Who has the biggest carbon footprint?

New research suggests that those in the high income bracket are responsible for a huge proportion of the carbon emissions that impact the environment.

Travel has been pinpointed as the main contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, with plane journeys the biggest culprit.
 
Furthermore, researchers have found that we generate 5.25 tonnes of carbon dioxide on average every year.
 
Researchers based at Oxford University, funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council, also allocate a small proportion of the population for a disproportionately large share of the total of carbon emitted each year.
 
The Oxford researchers found that 61 per cent of all travel emissions came from individuals in the top 20 per cent of 'emitters', while only one per cent of emissions came from those in the bottom 20 per cent.
 
The high emitters group were made up primarily of employed men earning a high income (£40,000 or more a year).
 
In total, people in high income groups share an average of 11.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment – twice the national average.
 
This means they earn around four times as much as low earners and produce on average almost four times as much carbon dioxide emissions.

Eco survey results

The results were based on a survey of almost 500 people in Oxfordshire, which also found that air travel accounted for 70 per cent of personal travel carbon emissions.
 
Individuals classified as being in the top tenth of emitters, were responsible for producing 19.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, from their flying alone.
 
This is especially high given that the suggested safe level of personal carbon emissions, the figure that any future carbon allowance scheme would probably be based upon, could be as low as two tonnes per person.
 
Car driving was the second largest cause of personal travel carbon emissions and the survey results suggest that enforcing motorway speed limits could save up to four per cent of all car travel carbon emissions.
 
Commenting on the research, project leader Professor John Preston said: "The UK is facing tough choices on how to lower greenhouse gas emissions in response to climate change.
 
"The transport sector contributes 26 per cent of UK carbon emissions and is the only major sector in which emissions are predicted to rise in the period till 2020. Transport is thus a priority area for government policy.
 
"This research helps us understand the extent to which individuals' travel patterns, their location and their social class make an impact on climate change through the carbon dioxide emissions created by their transport use," Preston concluded.
 

You’ve read it. Now review it.

Back to top

Back to top