This paper analyses the relationship between the distribution of income and the carbon dioxide content of household consumption in the US, describing a potential 'equity-pollution dilemma' and proposing a method to quantify it. Read more

This paper analyses the relationship between the distribution of income and the carbon dioxide content of household consumption in the US, describing a potential 'equity-pollution dilemma' and proposing a method to quantify it. Read more
Analysis by researcher Lutz Sager puts a ‘carbon dioxide cost’ on household consumption by adding up the emissions that can be attributed to the goods, services and energy that households in the United States buy in a year and compares households with different incomes. Sager’s results show that the 10% of households with the highest income had an average annual carbon footprint of 59.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide per household in 2009 – more than three times as much as the 10% of households with the lowest income. Read more