Supporting national-level policies for sustainable consumption in Portugal: A socio-economic Ecological Footprint analysis

Abstract

National level Ecological Footprint studies have highlighted disparities among countries. This assessment has proved essential to accurately characterize ecological impacts to specific countries but often ignore the heterogeneity within national spaces. Population groups within a country engage in different behaviors and consumption patterns that have a distinct impact on the environment. Understanding the contribution of each group and decomposing their consumption of distinct products is critical to helping environmental organizations and policy makers design more efficient policies and communication strategies that will change critical patterns of human demand. In the current study, national household consumption is split into different population groups corresponding to four particular socio-economic dimensions: main sources of income, age, number of members in the household, and levels of education of the population. The aim is to identify critical groups to provide better ground to generate targeted policies that can achieve better environmental results. Results highlight how diverse ecological impacts can occur among distinct population groups, with the highest per capita Footprint values found in households with higher education level, smaller size and those living from Capital/Property Transfers. These results constitute a new possibility to analyze the impact of policies that tackle specific behaviors of distinct population groups.