Quantifying the potential for consumer-oriented policy to reduce European and foreign carbon emissions

Figures & data

Figure 1. Since consumers and households can exert influence over the entire supply chain, consumer-oriented sustainability actions should be considered first-class citizens when it comes to GHG mitigation options.

Table 1. Examples of actions and impacts.

Example action	Reduction in total EU footprint
#5: Choose less carbon intensive alternative within the same product group e.g. Changing from GHG-intensive meats (ruminants) to less intensive meats (pork and poultry) Modelling description: Based on the literature review in SI1 and inclusive of consideration of plausible levels of consumer uptake of this action, the behaviour change was modelled as follows. The purchase of ‘Meat, intensive’ by households and the hospitality sector(s) could be reduced by up to 50%. The household final demand of ‘Meat, intensive’ could be reduced by up to 50%	15 kg/cap
#31: Increase use of teleworking, telecommuting, and teleconferencing Modelling description: Based on the literature review in SI1 and inclusive of consideration of plausible levels of consumer uptake of this action, the behaviour change was modelled as follows. The purchase of transport by all sectors could be reduced by up to 5%. The household final demand of transport could be reduced by up to 5%	58 kg/cap, or 0.5% of the average EU27 citizen’s footprint

Table 2. Estimated reduction in global carbon emissions associated with EU consumption after implementing the full portfolio of consumer behavior options. Changes in domestic behaviour can induce reductions in the foreign portion of the carbon footprint due to reduced/altered imports.

	Total (Mt)	Total of which territorial	Total of which embodied in imports	Reduction
EU footprint	5946	3533	2413
With all options adopted	4504	2471	2034	24.2%
With all options adopted and rebound modelling disabled	4017	2202	1815	32.4%

Figure 2. The portfolio of green actions was assembled by systematically considering how various consumer actions could be adopted at different points in the product life-cycle to amenable groups of products. Of the estimated 29% reduction in EU carbon footprint, various types of actions are equally effective (a), with a focus at the use, production, and disposal phases (b), and are far more important for transport, food, and buildings (c) than for other product categories.