When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Germany

Why Grandma And Grandpa Deserve Some Of The Blame For Climate Change

Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute have calculated the average CO2 emissions per capita by age and have found that the most emissions are produced by people in their early to mid-60s.

The golden years leaves its carbon footprint (Symo0)
The golden years leaves its carbon footprint (Symo0)

*NEWSBITES

MUNICH - Researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute have calculated the average CO2 emissions per capita by age and have found that the most emissions are produced by people in their early to mid sixties.

When calculating CO2 emissions, energy and climate researchers take the growth of the world's population and increasing affluence in emerging countries into account. But there's one aspect of demographics that has not been taken into account before: aging populations in the industrial countries and an increasing number of older persons in emerging economies. The Planck results show that the demographic change has an impact on emissions.

Consumption habits are different for different age groups, and hence so is the amount of CO2 that a person produces indirectly by what he or she consumes.

People in their sixties often have a relatively high income and so can afford more: they drive and fly more than younger people, and have bigger living spaces that have to be lit and heated. The researchers used U.S. data about age-related consumption patterns because it was easier to access, but the economic-demographic model the results are based on is also valid for other industrial countries, said the head of the research team, Emilio Zagheni. According to Zagheni, humans begin life producing nearly two tons of CO2 per capita per year, and this figure goes up steeply until they are nine years old.

By a person's mid-20s, the curve flattens out or even goes down a bit at around 10 tons, but then between ages 63 and 65 reaches a high point of 14.9 tons. After that the curve descends again. At age 82, when calculations stop, the amount is 13.1 tons and, the researchers say, continues to diminish with age.

The team gathered data about nine energy-intensive products that produce high amounts of CO2, such as gas, heating oil, electricity and plane trips. Every dollar spent on electricity generates 8.7 kilos of CO2. For gas the result is 6 kilos. The CO2 life curve reflects consumption of such goods over a lifetime weighed against CO2 emissions per dollar.

The turning point, says Zagheni, is when people start spending more on health care. Health services are often less energy-intensive than are other goods and services, and are so costly there is little left over for other things.

Read the full story in German by Wolfgang W. Merkel

Photo - Symo0

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Ideas

Populists With A Plan: Welcome To The Age Of Reactionism

Right-wing reaction to the globalized, liberal order is starting to look less dispersed and more systematic, like 20th-century political movements like socialism and communism.

Photo of Bolsonaro Supporters Storming Congress

Supporters of former Brazilian President Bolsonaro clash with mounted police in the capital.

Juan Gabriel Tokatlian

-Analysis-

BUENOS AIRES — In a 2018 text published in the International Studies Quarterly, academics Joseph MacKay and Christopher David La Roche asked why there was no "Reactionary International Theory." In December of that year, speaking with Crisis journal, I myself stressed that beyond Europe and the United States, international reactionism was taking root in Latin America. Then in 2019, "Reactionary Internationalism" and the philosophy of the New Right were the subjects of another paper by Pablo de Orellana and Nicholas Michelsen.

As an emergent trend, the "reactionary international" is worth considering.

This international is comparable in scope to 20th-century currents like the Communist International, Socialist International and Christian Democrat International. While those were prominent in Europe, the new reaction has emerged most emblematically in Anglo-American countries and remains a solidly Western phenomenon. Its expressions in peripheral countries, eastern Europe or Latin America have effectively adopted its mainstream proposals.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest