The Carbon Footprint of Norwegian Household Consumption 1999–2012

Abstract

SummaryEnvironmentally extended input‐output analysis is the prevailing method for national environmental footprint accounting; however, its practical usefulness for consumers and policy makers suffers from lack of detail. Several extensive global multiregional input‐output (MRIO) databases have recently been released. A standard framework for linking such databases with the highly detailed household expenditure surveys that are conducted regularly by national statistics offices has the potential of providing analysts in countries worldwide with a powerful tool for in‐depth analyses of their national environmental footprints. In this article, we combine the Norwegian consumer expenditure survey with a global MRIO database to assess the carbon footprint (CF) of Norwegian household consumption in 2012, as well as its annual development since 1999. We offer a didactic account of the practical challenges associated with the combination of these types of data sets and the approach taken here to address these, and we discuss what barriers still remain before such analyses can be practically conducted and provide reliable results. We find a CF of 22.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per household in 2012, a 26% increase since 1999. Transport, housing, and food were the expenditures contributing the most toward the total footprint. CF per unit of expenditure increased with overall expenditure levels (elasticity: 1.14), notably owing to the correlation between overall household expenditure and transport activities (elasticity: 1.48). Household energy use, which is generally inelastic, is, in Norway, largely based on hydropower and hence contributes comparatively little to the overall expenditure elasticity of household CF.