[MCN] I have the pdf

[Lance Olsen]

Nature Energy  March 2020

Large inequality in international and intranational energy footprints between income groups and across consumption categories 
Yannick Oswald ✉, Anne Owen and Julia K. Steinberger 

Abstract

Inequality in energy consumption, both direct and indirect, affects the distribution of benefits that result from energy use. Detailed measures of this inequality are required to ensure an equitable and just energy transition. Here we calculate final energy footprints; that is, the energy embodied in goods and services across income classes in 86 countries, both highly industrialized and developing. We analyse the energy intensity of goods and services used by different income groups, as well as their income elasticity of demand. We find that inequality in the distribution of energy footprints varies across different goods and services. Energy-intensive goods tend to be more elastic, leading to higher energy footprints of high-income individuals. Our results consequently expose large inequality in international energy footprints: the consumption share of the bottom half of the population is less than 20% of final energy footprints, which in turn is less than what the top 5% consume. 

Introductory paragraphs

Income and wealth inequality have been increasing in most major economies since the 1980s. The top 1% of global income earners benefit the most from economic growth, having increased  their income share substantially from 15% to more than 20%1. Oxfam added2 that in 2017 “2% of all wealth created went to the top 1%”. Inequality is now recognized as a decisive force of our time and has been linked to issues that range from the environmental performance of nations to domestic terrorism3,4. Climate change is likewise high on the global agenda and so is energy’s role in decar- bonizing the economy5,6. Numerous studies have shown that eco- nomic inequality translates to inequality in energy consumption as well as emissions7–9. This is largely because people with different purchasing power make use of different goods and services10, which are sustained by different energy quantities and carriers. 

Most studies that consider energy footprints and inequality focus on single countries. International and consumption-granular com- parisons remain restricted to carbon inequality instead of energy3,9. Moreover, in energy transition research, the production and supply side have been the dominant focus. The demand side has received much less attention and, when it is considered, it is usually from a technological perspective11,12. Recent scenario work demonstrates that reorganizing and reducing energy demand can ease the shift to a low-carbon energy system13 but it is largely projected to happen through techno-economic means. A starting point for change can be to understand how people’s everyday practices constitute the foundations for the energy system. What do people need energy for? And how much? Shove and Walker14 argue that different social practices entail different patterns of energy consumption14. Whatever a person does in their life affects the energy footprint left behind. Going to work by internal-combustion-engine car instead of electric bicycle reinforces distinct supply chains building their products on distinct amounts of energy and fuels; oil in the first case, electricity in the latter. Consequently, energy system design is not just an engineering issue but a social one too. 
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Financial Times - March 28, 2018
Special Report <https://www.ft.com/reports>

How to make a carbon pricing system work
Compensation for those who lose out and sanctions on non-compliance are needed
MARTIN WOLF <https://www.ft.com/martin-wolf>

<<https://www.ft.com/content/2d9490f2-1291-11e8-a765-993b2440bd73 <https://www.ft.com/content/2d9490f2-1291-11e8-a765-993b2440bd73>>>

1st 2 sentences

“Carbon pricing is a good idea whose time has not yet come. But it has to do so.”

Closing paragraph

“Until now, therefore, carbon pricing remains a sleeping giant. Yet needed progress will not be achieved if it does not awake. The difficulties in meeting agreed objectives in our fractured world are enormous. The chances are high that the effort will fail. If so, our goose will be cooked.”



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