The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe
The call for a decent life for all within planetary limits poses a dual challenge: provide all people with the essential resources needed to live well and, collectively, not exceed the source and sink capacity of the biosphere to sustain human societies. We examine the corridor of possible distribut...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfb2f |
| _version_ | 1797747652884955136 |
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| author | Ingram S Jaccard Peter-Paul Pichler Johannes Többen Helga Weisz |
| author_facet | Ingram S Jaccard Peter-Paul Pichler Johannes Többen Helga Weisz |
| author_sort | Ingram S Jaccard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The call for a decent life for all within planetary limits poses a dual challenge: provide all people with the essential resources needed to live well and, collectively, not exceed the source and sink capacity of the biosphere to sustain human societies. We examine the corridor of possible distributions of household energy and carbon footprints that satisfy both minimum energy use for a decent life and available energy supply compatible with the 1.5 °C target in 2050. We estimated household energy and carbon footprints for expenditure deciles for 28 European countries in 2015 by combining data from national household budget surveys with the environmentally-extended multi-regional input–output model EXIOBASE. We found a top-to-bottom decile ratio (90:10) of 7.2 for expenditure, 3.1 for net energy and 2.6 for carbon. The lower inequality of energy and carbon footprints is largely attributable to inefficient energy and heating technologies in the lower deciles (mostly Eastern Europe). Adopting best technology across Europe would save 11 EJ of net energy annually, but increase environmental footprint inequality. With such inequality, both targets can only be met through the use of CCS, large efficiency improvements, and an extremely low minimum final energy use of 28 GJ per adult equivalent. Assuming a more realistic minimum energy use of about 55 GJ ae ^−1 and no CCS deployment, the 1.5 °C target can only be achieved at near full equality. We conclude that achieving both stated goals is an immense and widely underestimated challenge, the successful management of which requires far greater room for maneuver in monetary and fiscal terms than is reflected in the current European political discourse. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4d7f8ec31a0a4773b5f340dfab2183e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:38Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-4d7f8ec31a0a4773b5f340dfab2183e32023-08-09T14:59:50ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116606408210.1088/1748-9326/abfb2fThe energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just EuropeIngram S Jaccard0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2694-693XPeter-Paul Pichler1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6708-5748Johannes Többen2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7059-3612Helga Weisz3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8208-5199Social Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association , PO Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, GermanySocial Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association , PO Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, GermanySocial Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association , PO Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany; Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftliche Strukturforschung (GWS) mbH , Heinrichstraße 30, 49080 Osnabrück, GermanySocial Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association , PO Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany; Department of Cultural History & Theory and Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt-University Berlin , Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin, GermanyThe call for a decent life for all within planetary limits poses a dual challenge: provide all people with the essential resources needed to live well and, collectively, not exceed the source and sink capacity of the biosphere to sustain human societies. We examine the corridor of possible distributions of household energy and carbon footprints that satisfy both minimum energy use for a decent life and available energy supply compatible with the 1.5 °C target in 2050. We estimated household energy and carbon footprints for expenditure deciles for 28 European countries in 2015 by combining data from national household budget surveys with the environmentally-extended multi-regional input–output model EXIOBASE. We found a top-to-bottom decile ratio (90:10) of 7.2 for expenditure, 3.1 for net energy and 2.6 for carbon. The lower inequality of energy and carbon footprints is largely attributable to inefficient energy and heating technologies in the lower deciles (mostly Eastern Europe). Adopting best technology across Europe would save 11 EJ of net energy annually, but increase environmental footprint inequality. With such inequality, both targets can only be met through the use of CCS, large efficiency improvements, and an extremely low minimum final energy use of 28 GJ per adult equivalent. Assuming a more realistic minimum energy use of about 55 GJ ae ^−1 and no CCS deployment, the 1.5 °C target can only be achieved at near full equality. We conclude that achieving both stated goals is an immense and widely underestimated challenge, the successful management of which requires far greater room for maneuver in monetary and fiscal terms than is reflected in the current European political discourse.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfb2fenergy and carbon footprintsinequalityenergy for decent life, 1.5 degree targetEurope |
| spellingShingle | Ingram S Jaccard Peter-Paul Pichler Johannes Többen Helga Weisz The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe Environmental Research Letters energy and carbon footprints inequality energy for decent life, 1.5 degree target Europe |
| title | The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe |
| title_full | The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe |
| title_fullStr | The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe |
| title_short | The energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1.5 °C compatible and just Europe |
| title_sort | energy and carbon inequality corridor for a 1 5 °c compatible and just europe |
| topic | energy and carbon footprints inequality energy for decent life, 1.5 degree target Europe |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfb2f |
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