A Norwegian study has calculated the impact of emissions produced by European households' consumption, from transport to food. The regional breakdown is intended to make it easier and more straightforward for local authorities to take action.
Environmental pollution and global warming are largely a consequence of CO2 emissions. Yet while solutions — more or less effective — to reduce their production are frequently discussed, debated and proposed, far less attention is paid to cutting those linked to consumption. This amounts to showing the problem out of the front door only to let it back in through the window. Starting from this observation, a group of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, led by Diana Ivanova, has produced a map of the ecological footprint of different areas of Europe — specifically, 177 regions.
The article presenting the study, entitled "Mapping the carbon footprint of EU regions", has been published in Environmental Research Letters. As can be seen from the map produced, which shows emissions at regional level by measuring consumption in tonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere, northern Italy (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in particular) is one of the European areas where the total impact of households on CO2 emissions is highest, with over 50 million equivalent tonnes released into the atmosphere every year. The same figures also emerge for Lazio and certain regions of Spain, France, Germany and Ireland. When the average ecological footprint of households is considered instead, the worst performers in terms of emissions are the United Kingdom, Greece, Germany, Denmark and Finland — with over 16.8 tonnes of CO2 emissions per household — and, in Italy, Emilia-Romagna, with values of between 13 and 14.3 tonnes. The South of Italy, by contrast, proves to be one of the most virtuous areas in Europe when it comes to consumption-related emissions.
The researchers calculated the CO2 costs for a range of products and services, from food and clothing to transport and heating. By highlighting emissions at regional level, the researchers aimed to make interventions by local authorities easier: constant and continuous monitoring of consumption-based environmental impacts could identify the main causes of pollution and lead to effective solutions for reducing it. The study also revealed that the majority of direct emissions come from the exhaust pipes of households' private cars (transport accounts for 30 per cent of European emissions), and that food consumption is also strongly linked to the quantity of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere (17 per cent).
