Reduced consumption-based climate emissions and equal (living) conditions

This project aims to strengthen the municipality´s ability to take on the challenge of reducing the climate emissions that arise through the residents´ consumption, and at the same time promote more equal living conditions in the municipality.

In a collaboration between Avesta municipality and the research institutions SEI and RISE, we will conduct a survey to understand the residents´ different conditions, motivations, potential, and driving forces for changing their lifestyle.

The climate impact of consumption varies between different households, from around 3.5 tonnes of CO2e per person per year in more resource-poor areas to nearly 18 tonnes of CO2e per person per year in more resource-rich areas. A shift towards more sustainable consumption patterns will affect households differently.

Research on justice aspects linked to consumption patterns is so far limited and with this project, we have the ambition to contribute in this area.

In the project, we will examine what challenges and benefits a changed consumption means for different households, e.g. the more resource-poor groups where the climate footprint is comparatively low, the more resource-rich who have a much higher climate footprint, and the rural population where the car accounts for a large proportion of the climate footprint.

We want to understand how the municipality can help different residents to reduce their consumption-based climate footprint and at the same time create more equal living conditions.