Although carbon footprints are falling in many countries, the gap between the richest and poorest people is increasing, meaning those on higher incomes emit more than their fair share.
The gap between the carbon footprints of the highest and lowest-income people is growing wider, despite carbon dioxide emissions falling overall in some countries.
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| Housing-related energy use is responsible for rising carbon inequality R.M. Nunes/Alamy |
“From an ethical perspective, if those that are already better off get a larger share of a limited resource [CO2 emissions], then that’s clearly unfair,” says Edgar Hertwich at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
It is no surprise that richer people consume more, and so generally have larger carbon footprints. “The wealthier you get, the more you consume,” says Hertwich. “You use more household energy, you travel more, you purchase more goods.”
But as efforts to reduce carbon emissions have improved over time, carbon footprints in many countries are shrinking. To find out what this has done to carbon inequality – the gap in the footprint between the highest and lowest-income people – Hertwich and his colleagues looked at data from 43 countries, from between 2005 and 2015.
For each country, the researchers split the populations into five quintiles, from the richest 20 per cent to the poorest 20 per cent. They then used household budget surveys to estimate the collective carbon footprints for each quintile in each country, based on consumption.
Looking at all 43 countries, the highest-income group saw a 6 per cent rise in their carbon footprints over the period, while the lowest-income group saw a 5 per cent cut between 2005 and 2015, meaning that overall carbon inequality has widened.
This was true even in some countries like the US and UK, where carbon footprints have fallen across the board – people on lower incomes in these countries are cutting carbon faster than those on higher ones.
Hertwich says this is probably because the wealthier groups in these countries have failed to cut their housing-related energy use as much as those who aren’t as well off.
The story is more complicated in countries such as India and China, which have seen rising carbon footprints across all income groups as these nations industrialise. But while India saw a rise in carbon inequality, China saw a decline.
This reflects the rise in income inequality in India and the fall in inequality in China, says team member Heran Zheng at University College London, showing the close link between income and carbon footprint.
Although the researchers haven’t looked at data beyond 2015, team member Daniel Moran, also at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, says carbon inequality is probably still rising in many countries, given the general increase in income inequality. “Most reports show [income] inequality rising in the last decades, with few signs of that slowing or reversing.”
“Carbon emissions have a strong and positive association with income and wealth – the widening gap in carbon inequality largely mirrors what we have seen in the widening gap in income and wealth,” says Christian Brand at the University of Oxford.
“Each country should increase efforts to reduce high and excess consumption,” says Brand. “Above all, we need to reduce the carbon footprints of the wealthy by redirecting and regulating investments towards green tech and lower-consumption behaviours.”
Journal reference:
Global Environmental ChangeDOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102704
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