Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK
A growing body of literature discusses the CO _2 emissions of cities. Still, little is known about emission patterns across density gradients from remote rural places to highly urbanized areas, the drivers behind those emission patterns and the global emissions triggered by consumption in human sett...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035039 |
| _version_ | 1827870727497318400 |
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| author | Jan Minx Giovanni Baiocchi Thomas Wiedmann John Barrett Felix Creutzig Kuishuang Feng Michael Förster Peter-Paul Pichler Helga Weisz Klaus Hubacek |
| author_facet | Jan Minx Giovanni Baiocchi Thomas Wiedmann John Barrett Felix Creutzig Kuishuang Feng Michael Förster Peter-Paul Pichler Helga Weisz Klaus Hubacek |
| author_sort | Jan Minx |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A growing body of literature discusses the CO _2 emissions of cities. Still, little is known about emission patterns across density gradients from remote rural places to highly urbanized areas, the drivers behind those emission patterns and the global emissions triggered by consumption in human settlements—referred to here as the carbon footprint. In this letter we use a hybrid method for estimating the carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK explicitly linking global supply chains to local consumption activities and associated lifestyles. This analysis comprises all areas in the UK, whether rural or urban. We compare our consumption-based results with extended territorial CO _2 emission estimates and analyse the driving forces that determine the carbon footprint of human settlements in the UK. Our results show that 90% of the human settlements in the UK are net importers of CO _2 emissions. Consumption-based CO _2 emissions are much more homogeneous than extended territorial emissions. Both the highest and lowest carbon footprints can be found in urban areas, but the carbon footprint is consistently higher relative to extended territorial CO _2 emissions in urban as opposed to rural settlement types. The impact of high or low density living remains limited; instead, carbon footprints can be comparatively high or low across density gradients depending on the location-specific socio-demographic, infrastructural and geographic characteristics of the area under consideration. We show that the carbon footprint of cities and other human settlements in the UK is mainly determined by socio-economic rather than geographic and infrastructural drivers at the spatial aggregation of our analysis. It increases with growing income, education and car ownership as well as decreasing household size. Income is not more important than most other socio-economic determinants of the carbon footprint. Possibly, the relationship between lifestyles and infrastructure only impacts carbon footprints significantly at higher spatial granularity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d364f5ec7d454a3e862bff6a8afe04a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:00Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-d364f5ec7d454a3e862bff6a8afe04a42023-08-09T14:40:53ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262013-01-018303503910.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035039Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UKJan Minx0Giovanni Baiocchi1Thomas Wiedmann2John Barrett3Felix Creutzig4Kuishuang Feng5Michael Förster6Peter-Paul Pichler7Helga Weisz8Klaus Hubacek9Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, GermanyNorwich Business School, University of East Anglia , UK; Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland , USASchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales , Australia; ISA, School of Physics A28, The University of Sydney , AustraliaSchool of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , UKMercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change , Berlin, Germany; Department for the Economics of Climate Change, Technische Universität , Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland , USAGeoinformation in Environmental Planning Lab, Technische Universität Berlin , GermanyPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, GermanyPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, GermanyDepartment of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland , USAA growing body of literature discusses the CO _2 emissions of cities. Still, little is known about emission patterns across density gradients from remote rural places to highly urbanized areas, the drivers behind those emission patterns and the global emissions triggered by consumption in human settlements—referred to here as the carbon footprint. In this letter we use a hybrid method for estimating the carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK explicitly linking global supply chains to local consumption activities and associated lifestyles. This analysis comprises all areas in the UK, whether rural or urban. We compare our consumption-based results with extended territorial CO _2 emission estimates and analyse the driving forces that determine the carbon footprint of human settlements in the UK. Our results show that 90% of the human settlements in the UK are net importers of CO _2 emissions. Consumption-based CO _2 emissions are much more homogeneous than extended territorial emissions. Both the highest and lowest carbon footprints can be found in urban areas, but the carbon footprint is consistently higher relative to extended territorial CO _2 emissions in urban as opposed to rural settlement types. The impact of high or low density living remains limited; instead, carbon footprints can be comparatively high or low across density gradients depending on the location-specific socio-demographic, infrastructural and geographic characteristics of the area under consideration. We show that the carbon footprint of cities and other human settlements in the UK is mainly determined by socio-economic rather than geographic and infrastructural drivers at the spatial aggregation of our analysis. It increases with growing income, education and car ownership as well as decreasing household size. Income is not more important than most other socio-economic determinants of the carbon footprint. Possibly, the relationship between lifestyles and infrastructure only impacts carbon footprints significantly at higher spatial granularity.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035039carbon footprintcitieshuman settlementslocal consumptionemission drivers |
| spellingShingle | Jan Minx Giovanni Baiocchi Thomas Wiedmann John Barrett Felix Creutzig Kuishuang Feng Michael Förster Peter-Paul Pichler Helga Weisz Klaus Hubacek Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK Environmental Research Letters carbon footprint cities human settlements local consumption emission drivers |
| title | Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK |
| title_full | Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK |
| title_fullStr | Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK |
| title_full_unstemmed | Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK |
| title_short | Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK |
| title_sort | carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the uk |
| topic | carbon footprint cities human settlements local consumption emission drivers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035039 |
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