Conference Agenda

Higher-income households generate disproportionately large environmental footprints, yet most studies focus solely on climate change and rely on input-output methods with limited product-level granularity. This paper introduces a novel life cycle assessment (LCA) model that combines EU Household Budget Survey microdata with the JRC Consumption Footprint database, assessing 16 environmental impact categories and converting them into monetised externalities.

Our results reveal substantial footprint inequality across the EU: households in the top income quintile generate a footprint 1.77 times larger than those in the bottom quintile, with considerable variation across countries. Food consumption contributes most to this inequality (49%), followed by mobility (21%) and housing (18%). Inequality in mineral and metal depletion is particularly pronounced (ratio of 2.39), driven mainly by mobility choices. Higher-income households not only consume more but also select more environmentally intensive products, particularly meat and private car transport.

When assessed against planetary boundaries, high-income households transgress seven boundaries while low-income households transgress five. Only high-income households exceed safe operating limits for freshwater and marine eutrophication, and they transgress the minerals and metals boundary by 2.6 times while lower-income households remain within safe limits.

These findings carry direct policy implications. Green transition measures in food, mobility and resource extraction may disproportionately affect those contributing least to environmental degradation. Policies targeting climate change and particulate matter should account for food-driven inequality, while measures addressing mineral depletion should focus on mobility patterns. Monetising external costs reveals that wealthy households impose substantially higher absolute damages on society, supporting pricing mechanisms aligned with the polluter pays principle.