes. At the country level, the relationship is not uniform, suggesting that the EKC reflects an average tendency rather than a universal trajectory.</p>