![]() Both countries also have comparably robust welfare states, with expansive public services and public transport. This could be because they generate more of their electricity from nuclear and renewables. While the wealthiest are clearly responsible for the highest emissions, Denmark and France have much lower carbon footprints for the same level of income compared with other European countries. This is especially true in EU countries that rely heavily on coal to generate energy, such as Estonia and Bulgaria.īut the link between carbon footprints and income is highly complex. Carbon footprints and wellbeingĪs things stand, living within climate limits most often means living in inadequate conditions, with fewer opportunities to travel or buy things. This is largely because of fossil-fuel dependence throughout the economy. ![]() But the reductions are generally insufficient to meet the 2.5 tonnes carbon targets. They should also help to redesign cities, increase urban density of residents and jobs and actively target social practices and business models that reinforce car reliance.Īvoiding flying, living car-free and eating a vegan diet can reduce personal carbon footprints. To reduce the need for cars, governments should provide adequate public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure. Policymakers need to stop incentivising luxuries like air travel and better address the car dependency that is most pronounced for people with lower incomes. At one end of the income divide, there’s a structural reliance on cars for travelling to work and other necessities, while at the other end, people buy new cars they don’t need and travel more as they get richer. Marian Weyo / shutterstockīut as households get richer, travel emissions grow faster than the growth in wealth. Too many Europeans still depend on their cars. Policies that increase the price of car travel, such as fuel duty rises, could hurt the poorest most if they aren’t accompanied by support for switching to cleaner alternatives such as public transport. At the same time, poorer people spend a larger share of their wages on transport, including fuel, road tax and car insurance. We can't expand airports after declaring a climate emergency – let's shift to low-carbon transport insteadĬar travel also makes up close to a third of the carbon footprint among the top 10% of EU emitters. Airlines rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic have received bailouts, while kerosene tax exemptions effectively subsidise flying, making it relatively cheap compared to other transport options. Air travel is very unequally distributed across the population, while it is also very carbon intensive.īut air travel largely isn’t the focus of climate policies. Regular flights are responsible for 41% of the carbon footprint of the top 1% of emitters, and almost all flights taken in the EU are by the top 10% of polluters. What do the top emitters consume that produces so much waste? One of the biggest culprits in our analysis is air travel. These stark differences in carbon footprints are rooted in the things people buy and consume. Meanwhile, the top 10% of polluters in the EU account for 27% of the total EU carbon footprint, a greater contribution than that of the bottom 50%. Their annual net income is around €40,000 per person on average. So who are these top emitters? We know they’re relatively wealthy, though perhaps not private-jet wealthy. ![]() ![]() Consumption patterns of the top polluters On average, people in this group emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 55 tonnes of CO₂ per person per year. Households in the top 1% of polluters in the EU have carbon footprints that are 22 times larger than the safe limit of 2.5 tonnes. In the EU, the average carbon footprint is equivalent to about eight tonnes of CO₂ per person, which must fall to about a third of that level over the next decade.īut some people place even greater pressure on the environment. Scientists aren’t certain exactly how much fossil fuel we can use and still remain below 1.5☌ – that is, how big the world’s remaining carbon budget is – but it’s clear the vast majority of EU citizens are using far more than their fair share. But we recently analysed more than 275,000 household budget surveys from 26 countries for an academic study, and we found that only about 5% of EU households live within these limits. To keep global warming below 1.5☌, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 2.5 tonnes of CO₂ per person per year by 2030. ![]()
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