A vast number of studies addressed the environmental degradation and economic development but not financial development. Moreover, as argued by Stern [2004. The rise and fall of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Development 32, 1419-1439] they present important econometric weaknesses. Using standard reduced-form modeling approach and controlling for country-specific unobserved heterogeneity, we investigate the linkage between not only economic development and environmental quality but also the financial development. Panel data over period 1992-2004 is used. We find that both economic and financial development are determinants of the environmental quality in BRIC economies. We show that higher degree of economic and financial development decreases the environmental degradation. Our analysis suggests that financial liberalization and openness are essential factors for the CO2 reduction. The adoption of policies directed to financial openness and liberalization to attract higher levels of R&D-related foreign direct investment might reduce the environmental degradation in countries under consideration. In addition, the robustness check trough the inclusion of US and Japan does not alter our main findings. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.