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Do political variables influence long-term environmental emissions? The discussion about the Environmental Kuznets Curve hitherto concentrated primarily on economic factors. By contrast, we outline both conceptually and empirically how political factors can affect long-term carbon trajectories. Our findings for carbon emissions suggest that political factors are an important explanatory variable for pollution trajectories in over 100 countries during the period 1972-2004. Our core political variablesâ??political capacity, political constraint, as well as political and civil libertiesâ??show substantial effects in OECD countries, whereas the carbon emission trajectories of non-OECD countries are only influenced by political capacity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]