
Kimberly Nicholas
Professor

The role of high-socioeconomic-status people in locking in or rapidly reducing energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions
Author
Summary, in English
People with high socioeconomic status disproportionally affect energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions directly through their consumption and indirectly through their financial and social resources. However, few climate change mitigation initiatives have targeted this population segment, and the potential of such initiatives remains insufficiently researched. In this Perspective, we analyse key characteristics of high-socioeconomic-status people and explore five roles through which they have a disproportionate impact on energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions and potentially on climate change mitigation, namely as consumers, investors, role models, organizational participants and citizens. We examine what is known about their disproportionate impact via consumption and explore their potential influence on greenhouse gas emissions through all five roles. We suggest that future research should focus on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by high-socioeconomic-status people and to align their investments, organizational choices and actions as social and political change agents with climate change mitigation goals.
Department/s
- LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
Publishing year
2021-09-30
Language
English
Pages
1011-1016
Publication/Series
Nature Energy
Volume
6
Issue
11
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Topic
- Other Social Sciences
- Climate Science
Status
Published
Project
- Climate solutions
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 2058-7546