Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Kristian S. Nielsen
  • Jan M. Bauer
  • Ramit Debnath
  • Charles A. Emogor
  • Sonja M. Geiger
  • Sakshi Ghai
  • Wencke Gwozdz
  • Ulf J.J. Hahnel

Extensive research highlights global and within-country inequality in personal carbon footprints. However, the extent to which people are aware of these inequalities remains unclear. Here we use an online survey distributed across four diverse countries: Denmark, India, Nigeria and the USA, to show widespread underestimation of carbon footprint inequality, irrespective of participants’ country and income segment. Of the 4,003 participants, within each country, 50% of participants were sampled from the top 10% income group. Our results show links between carbon footprint inequality perceptions and climate policy support, but with significant variations observed across the four countries and with participants’ income segments. Furthermore, there are links to the perceived fairness of actual carbon footprint inequality, highlighting the need to raise awareness about carbon footprint inequality and further unpack its implications for climate justice and policy.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Climate Change
Volume14
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1136-1143
Number of pages8
ISSN1758-678X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11.2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

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