Ivanova, D orcid.org/0000-0002-3890-481X, Vita, G, Wood, R et al. (5 more authors) (2018) Carbon mitigation in domains of high consumer lock-in. Global Environmental Change, 52. pp. 117-130. ISSN 0959-3780
Abstract
As climate policy needs to address all feasible ways to reduce carbon emissions, there is an increasing focus on demand-side solutions. Studies of household carbon footprints have allocated emissions during production to the consumption of the produced goods, and provided an understanding of what products and consumer actions cause significant emissions. Social scientists have investigated how attitudes, social norms, and structural factors shape salient behavior. Yet, there is often a disconnect as emission reductions through individual actions in the important domains of housing and mobility are challenging to attain due to lock-ins and structural constraints. Furthermore, most behavioral research focuses on actions that are easy to trace but of limited consequence as a share of total emissions. Here we study specific alternative consumption patterns seeking both to understand the behavioral and structural factors that determine those patterns and to quantify their effect on carbon footprints. We do so utilizing a survey on consumer behavioral, attitudinal, contextual and socio-demographic factors in four different regions in the EU. Some differences occur in terms of the driving forces behind behaviors and their carbon intensities. Based on observed differences in mobility carbon footprints across households, we find that the key determining element to reduced emissions is settlement density, while car ownership, rising income and long distances are associated with higher mobility footprints. For housing, our results indicate that changes in dwelling standards and larger household sizes may reduce energy needs and the reliance on fossil fuels. However, there remains a strong need for incentives to reduce the carbon intensity of heating and air travel. We discuss combined effects and the role of policy in overcoming structural barriers in domains where consumers as individuals have limited agency.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Global Environmental Change. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Climate change mitigation; Lock-In; Consumer behavior; Carbon intensity; Determinants; Policy measures |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jun 2020 15:12 |
Last Modified: | 20 Jun 2020 04:25 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.06.006 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:161992 |
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