PurposeThis study investigates the impact of financial development on CO2 emissions in BRICS-T countries within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis over the period 1990–2021.MethodsThe study employs panel quantile regression to examine heterogeneous effects across different emission levels. Robustness analyses were conducted using CUP-FM and CUP-BC estimators. In addition, second-generation panel data techniques were applied to account for cross-sectional dependence