The impact of low-carbon consumption options on carbon footprints in the Nordic region
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Bristol University Press
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Changes in personal consumption play an important role in the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to stay within the 1.5-degree warming carbon footprint budget. Affluent countries have high carbon footprints from a consumptive perspective and therefore have a high potential to reduce emissions from personal consumption. To study this potential, we look at the consumption-based carbon footprints of respondents from a carbon footprint calculator survey from the Nordic countries to compare the carbon footprints of those who participated in selected low-carbon consumption options to those that did not. The total sample size of the survey is 8,000 households. We analysed seven low-carbon consumption options within the domains of diet, transportation and housing energy. An input-output based hybrid assessment model was used to calculate the consumption-based carbon footprints. In addition to analysing these options separately, we also analysed them in combination. The lowest carbon footprints were associated with those respondents who did not own a car or had a vegan or vegetarian diet, and the largest difference in emissions was associated with not flying and not owning a car. Rebound effects for the consumption options were largely limited and were mostly not significant. Participation rates in the low-carbon consumption options were generally low. These results underscore the need for higher rates of adopting multiple low-carbon consumption options and can inform policy on which consumption options could be the most impactful.
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Loftslagsbreytingar, Sjálfbærni, Kolefnisspor, Neysluvenjur, Consumption-based carbon footprints, low-carbon consumption options, mitigation potential
Citation
Olson, S. C., Heinonen, J., Ottelin, J., Czepkiewicz, M., & Árnadóttir, Á. (2024). The impact of low-carbon consumption options on carbon footprints in the Nordic region. Consumption and Society (published online ahead of print 2024). Retrieved Mar 15, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1332/27528499Y2024D000000013