Structural Characteristics of the Household Carbon Footprint in an Aging Society

Abstract

The aging population has posed a challenge to China’s carbon neutrality pledge. To study the household carbon footprint in an aging society, this paper has combined the age-specific consumption pattern and environmental input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) to calculate the carbon footprint of household consumption across age groups, and then identified the key pathways of carbon emissions via structural path analysis (SPA). Results indicate that the elderly contribute 11.65% to total consumption-based carbon emissions. The working group (ages 15–64) has the highest average carbon footprint (0.85 tCO2e), while the elderly group (ages 65 and above) has the lowest average carbon footprint (0.82 tCO2e). Urban households of all ages have a higher carbon footprint than rural households. Housing and food are the dominant sources of the elderly carbon footprint. Notably, the production and distribution of electric power and heat power sector associated with housing energy consumption plays a leading role in the carbon emissions pathways of elderly consumption. Measuring the carbon footprint of older people can support policy designs and decision making in key sectors along the supply chain, and further encourage low-carbon lifestyles among China’s elderly. Additionally, the findings of this study have broad applications, especially for developing countries undergoing demographic transitions.

Impact of Awareness Program for Carbon Footprint Mitigation among Nursing Students. A Step toward Sustainability

“…Also, transportation and mobile phone connectivity are indispensable services in urban areas. According to the study of Long et al, (2023) (40) and Bera et al, (2022) (41), the urban area's CF is significantly larger than that of rural areas. Conversely, the outcome went against the findings of Pang et al, (2020) (52), and Ottelin et al, (2019) (53), who found that urban households in Switzerland and Europe have lower direct emissions than rural households.…”

“…According to the researcher's viewpoint, the academic activities in nursing studies, such as printing, exams, and digital learning, combined with lifestyle choices, could have played a role in the rise of CF among the nursing students than the average CO2 emission per capita in EGYPT. Numerous studies found that the biggest contributor to CF was housing expenditure (Long et al, 2023 (40) , Bera et al, 2022 (41) , and Fahmy et al, 2022 (42) ).…”