A consumer study in Sweden has concluded that men have a far higher carbon footprint than women when they spend- regardless of the general stereotype regarding men and shopping. The study was published earlier this week in the Journal of Industrial Ecology and forms its conclusions by looking at the carbon emissions that were manufactured by the consumption of categories like clothing, food, vacations, and furniture. Despite the fact that both the men and women involved in the study spent an equal amount of money, the carbon emissions from men were 15% higher than women.
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Men’s Carbon Footprints Are Tied Directly To Their Shopping
The author believes that the reason behind such a difference is that men were far more likely to be spending money on categories that were high on carbon emissions– thereby increasing the carbon footprint. Men spent their money on cars, where the gasoline involved was almost 70% more than what women spent on the same expenses. Women, it has been reported, spent most of their money on clothing, healthcare, and furniture- which were consumer categories that had far fewer carbon emissions.
The lead author of the study, Annika Carlsson- Kanyama, has stated that the way both genders spend their money is quite stereotypical. In an interview with the Guardian, the author mentioned that women were more likely to spend their money on health, home decor, and clothes, whereas men were more likely to spend their money on eating out, cars, tobacco, and alcohol. And while an equal amount of money could be spent- the carbon footprint showed quite a large difference between the genders.
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For both the sexes, vacations managed to play quite a significant role in increasing their carbon emissions. Almost one-third of the carbon that was emitted every single year by an individual was inevitably tied to them being on a vacation. In this case, men had a larger carbon footprint than women because men were more likely to be driving their cars to a leisure trip- which women weren’t more used to doing. Interestingly, when both the sexes decided to book package tours, there was no difference in the footprint rate.
