This 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, comparing households with different incomes.<\/p>\n
Sager combines data from 1996 to 2009 on household yearly expenditure on different products and services with estimates of how much CO2<\/sub> is emitted per dollar of each product. The results reveal that the 10 per cent of households in the US with the highest incomes had an average annual carbon footprint of 59.4 metric tons of CO2<\/sub> in 2009. The 10 per cent of households with the lowest incomes had carbon footprints of 18.1 metric tons. The research also shows that poorer households spend a larger proportion of their income than better-off households on carbon-intensive products and services, such as fossil-fuel-based energy.<\/p>\n The analysis concludes that progressive income redistribution in the US could result in an increase in household CO2<\/sub> emissions of up to 2.3 per cent – the ‘equity-pollution dilemma’. However, it points out that development of clean technologies has a significant impact on household CO2<\/sub> emissions and could mean that households can become richer while also reducing their carbon footprints.<\/p>\n Key points for decision-makers<\/strong><\/p>\n ISSN 2515-5717 (Online) – Grantham Research Institute Working Paper series 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.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tags":[1063,1065,1064,541,997,498,63,1066,286],"publication-type":[435],"topic_area":[4698,4706],"class_list":["post-28647","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry","tag-carbon-footprint","tag-environmental-engels-curve","tag-household-carbon","tag-households","tag-income","tag-inequality","tag-pollution","tag-redistribution","tag-united-states","publication-type-working-papers","topic_area-behavioural-responses","topic_area-major-emitting-countries"],"acf":{"exclude_from_sync":{"ref_value":"field_560538b0e7350","value":"0","type":false,"post_type":""},"downloads":{"ref_value":"field_52f16cc1a80f2","value":["https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Working-Paper-285-Sager.pdf"],"type":"download","post_type":""},"rss_newsletter":{"ref_value":"field_54f5c2c1544d8","value":"a:1:{i:0;s:7:\"exclude\";}","type":"array","post_type":""},"profile_link":{"ref_value":"field_52f164b5189e9","value":["lutz-sager"],"type":"relationship","post_type":"profile"},"spotlight":{"ref_value":"field_52f80896506d3","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""}},"yoast_head":"\n\n
\nISSN 2515-5709 (Online) – CCCEP Working Paper series<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n