JENNIFER E. GIVENS Utah State University, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology Email: jennifer.givens@usu.edu World Society, World Polity, and the Carbon Intensity of Well-Being, 1990–2011 ABSTRACT Research on the carbon intensity of well-being (CIWB), a measure representing a country’s development in terms of both environmental and human well-being, often explores the role of economic development, while the effects of other aspects of global integration remain under-explored. I use macro- comparative sociological perspectives to investigate the extent to which theories of global integration help explain variation in countries’ CIWB over time. I evaluate propositions drawn from neoinstitution- al world society and world polity theories using longitudinal modeling techniques to analyze data from 81 countries from 1990 to 2011. I also examine subsets of more and less developed countries and com- pare production- and consumption-based measures of CIWB. I find that world society/world polity integration is associated with a reduction in CIWB only in more developed nations, and only when using the production measure for CO 2 emissions, highlighting the complexities of sustainable develop- ment in an unequal global system. KEYWORDS carbon intensity of well-being, world society, world polity, sustainable development, CIWB Why are global environmental challenges so difficult to address? In addition to the depen- dence of the global economy on fossil fuels, insights from macro-comparative sociological research suggest that global inequalities in development complicate addressing environmen- tal problems. Climate change and biodiversity loss threaten planetary life support systems (Rockstrom et al. a, b), and lives are lost or diminished because of disasters and pollution (Auyero and Swistun ; Freudenburg and Gramling ), yet awareness of such circumstances has not produced adequate systems to address global environmental challenges, including climate change. Although countries agreed in principle to cooperate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the Paris Agreement in December , there is concern that countries will not meet their goals and that even if they do the pace of change will be too slow. In the context of global climate negotiations, research has demonstrated that global inequalities hinder cooperation (Roberts and Parks ), and scholars maintain that equity must be part of research and policy despite efforts by some to omit such consid- erations (Klinsky et al. ). While some groups contribute disproportionately to climate change, others not only dis- proportionately bear the burdens, but still do not have their basic needs met (Freudenberg , ). Amartya Sen (:xi) writes that this vast inequality exists even though we live in a world of “unprecedented opulence” and overcoming problems of “deprivation, des- titution, and oppression” is a central concern of development. Environmental challenges, 403 Sociology of Development, Vol. , Number , pps. –. electronic ISSN -X. ©  by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Reprints and Permissions web page, www.ucpress.edu/journals. php?p=reprints. DOI: https://doi.org/./sod.....