Household carbon footprints of age groups in China and socioeconomic influencing factors

Abstract

China has a large fastest-aging population, which would reshape household consumption patterns and influence global CO₂ emissions. This study examines global CO₂ emissions driven by household consumption (i.e., household carbon footprints, HCFs) of 34 age groups in China's 30 provinces and uncovers relevant socioeconomic influencing factors. Results show that China's population aging (i.e., the proportion of the elderly population) is conducive to global CO₂ emission reduction during 2011-2014. This trend is mainly due to the relatively lower per capita HCFs of the elderly (1.7 t in 2014). In contrast, the per capita HCFs of the youth group are higher (3.3 t in 2014), mainly affected by the large expenditure on residence and transportation & communication. In addition, the HCFs of all age groups have increased during 2011-2014. Per capita expenditure is the most significant driver of this increase. The decline in CO₂ emission intensity makes the largest contribution to reducing the HCFs of the youth group. For the aged group, expenditure structure change is the largest contributor to HCFs reduction. These findings reveal the differentiated impacts of China's household consumption by age on global CO₂ emissions. This study lays the scientific foundation for deriving amelioration policies and achieving emission reduction targets in the process of population aging.

Keywords: Aging; CO(2); Consumption; Footprint; Household; Input-output analysis.