Understanding the Social Determinants of Household Carbon Emissions for Carbon Mitigation Policies: The Case of Mersin, Turkey

Households are the main consumer-side source of carbon emissions. In Europe, consumer-based CO₂ consumption per capita fell from 10.8 tons to 7.8 tons between 1990 and 2022, but in Turkey, the same data showed a rise from 4 tons to 5 tons. Strategies to reduce carbon emissions have recently shifted their focus from the production side to the consumption side. However, because different social segments have varying levels of price sensitivity and differing levels of necessity regarding consuming different items, a simple tax policy only targeting the consumption side is doomed to fail. This has prompted a discussion of the factors influencing carbon emissions on the consumption side and how those factors affect the amount of emissions. This study aims to identify the social determinants affecting household carbon emission levels and to demonstrate that such differences play an important role in effective and efficient carbon emission reduction strategies. In this case study, an appropriate testing method was used to test whether there are significant differences in dependent variables (carbon emissions) between categories of independent variables (the social determinants of households). As our literature review demonstrates, the social determinants of households and the local context were found to have an impact on carbon emissions in the case study. Nevertheless, we found that the degree of association lessens when the relationship between the dependent variables and the independent variables is re-evaluated while controlling for income level. Consequently, it may be concluded that the primary element influencing carbon emissions is income. In our field study, on the other hand, poverty stood out as another important factor affecting the level of carbon emissions. Poverty affects total household carbon emissions in two different ways, causing both carbon-intensive consumer goods and household appliances with low energy efficiency to be preferred because they are cheap to purchase. Therefore, the fight against poverty should be recognized as an important component of carbon reduction policies in Turkey, and the issue of environmental justice should not be ignored, because we know that 30% of the population was living in poverty (compared to the other 70% receiving the national median income) in 2022.