Low-Greenhouse-Gas Consumption Strategies and Impacts on Developing Countries

The research paper examines how shifts in consumer behaviour in high-income countries to reduce GHG emissions—such as buying fewer goods and shifting to services—can disproportionately harm the GDP of lower-income countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) due to their reliance on trade. Using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model based on the WRAP scenario, the authors find that while such shifts benefit the domestic economy of the consuming country, they can lead to significant GDP losses in poor exporting nations. The paper suggests alternative strategies to align climate mitigation with development goals, such as preferentially sourcing products from low-GHG, low-income regions or improving production efficiency in developing countries.

• Shifting consumption to low-GHG alternatives in high-income countries can reduce emissions associated with consumption by at least 10 per cent.
• Adopting low-GHG consumption behaviours in the United Kingdom would lead to a 4.6% increase in the U.K.'s GDP because spending shifts from imported goods to domestically produced services.
• Low-GHG consumption shifts in the U.K. alone would cause a 0.3% decline in GDP for lower-income countries and a 0.7% decline for Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
• If all high-income countries adopted the same low-GHG consumption strategies as the WRAP scenario, GDP losses in lower-income countries could reach 4.5% and up to 5.7% in LDCs.
• The negative economic impacts on lower-income countries are driven primarily by reduced consumption of clothing and other manufactured goods, with clothing having the strongest impact on LDCs.
• The GHG intensity of clothing production varies significantly by country, with some producers (e.g., China) being more than four times as GHG-intensive as others (e.g., Romania and Pakistan).
• Preferentially sourcing clothing from low-GHG, low-income countries like Bangladesh instead of high-GHG producers like China could reduce emissions associated with U.K. clothing consumption by approximately 10%.

APA

Erickson, P., Owen, A., & Dawkins, E. (2012). Low-Greenhouse-Gas Consumption Strategies and Impacts on Developing Countries. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2012-01-Low-GHG-Consumption.pdf

Chicago

Erickson, Peter, Anne Owen, and Ellie Dawkins. Low-Greenhouse-Gas Consumption Strategies and Impacts on Developing Countries. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2012. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2012-01-Low-GHG-Consumption.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Erickson |first1=Peter |last2=Owen |first2=Anne |last3=Dawkins |first3=Ellie |title=Low-Greenhouse-Gas Consumption Strategies and Impacts on Developing Countries |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=March 2012 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2012-01-Low-GHG-Consumption.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{erickson2012lowgreenhousegas, author = {Erickson, Peter and Owen, Anne and Dawkins, Ellie}, title = {{Low-Greenhouse-Gas Consumption Strategies and Impacts on Developing Countries}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2012}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2012-01-Low-GHG-Consumption.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }