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Distribution matters: Meeting human needs at sustainable carbon consumption

To avoid irreversible damage to the climate system and biosphere, the majority of the world’s countries must reduce rates of resource throughput. However, the socio-economic conditions for satisfying basic human needs at low resource use have received scant empirical attention. I apply cross-country panel analysis and dynamic linear modelling to explore how different dimensions of inequality affect countries’ abilities to deliver a good life for all at sustainable levels of carbon consumption. My results suggest that inequalities reduce socio-ecological performance, with income inequality reducing the proportion of carbon channelled into meeting basic needs and wealth inequality increasing the carbon-intensity of expenditure. Overall, this study highlights the importance of reducing inequalities in a resource-constrained world. Social media summary. Income inequality raises the carbon cost of meeting basic human needs at the national and global scales.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-207497
Date January 2022
CreatorsBarbour, Felix
PublisherStockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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