How Age and Gender Affect the Carbon Footprint of the Population in Croatia

Abstract

The term carbon footprint refers to the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) released into the atmosphere through daily activities. The goal of the European Union is to become climate neutral by the 2050, i.e., to achieve carbon neutrality, which means achieving a balance between carbon emissions and its absorption from the atmosphere into carbon sinks. With the guidance of the Green Plan, by 2050, Europe is to become the first continent to eliminate as much CO2 emissions as it produces. Global annual CO2 growth is 1.4%. According to data from 2016, global scale of emissions was around 50 billion t/y. of CO2 (an increase of 40% compared to 1990). Croatia emitted 17.88 million tons of CO2 and EU emitted total of 2.92 billion tons. While carbon footprint can be reduced by improving energy efficiency and changing lifestyles and habits much of it depends on personal characteristics of individuals and societal values, age, gender, place of residence and habits are elaborated in this paper. Statistical methods were used to process and analyze the results.