A multi‑decomposition of Zenga‑84 inequality index: an application to the disparity in CO2 emissions in European countries

The monitoring of CO2 emissions has become a sensitive topic of discussion in the last years. The engagement of the protocol of Kyoto, and the subsequent activities that the different countries have carried out to reduce the CO2 emissions, are factors which push the topic into the spotlight. An interesting issue regards how the disparities of such emissions can be analyzed by sources and by subpopulations. In this paper an innovative procedure to jointly decompose the disparity by sources and by subpopulations is proposed. The assessment of the inequality is determined by the Zenga-84 index. This new methodology is applied to the analysis of the per capita CO2 emission disparities for European countries, by simultaneously considering their sources (coal, oil, natural gas, and other) and the membership of the country to OECD.