<p>CO₂ emission is recognized as damaging factor for environment around the globe. However, people suffer very harmful effects from high carbon emissions; result from industrialization, low-cost production techniques, non-renewable energy sources, and poor fuel quality in transportation. In addition to all of these, sociopolitical issues such as corruption and political instability may harm environmental quality through irregular policy framework. The fundamental goal of this study is to empirically explore how such sociopolitical issues affect carbon emissions in South Asia. Data from 2001 to 2020 is gathered for this purpose. Driscoll Kraay standard error approach is applied to avoid the issues of autocorrelation and heterogeneity in panel data. More advanced panel data estimation technique, including Mean Median Quantile Regression (MMQR), is also used to check the heterogeneous impacts of corruption and political stable economy on carbon emissions. Furthermore, Panel Autoregressive Distributive Lag (PARDL) is applied to data to estimate long run and short run dynamics. According to the study, high levels of corruption in South Asia allow environmental protection regulations to be improperly executed, which results in high levels of carbon emissions in the long run. According to MMQR estimates, corruption leads to more CO₂ emissions, whereas. Political stability, renewable resources, economic growth and trade mitigate carbon emissions. PARDL reveals that sociopolitical factors affect CO₂ emissions significantly in long run. On the basis of findings, policy recommendation to reduce carbon emissions is to ensure Transparency, accountability, political stable environment and usage of renewable resources in South Asia.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>