HELSINKI, Finland, June 27 (UPI) -- Finnish researchers say conventional wisdom suggesting urban dwellers have a smaller carbon footprint than people who live in the country is wrong.
By identifying carbon emissions by their consumption location rather than their production location, Jukka Heinonen and Seppo Junnila of Aalta University say CO2 emissions that cause climate change are dependent upon how much goods and services people consume, not where they live.
For example, if a TV set is made in a factory in the countryside but bought and used by a person in a town, the carbon emission footprint from making the television should be assigned to the consumer, not to the manufacturer, Heinonen said.
Carbon consumption was linked to income and consumption habits, independent of where people live, the researchers said.
The study has been published in Environmental Research Letters.
