• Energy Research

SummaryInequality has recently become a major concern in economics. Leaving aside its social and economic effects is also possible to trace its environmental consequences, which this article attempts to assess. The indicator to be measured is the household's carbon footprint (CF) for different social groups. The deep economic crisis in the Spanish economy between 2008 and 2013 has increased consumption inequality and doubled the number of households below the poverty line. When focusing on domestic consumption, we found that the shopping basket of all income groups has very similar emissions intensities; therefore, the differences among the household CFs depend mainly on the scale effect (i.e., the size of consumption). However, when international trade is also considered, we found that the emission intensity of imports is bigger than the intensity of all the respective domestic goods. Therefore, the share of imported goods and services by social class will be an important determinant of the respective total CF. Before the crisis, households with higher incomes imported 30% of their total consumption items whereas households with lower income imported only 20% of their consumption. During the crisis, the imports of medium‐high‐income households fell to 20%, whereas low‐ and middle‐income families maintained the same import share, which contributed to the reduction of the total household CF.

En este artículo analizamos la huella de carbono de los hogares de Castilla-La Mancha, región de la llamada “España vacía”, y su potencial de mitigación. Para ello, utilizamos el modelo input-output multirregional ampliado ambientalmente y la Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares Españoles para extraer microdatos de gasto por tamaño de municipio. Encontramos que los hogares en municipios más pequeños tienen una huella de carbono total mayor debido a sus mayores emisiones directas. Aunque su consumo es menor que el de otros municipios, tienen un patrón más intensivo de consumo de carbono incorporado. Los hogares de los municipios más pequeños gastan una mayor proporción en transporte privado y actividades relacionadas con la vivienda, emitiendo casi una tonelada adicional de emisiones directas de carbono.En cuanto a su potencial de mitigación, los resultados muestran que por cada euro que los municipios de menos de 10.000 habitantes reduzcan su consumo reducirían sus emisiones en 0,796 kgCO2. Sin embargo, mientras aumenta el tamaño del municipio, el potencial de mitigación disminuye (0,378 kgCO2 para más de 100.000 habitantes). Este máximo potencial de mitigación sólo se logrará si las políticas de mitigación favorecen especialmente a sus habitantes y si se desarrollan infraestructuras y servicios sociales que faciliten un cambio en sus patrones de consumo. In this paper, we analyze the carbon footprint of Castilla-La Mancha households, a region of the so-called “empty Spain,” and their mitigation potential. For this purpose, we use the environmentally extended multiregional input-output model and the Spanish Households Budget Survey to extract expenditure microdata by municipality size. We find that households in smaller municipalities have a larger total carbon footprint due to their higher direct emissions. Although their consumption is lower than other municipalities, they have a more intensive pattern of embedded carbon consumption. Households in smaller municipalities spend a higher share in private transport and housing-related activities, emitting almost an additional ton of direct carbon emissions.Regarding their mitigation potential, results show that for every euro that municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants reduce their consumption, they would reduce emissions by 0.796 kgCO2. However, while the size of the municipality increases, the mitigation potential decreases (0.378 kgCO2 for more than 100,000 inhabitants). This highest mitigation potential will only be achieved if mitigation policies especially favor their inhabitants and if infrastructures and social services are developed to facilitate a change in their consumption patterns.

Relevant energy questions have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic shock leads to emissions' reductions consistent with the rates of decrease required to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Those unforeseen drastic reductions in emissions are temporary as long as they do not involve structural changes. However, the COVID-19 consequences and the subsequent policy response will affect the economy for decades. Focusing on the EU, this discussion article argues how recovery plans are an opportunity to deepen the way towards a low-carbon economy, improving at the same time employment, health, and equity and the role of modelling tools. Long-term alignment with the low-carbon path and the development of a resilient transition towards renewable sources should guide instruments and policies, conditioning aid to energy-intensive sectors such as transport, tourism, and the automotive industry. However, the potential dangers of short-termism and carbon leakage persist. The current energy-socio-economic-environmental modelling tools are precious to widen the scope and deal with these complex problems. The scientific community has to assess disparate, non-equilibrium, and non-ordinary scenarios, such as sectors and countries lockdowns, drastic changes in consumption patterns, significant investments in renewable energies, and disruptive technologies and incorporate uncertainty analysis. All these instruments will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of decarbonization options and potential consequences on employment, income distribution, and vulnerability.

By using an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output model, this paper analyses the Spanish households carbon footprint for the 2008 2017 period considering the municipality size as well as the urban or rural residential zone where families live. Results show that, on a per capita basis, inhabitants of medium-large municipalities emit fewer carbon emissions than those settled in small ones (between 0.34 and 0.54 tCO2/cap depending on the year studied). This carbon unbalance is mainly explained by the higher direct carbon footprints of dwellers who reside in small municipalities and, in special, in rural zones. Furthermore, applying inequality measures through a consumption-based carbon footprint Gini coefficient, we show that both income and CO2 emissions inequality are lower in small municipalities. In the light of the findings, in Spain, the application of a carbon pricing on direct and indirect carbon footprints will be regressive, disproportionally affecting people of small municipalities and rural areas. Accordingly, household carbon inequalities must be contemplated to avoid poorly designed climate change mitigation policies. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd Manuel Tomás was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821105 (LOCOMOTION project), and the Spanish Government through BC3 María de Maeztu excellence accreditation [ MDM-2017-0714 ] and the grant [ RTI2018-099858-A-100 ]. Luis Antonio López and Fabio Monsalve were supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain [ ECO2016-78939-R ].

This paper develops and explains an input–output model to quantify the carbon footprint linked to residents' and visitors' tourist consumption in the Spanish economy between 1995 and 2007, thus offering a rare longitudinal review of a national carbon footprint. Two measures are calculated: a domestic one similar to the producer responsibility criterion and a total measure that includes imported intermediate and final goods, similar to the consumer responsibility measure. The important role of tourism in Spain explains why its domestic carbon footprint represented 10.6% of total CO2 emissions in 2007. Visiting tourists represented 47% of this figure, households 36%, business tourism represented 14% and public administration expenditures 3%. By industry, transport (26%) was positioned as the highest emitter in 2007, with hotels and restaurants the second (21%) (benefitting indirectly from energy and environmental efficiency improvements over the period). The Spanish reliance on imported oil products and the growing importance of foreign-based air services has caused the total carbon footprint of tourism to increase by more than 100%. Therefore, climate change mitigation plans must include imports, and action must take place through the whole global production chain and in the transport sector, particularly air transport. Future mitigation policies are discussed.

Abstract The growing offshoring process is the result of the fragmentation of production processes and the creation of global supply chains. This process has increased final and intermediate imports, but also the distance that goods travel in different stages until they reach the final consumer, as well as the requirements of transport per unit of output and the volume of CO2 emissions generated in transporting them. Nowadays, there is no generally accepted criterion for international transport pollution allocation. No single country has the responsibility for emissions of international bunkers provided by IPCC. In this paper we propose a new methodology for quantifying by sector the impact of international freight transport on total pollution and assigning responsibility to consumers. This methodology considers the distance and the means of transport as key elements and uses input–output methodology. We apply this to the Spanish economy combining data from input–output tables, import data, and CO2 emission data. The results show that the proportion of total CO2 emissions accounted for by emissions from international freight transportation, allocated via the consumer criterion, increase up to 4.16% between 1995 and 2000. As expected, the industries where this offshoring process is more intense show the greatest increases in carbon emissions related to international transport. These emissions are significantly higher than emissions embodied in domestic inputs in some of those industries where international fragmentation of production is relevant and increasing.

Abstract The so-called post-China countries (PC-16s), distinguished by low wages and high economic growth, will replace China as the “world’s factory”. The aim of this paper is to assess the effect of these changes on global CO 2 emissions pathways. To achieve this, a counterfactual is proposed wherein China’s trade with the rest of the world is replaced by the PC-16’s trade in a global multiregional input–output context. The emissions savings realized by trade replacement are significant in those scenarios where the current pattern of trade is maintained (−13% on emissions traded and −3.5% on global emissions) and in scenarios where enterprises relocate their production directly or indirectly to the most environmentally efficient countries (ranging from −15.2% to −18.2% on emissions embodied in trade). Nevertheless, the potential savings drop considerably (ranging from −1.5% to −7.1%) if companies and host countries take advantage of cheaper, but more polluting means of production and do not internalize the externalities. Through changes in international trade, there is a possibility of reducing emissions, which have to be included in international, multilateral and bilateral agreements to mitigate climate change if we do not want to lose the opportunities these changes present.