Pollution-income dynamics

•We examine a dynamic model of the pollution-income relationship.•We integrate scale, composition and technique effects of growth on pollution.•Both inter-temporal and temporal elasticities of substitution are considered.•We derive general conditions for the environmental Kuznets curve.•Conditions for eluding the limits to growth are stricter than previously argued.

This paper integrates the scale, composition, and technique effects of economic growth on pollution using a multi-output endogenous growth framework. Under certain empirically verifiable parameter conditions economic growth is not sustainable, even under an optimal pollution tax.