Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-2 (section)

=== 2.6.1 Introduction ===

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This section synthesises how behavioural choices, lifestyles, and consumption preferences affect energy use and emissions. Household consumption is the largest component of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the main contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through direct energy consumption for heating and cooling or private transportation, and indirectly through carbon emitted during production of final consumption items. There is great variation in individual, group and household behaviour and consumption patterns within and between countries and over time. A number of factors affect people’s consumption patterns and associated carbon emissions, such as: socio-demographics; socio-economic status; infrastructure and access to public services; the regulatory framework; availability, affordability and accessibility of more or less sustainable choices on markets; and individual values and preferences ( [[#Dietz--2009|Dietz et al. 2009]] ).

Carbon footprints vary between and within countries and show an uneven distribution because of differences in development levels, economic structure, economic cycle, available public infrastructure, climate and residential lifestyles ( [[#Bruckner--2021|Bruckner et al. 2021]] ). Similar emission characteristics can also be found within a country – see, for China; [[#Feng--2013|Feng et al. (2013)]] ; for the USA: [[#Pizer--2010|Pizer et al. (2010)]] ; [[#Feng--2013|Feng et al. (2013)]] ; [[#Miehe--2016|Miehe et al. (2016)]] ; [[#Hubacek--2017b|Hubacek et al. (2017b)]] ; [[#Wang--2018|Wang et al. (2018)]] ; for Brazil: [[#Sanches-Pereira--2016|Sanches-Pereira et al. (2016)]] ; and for Latin American countries: [[#Zhong--2020|Zhong et al. (2020)]] .

In western countries, the largest contribution to the household carbon footprint is from transportation, housing, and consumption of food (Druckman and Jackson 2015). The joint contribution of these three items varies in different countries, depending on consumption patterns, and account for 58.5%, on average, in EU25 countries ( [[#Tukker--2006|Tukker and Jansen 2006]] ). However, different countries, and regions within countries, may have different emission patterns due to differences in income, lifestyle, geography, infrastructure, political and economic situation. For example, the main contributors to the average US household is private transport (19.6%), followed by electricity (14.8%) and meat (5.2%) ( [[#Jones--2011|Jones and Kammen 2011]] ), while UK households have 24.6% emissions on energy and housing, 13.7% emissions on food, and 12.2% emissions on consumables ( [[#Gough--2011|Gough et al. 2011]] ). A study of 49 Japanese cities found that energy (31%), food (27%), and accommodation (15%) were the largest sources of household emissions ( [[#Long--2017|Long et al. 2017]] ). An investigation of Japan’s household emissions found that energy, food, and utility are the three main emissions sources, but their shares are dependent on age ( [[#Shigetomi--2014|Shigetomi et al. 2014]] ). See [[IPCC:Wg3:Chapter:Chapter-12#12.4|Section 12.4]] (Chapter 12) and Box 5.4 (Chapter 5) for a more in-depth discussion on food systems and dietary shifts towards lower emission food.

In terms of rapidly growing economies, China is the most extensively researched country. China’s household emissions were primarily derived from electricity and coal consumption, as well as residents’ consumption of emission-intensive products, such as housing (33.4%), food (23.6%), private transportation and communication (14.8%) ( [[#Wang--2018|Wang et al. 2018]] ). Space heating was the largest contributor among various daily energy uses in northern cities ( [[#Yang--2017|Yang and Liu 2017]] ). In comparison, Indonesian rural households have a larger emission share on food and a much smaller share on services and recreation than urban households ( [[#Irfany--2017|Irfany and Klasen 2017]] ). Urban Indonesian households have a much larger share of transport-related emissions ( [[#Irfany--2017|Irfany and Klasen 2017]] ). Analysis from the Philippines shows that, on average, households in urban areas emit twice as much as rural ones because of much lower direct energy use in homes and for transport in rural areas (Serino 2017). In other emerging economies, such as India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa, a high share of transport-related carbon emissions among urban middle- and high-income households is evident ( [[#Huang--2021|Huang and Tian 2021]] ).

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