<p>Globalisation plays a crucial role in the economic activities of all countries, but it also affects CO2 emissions and pollution. It contributes to CO2 emissions through various channels such as international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and other financial and economic activities. In this study, we use the panel Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) approach to examine the impact of trade and financial globalisation on CO2 emissions in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from 2001 to 2021. To differentiate between the tangible effects and the influence of regulatory aspects of globalisation on CO2 emissions, we use two indicators of globalisation: globalisation de facto to understand its direct and tangible effects on CO2 emissions, and globalisation de jure to estimate the indirect effects of policies and regulations. The findings of our study show that both de facto and de jure trade and financial globalisation significantly contribute to long-term CO2 emissions in the GCC countries. These results show that it is important to consider both the tangible and intangible dimensions of globalisation when evaluating its impact on CO2 emissions.</p>