Impact of household consumption on CO2 emissions

Abstract

Danish household consumption increased by 58% over the period 1966–1992 while CO2 emissions only increased by 7%. Using decomposition analysis we investigated the global CO2 impact of Danish household consumption from 1966 to 1992. Our conclusion is that overall growth in private consumption — but not changes in the composition of consumption — is the key to understanding the increase in CO2 emissions. However, the effect of growth in private consumption has been partly offset by substantial energy conservation in the energy supply and manufacturing sectors.