Abstract:

Sectoral and household activities are the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. Still, household emissions are often overlooked and no concentrated effort is undertaken. However, in order to achieve global climate mitigation and the net zero target, household emissions must be reduced. This study intends to investigate the change in emissions caused by household activities in 27 countries of the European Union, which is a pioneer in emission reduction. In the study, the Log Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) approach is employed to analyse changes in household emissions, which are separated into four major impacts (emission intensity, energy intensity, consumption, and population). The findings show that in most EU-27 countries, emission intensity and energy intensity factors reduce emissions, whereas consumption effect and population effect factors increase emissions and negatively affect household emission reduction performance. In such a case, where final consumption by households per capita increases emissions, interventions focused at guiding consumer behaviour would be preferable. As a result, it is concluded that programmes encouraging sustainable consumption habits, providing incentives for access to low-carbon items, and other similar policies will be appropriate policy practises for EU-27 countries.

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