The 1.5-degree lifestyles initiative explores the effects of consumption and lifestyles on climate change and proposes a science-based strategy to relate real lifestyle modifications to quantifiable climate change consequences. This effort is crucial to our capacity to fulfill the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree aspirational aim.
The majority of policy methods for achieving climate goals rely on the hope for new technology – such as negative emissions technologies – and industry shifts. This frequently understates the effects of lifestyle modifications.
The 1.5-degree lifestyle research fills a vacuum in the existing literature by defining worldwide objectives for lifestyle carbon footprints, analyzing current consumption patterns and their effects on footprints, and assessing the potential reduction implications of low-carbon lifestyle alternatives.
What is a 1.5ºC Lifestyle?
The latest worldwide research by Sitra, titled “1.5-degree lifestyles: Objectives and solutions for decreasing lifestyle carbon footprints,” sets clear targets and strategies for reducing emissions resulting from human consumption. The needed transformation is radical: Finland’s present carbon footprint per capita must be reduced by up to 93% by 2050.
The carbon footprint of households and people’s lives, i.e., what we purchase and eat, where and how we live, and how and where we move, is the basis for emission reduction strategies. Changing our lives might have an immediate and observable effect on lowering carbon dioxide emissions.
As required in the Paris Agreement, the research recommends global carbon footprint objectives and solutions that will assist society in adopting lifestyle adjustments to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Literature on the topic, political decision-making, and corporate practices have mostly concentrated on the carbon footprints of select nations, cities, organizations, and products, but not on those of consumers.
This has undermined attempts to resolve the climate catastrophe to some extent. The conversation on climate change solutions has mostly focused on technological advancements, but systemic changes in people’s behavior and infrastructure also play a significant role.
Findings of the research
The paper analyses Canada, Finland, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, India, and Indonesia for priority high-impact consumption domains and emissions gaps between present and goal consumption levels. The report also offers low-carbon living measures and analyses their effect reduction potential.
In certain situations, the research reveals that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced by more than 80 percent by 2050, relative to today’s lifestyle intensity. Not only will reductions be required in rich nations, but a number of emerging nations will also need to cut their average per capita emissions from their current levels. This is a substantial task given that big portions of their people still lack basic necessities.
Nonetheless, as the research clearly identifies, there are strong prospects for much-needed improvements, which would need immediate action. Examples include meat and dairy consumption, energy derived from fossil fuels, and automobile and plane travel.