Abstract
Current anthropogenic climate change is the result of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, which records the aggregation of billions of individual decisions. Here we consider a broad range of individual lifestyle choices and calculate their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries, based on 148 scenarios from 39 sources. We recommend four widely applicable high-impact (i.e. low emissions) actions with the potential to contribute to systemic change and substantially reduce annual personal emissions: having one fewer child (an average for developed countries of 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) emission reductions per year), living car-free (2.4 tCO2e saved per year), avoiding airplane travel (1.6 tCO2e saved per roundtrip transatlantic flight) and eating a plant-based diet (0.8 tCO2e saved per year). These actions have much greater potential to reduce emissions than commonly promoted strategies like comprehensive recycling (four times less effective than a plant-based diet) or changing household lightbulbs (eight times less). Though adolescents poised to establish lifelong patterns are an important target group for promoting high-impact actions, we find that ten high school science textbooks from Canada largely fail to mention these actions (they account for 4% of their recommended actions), instead focusing on incremental changes with much smaller potential emissions reductions. Government resources on climate change from the EU, USA, Canada, and Australia also focus recommendations on lower-impact actions. We conclude that there are opportunities to improve existing educational and communication structures to promote the most effective emission-reduction strategies and close this mitigation gap.
Generated Summary
This research investigates the climate mitigation gap, focusing on how educational and governmental recommendations often overlook the most effective individual actions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The study analyzes a wide range of lifestyle choices, calculating their potential to reduce emissions in developed countries using data from 148 scenarios from 39 sources. The research also compares these findings with recommendations from high school science textbooks and government resources in several countries. The methodology aims to identify high-impact actions that could contribute to substantial reductions in personal emissions and promote systemic change. The analysis focuses on actions that have the greatest potential to reduce individual greenhouse gas emissions and compares these with recommendations from educational and governmental sources to identify areas where more effective strategies could be promoted. The main goal is to identify the most effective individual actions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, contrasting them with common recommendations from educational materials and government policies to identify the mitigation gap.
Key Findings & Statistics
- Having one fewer child reduces emissions by an average of 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) per year in developed countries.
- Living car-free saves 2.4 tCO2e per year.
- Avoiding airplane travel saves 1.6 tCO2e per roundtrip transatlantic flight.
- Eating a plant-based diet saves 0.8 tCO2e per year.
- Comprehensive recycling is four times less effective than a plant-based diet.
- Changing household lightbulbs is eight times less effective than a plant-based diet.
- The choice to focus on developed regions was motivated by the higher emission and consumption levels in those regions, which demand steeper emissions cuts in order to attain the same, low per capita emissions target that will avoid dangerous planetary warming.
- The per capita emissions must reach 2.1 tCO2e by 2050, if warming of the planet is to be kept below 2°C.
- A US family who chooses to have one fewer child would provide the same level of emissions reductions as 684 teenagers who choose to adopt comprehensive recycling for the rest of their lives.
- The actions that were high-impact (reduces an individual’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 0.8 tCO2e per year, about 5% of current annual emissions in the US or Australia).
- A plant-based diet saves eight times more emissions than upgrading light bulbs.
Other Important Findings
- The study recommends four high-impact actions: having one fewer child, living car-free, avoiding air travel, and eating a plant-based diet.
- These high-impact actions have much greater potential to reduce emissions than commonly promoted strategies such as recycling or changing lightbulbs.
- Ten high school science textbooks from Canada largely fail to mention these high-impact actions.
- Government resources on climate change from the EU, USA, Canada, and Australia also focus recommendations on lower-impact actions.
- The textbooks predominantly focused on moderate or low-impact actions.
- Textbooks overwhelmingly focused on moderate or low-impact actions, with recommended actions mostly presented in a less effective form, or not at all (only eight mentions, or 4%).
- No textbook suggested having fewer children as a way to reduce emissions, and only two out of ten mentioned avoiding air travel.
Limitations Noted in the Document
- The study provides mean values for the recommended actions, but these are not suggested as firm figures that are universally representative of each action, but instead best estimates.
- The estimations are most useful when they compare different classes of actions that vary substantially.
- Some carbon calculators made use of a radiative forcing index, which accounts for the additional warming effects of gases other than CO2 produced during air travel.
- In practice, the emissions benefits of undertaking high-impact actions may be reduced by substitution effects and rebound effects, which were excluded to maintain comparability between actions.
Conclusion
The study concludes that there is a significant mitigation gap between the most effective actions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the recommendations provided in educational materials and government policies. The four recommended high-impact actions—having one fewer child, living car-free, avoiding air travel, and eating a plant-based diet—offer substantial emission reductions and the potential for systemic change. These actions contrast with the more common focus on lower-impact strategies like recycling or changing lightbulbs, which have a much smaller effect. The analysis of Canadian high school science textbooks and government documents from several regions revealed a strong emphasis on moderate or low-impact actions, with little or no mention of the most effective choices. The authors argue that this gap represents a missed opportunity to promote the most impactful emission-reduction strategies. Emphasizing these high-impact actions, especially to adolescents, could be a crucial step in achieving the necessary transformations to meet climate targets. The authors highlight the potential for these behavioral shifts to contribute to both individual and societal-level changes, paving the way for more sustainable lifestyles and reducing the overall impact on the environment.
IFFS Team Summary
- Looks at the the most important individual (not systemic) actions regarding climate mitigation in order of impact
- Compares these to government recommendations and educational content of student textbooks
- Finds that education and recommendations usually emphasize the lesser effective solutions
- While missing the more important solutions
- The list is not comprehensive:
- I.e. does not include choice of home, occupation, investments, material consumption
- Does not include systemic issues such as urban design, global south to north immigration, etc.
- In tonnes of CO2 eq / year
- Having one less child in a developed country (~56 tonnes of CO2 eq / year)
- Followed by living without a car (~2.4 tonnes of CO2 eq / year)
- Avoiding one trans Atlantic flight (~1.6 tonnes of CO2 eq / year)
- Plant based diet (~0.8 tonnes of CO2 eq / year)
- Does not distinguish between business and economy flight, size of gas vehicle, amount of meat in diet
- Does not account for lifestyle or income of family having a child (looks at averages)
- Does not account for land use change in plant based diet, which shows a truer extent of animal food impact
- I.e. see “2016 Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future” article below
- Important to mind vast individual variations
- Also note that impacts such as land use or biodiversity are NOT included, study is only focused on CO2 Eq, hence other important diet impacts are not included
- Aside from commenting on car travel, few education or government programs had a critical inclusion of the most impactful actions.
- Excellent article to show mismatch of perceptions, programs, and education and real savings for CO2 eq
- Provides context and perspective regarding the most important actions, despite the limitations mentioned
- Important implications for understand the relative importance of individual actions in rich countries
