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Stockholm Environment Institute report flags 'huge' scope for EU to cut global climate impact by targeting consumption-based emissions
The European Union has a unique opportunity to lead global efforts to tackle consumption-based emissions, according to a new study by the influential Stockholm Environment Institute that claims the bloc's focus on territorial emissions understates the impact of consumption on global emissions.
The international non-profit found that despite EU emissions decreasing 29 per cent between 1990 and 2020, its consumption-based emissions - which account for around nine per cent of global CO2 emissions - disproportionately exceed the bloc's 5.7 per cent share of the global population.
According to the new analysis, the EU has been a net importer of CO2 emissions since 2015, meaning emissions associated with goods and services imported for EU consumption have exceeded those associated with exports.
The Stockholm Environment Institute's Consumption Footprint report claims the results demonstrate the growing adverse impact on other countries that arises from EU consumption of food, housing, mobility, household goods, and appliances.
The study argues that while the EU has long prioritised tackling territorial greenhouse gas emissions, with member states having clear targets in place, consumption-based emissions need to be seen by policymakers as a significant contributor to the region's overall carbon footprint.
Yet according to Stockholm Environment Institute senior policy fellow, Katarina Axelsson, the absence of a standardised monitoring system for measuring consumption-based and the lack of transparency in global supply chains remain significant barriers to mitigating these emissions.
"By addressing these barriers, the EU has the potential to greatly boost climate action by decreasing consumption-based emissions and setting an example for other nations to follow", she said.
The analysis claims there is significant variation in the average consumption footprint among EU Member States ranging from 11 tons of CO2 equivalent per person in Denmark and Luxembourg to 4.6 tons in Slovakia, for example.
Food, housing, and mobility are identified as the top three areas of consumption based emissions across the EU, with meat and dairy products having the highest carbon footprint per person within the food category.
The report's authors are urging policymakers to deliver on decarbonisation strategies which recognise the significant role household consumption has in driving up global emissions.
The report calls for an expansion of policy measures that target household consumption and its impacts, such as implementing uniform carbon pricing and establishing standards to restrict the carbon footprints of products and services.
Moreover, the Stockholm Environment Institute calls for consistent reliable metrics across national boundaries to identify and measure consumption based emissions and ensure greater transparency in trade flow data to track the environmental impact of imported goods and services.
Jindan Gong, research associate at Stockholm Environment Institute, said targeting hot spots for consumption based emissions and establishing "more uniformly applied pricing and standards could drive behaviour change". But she also warned that policymakers would need to ensure policies do not unfairly impact vulnerable groups through higher costs.
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