Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

CONSUMPTION HABITS

Ageing society risks emission cuts

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 221–222 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Developed countries are about to experience unprecedented demographic changes. The increasing population, wealth and carbon-intensive lifestyles of senior citizens raise concerns that should be addressed.

The group aged 60 years and over composes around one-fifth of the population in developed countries, and is expected to double between 2019 and 20502,3. Thus, the lifestyles and consumption habits of senior citizens have an increasing impact on total greenhouse gas emissions. Previous studies have suggested that an ageing society may also reduce emissions, due to reduced productivity and economic growth4. However, the impacts of the changing consumption behaviour of an ageing population have not yet been analysed. There may be both harmful and desirable changes regarding carbon footprints as people age. For example, daily transportation typically declines when people no longer commute or drive their children around. Yet holiday travel is common for senior couples, and only decreases among senior singles compared with the population of working age5, perhaps because of missing companion, health issues or lower income level.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Wiedmann, T. et al. Nat. Commun. 11, 3107 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zheng, H. et al. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01302-y (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. World Population Prospects (United Nations, 2019).

  4. O’Neill, B. C. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 17521–17526 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ottelin, J., Cetinay, H. & Behrens, P. Environ. Res. Lett. 15, 104044 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Börsch-Supan, A. J. Econ. Ageing 1, 3–15 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ottelin, J., Heinonen, J. & Junnila, S. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 86, 1–10 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Juudit Ottelin

Authors
  1. Juudit Ottelin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juudit Ottelin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ottelin, J. Ageing society risks emission cuts. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 221–222 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01306-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01306-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing