<p>Carbon emissions (CE) and air pollution (AP) are two major environmental problems in modern era and coordinated management of the problems is very important. However, systematic exploration of the complex interaction patterns between the two factors remains lacking. This study utilizes the Quantile-on-Quantile approach to comprehensively examine the non-linear relationship between CE and AP. In addition, the dynamic characteristics of this relationship across short-, medium- and long term are systematically investigated through temporal wavelet decomposition. Findings demonstrate that, CE can significantly increase AP overall. At almost all levels of AP, CE exerts positive marginal effects on air pollution as CE increases. From a dynamic perspective, CE has a weak effect on AP in the short term. In the medium run, its effect on increasing AP gradually emerges, but shows significant heterogeneity at different quantiles. Notably, this positive impact becomes more prominent and robust over a long period. In comparison, AP’s effect on CE is more volatile depending on temporal variations and generally offset each other. Specifically, in the short and medium term, AP’s impact on CE exhibits considerable heterogeneity. In the long term, this effect is generally positive, while not robust when CE is at medium quantiles. This implies that the influence of air pollution on carbon emissions is more complex and its effects depend on various other factors. This paper elucidates the complex dynamic relationship between CO₂ emissions and air pollution, providing valuable policy implications for coordinated management of the two issues and systematic enhancement of environmental sustainability.</p>