This study investigates the determinants of carbon dioxide emissions (CO(2)) for a global panel consisting of 69 countries using a dynamic panel data model. To make the panel data analysis more homogenous, we also investigate the determinants of CO(2) emissions for a number of sub-panels. These sub-panels are constructed based on the income level of countries. In this way, we end up with three income panels; namely, high income, middle income, and low income panels. The time component of our dataset is 1985-2005 inclusive. Our main findings are that trade openness, per capita GDP, and energy consumption, proxied by per capita electric power consumption and per capita total primary energy consumption, have positive effects on CO(2) emissions. Urbanisation is found to have a negative impact on CO(2) emissions in high income, middle income, and low income panels. For the global panel, only GDP per capita and per capita total primary energy consumption are found to be statistically significant determinants of CO(2) emission, while urbanisation, trade openness, and per capita electric power consumption have negative effects on the CO(2) emissions. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.