Global carbon inequality
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Implication
Input-output modeling reveals rising household incomes substantially expand carbon footprints across global populations, highlighting tensions between poverty alleviation and climate targets.
Key Points
- To evaluate carbon inequality between and within nations and determine the climate implications of alleviating global poverty under current energy and consumption frameworks.
- Combined detailed consumer expenditure surveys spanning diverse income categories across multiple nations.
- Applied an environmentally extended multi-regional input–output approach to model global household carbon footprints and project poverty alleviation impacts.
- Pronounced carbon inequality persists both among countries and across income tiers within individual nations.
- Increasing household income directly drives higher carbon footprints under current technological progress rates and reliance on fossil fuels.
- Reaching global climate stabilization targets alongside poverty eradication requires curbing carbon-intensive consumption patterns among high emitters.
Cite This Study
Hubacek et al. (2017) studied this question.