Consumption-based Accounting and Policies: Challenges and Opportunities ahead

The document argues that production-based emissions accounting allows the EU to outsource manufacturing and claim emissions reductions while domestic consumption drives emissions elsewhere. It introduces the Carbon-CAP project, which evaluates over 30 policy instruments across sectors like transport and food to complement existing production-focused policies. These instruments are assessed based on effectiveness, scope, economic equity, and political/legal acceptance to avoid rebound effects and emissions shifting within the global economy.

• Production-based accounting masks the EU's true climate impact; while territorial emissions fell 13% from 1990 to 2010, the actual footprint including embodied imports rose by 8%.
• The EU's current accounting framework enables the outsourcing of manufacturing to countries without binding GHG targets, meaning net imported emissions have exceeded the size of the EU's Kyoto-specified reduction target.
• The Carbon-CAP project is assessing more than 30 policy instruments across sectors including Transport, Manufacturing, Food, Buildings, Paper/Plastics and Textiles, categorised into information-based, regulatory, economic/financial, and infrastructural instruments.
• Efficiency improvements in carbon intensities within the EU have been insufficient to offset rising demand, leading to increased emissions from consumption and the risk of 'rebound effects' where cost savings lead to increased consumption.

APA

Scott, K., Barrett, J., Crawford-Brown, D., Wood, R., Moran, D., Arcese, E., & Blachowicz, A. (2015). Consumption-based Accounting and Policies: Challenges and Opportunities ahead. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CarbonCap-policy-brief1-format-final5a-2.pdf

Chicago

Scott, Kate, John Barrett, Douglas Crawford-Brown, Richard Wood, Daniel Moran, Eleonora Arcese, and Andrzej Blachowicz. Consumption-based Accounting and Policies: Challenges and Opportunities ahead. Climate Strategies, 2015. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CarbonCap-policy-brief1-format-final5a-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Scott |first1=Kate |last2=Barrett |first2=John |last3=Crawford-Brown |first3=Douglas |last4=Wood |first4=Richard |last5=Moran |first5=Daniel |last6=Arcese |first6=Eleonora |last7=Blachowicz |first7=Andrzej |title=Consumption-based Accounting and Policies: Challenges and Opportunities ahead |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=November 2015 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CarbonCap-policy-brief1-format-final5a-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{scott2015consumptionbased, author = {Scott, Kate and Barrett, John and Crawford-Brown, Douglas and Wood, Richard and Moran, Daniel and Arcese, Eleonora and Blachowicz, Andrzej}, title = {{Consumption-based Accounting and Policies: Challenges and Opportunities ahead}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CarbonCap-policy-brief1-format-final5a-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }