杏吧原创

People consistently underestimate the personal carbon footprints of the top 1 per cent wealthiest individuals around the world while overestimating the carbon emissions of low-income people. This could undermine climate justice efforts and support for the most effective policies for mitigating climate change.

鈥淲hat we find is that people underestimate the footprint of high-income groups [by] quite a lot,鈥� says at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. 鈥淎nd we also know that the wealthy generally have disproportionate influence on which policies are being promoted, talked about in the media and politically advanced or prioritised 鈥� so they have special interests, and part of that could be to also protect their own lifestyle.鈥�

Previous research by at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and his colleagues showed that the richest 1 per cent of the US population is responsible for more carbon emissions than the entire bottom 50 per cent. 鈥淚f people don鈥檛 know who is actually creating emissions, it complicates our ability to build public support for policies that would address climate change,鈥� he says.

Nielsen and his colleagues surveyed approximately 4000 people across Denmark, India, Nigeria and the US about their perceptions of individuals鈥� carbon footprints and their support for various climate policies. Despite news headlines about celebrities taking 17-minute private jet flights, more than half of survey respondents in the US underestimate the average carbon footprint of the top 1 per cent by a factor of 10. The misperception also exists to varying degrees in other countries: in Denmark, people underestimate the carbon emissions of their country鈥檚 wealthiest individuals by a factor of six, in India by a factor of more than 14 and in Nigeria by merely 1.3. Meanwhile, survey respondents overestimated the carbon footprints of their countries鈥� general population.

Misperceptions of carbon footprints were found in all socioeconomic groups surveyed. But reactions differed when participants were provided with the real carbon footprints of different economic classes. The wealthiest people, participants with a more right-leaning political orientation, younger people and male participants were more likely to say the inequality between the carbon emissions of the wealthy and the poorest was fair. And people鈥檚 underestimations of carbon footprint inequality in Denmark and Nigeria corresponded with lower support for climate policies such as implementing a carbon tax or subsidising renewable energy.

One unexpected twist in the survey鈥檚 findings came from India鈥檚 top 10 per cent income group, which reported stronger support for climate policies. But this probably reflects that higher-income Indians have more access to information about climate change. There is a 鈥渉uge lack of climate awareness鈥� across India鈥檚 general population, says team member at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

More effective climate policies could target those responsible for the largest emissions. Such interventions might include inheritance and wealth taxes, updated building codes and land use regulations, and emissions-monitoring programmes for both private and public organisations, says at the University of Graz in Austria.

鈥淚 hope the results of this study will help to motivate such privileged individuals to lower their carbon footprints as well as鈥� motivate decision-makers to design policies targeting high emitters,鈥� says Otto.