Decarbonising the energy system in accordance with the Paris agreement requires a deep transformation of both the supply and the demand side [@riahi_shared_2017] [@grubler_low_2018]. On both sides, however, necessary transformation is restricted by different factors. On the supply side, there exist economic and physical upper limits of how much energy can be provided from renewable sources on the one hand, and how much CO2 removal infrastructure is used to compensate for remaining emissions from fossil fuels on the other. On the demand side [@creutzig_towards_2018], by contrast, there are lower limits to how much energy is minimally required for a decent standard of living [@grubler_low_2018] [@millward-hopkins_providing_2020], depending on different assumptions about infrastructures and service provision [@creutzig_towards_2018], as well as the prevalent social ideas about what constitutes decent living [@rao_energy_2019] [@millward-hopkins_providing_2020]. Maximum possible energy supply and minimum required energy demand describe the corridor in which the simultaneous achievement of climate targets and a decent standard of living for all is possible and, at the same time, restricts the distribution of available energy services among the population. If this dual objective is taken seriously in European climate policy, then there are practical limits to how unequal the society of the future can be, which go beyond the purely political [@leach_equity_2018]. In fact, a limited energy supply creates an obvious, if rarely acknowledged, zero-sum game where energetic over-consumption by some must be compensated with less consumption by others.
The average household energy footprint of European citizens was around 170 gigajoules (GJ) per capita in 2015 [@eurostat_eurostat_nodate-3] [@stadler_exiobase_2018], and the household carbon footprint around 7 tonnes CO2-equivalence (tCO2eq) per capita [@eurostat_eurostat_nodate-4]. However, the differences in household energy and carbon footprints are large within and between different regions in Europe [@ivanova_mapping_2017] [@gore_t._confronting_2020] [@oswald_large_2020]. Energy footprints ranged from less than 100 GJ per capita to over 300 GJ per capita [@oswald_large_2020], and carbon footprints from below 2.5 tCO2eq per capita to 55 tCO2eq per capita [@ivanova_unequal_2020]. Depending on the assumptions of different global decarbonisation scenarios, the average footprints likely need to be reduced to somewhere below 100 GJ per capita [@riahi_shared_2017] [@grubler_low_2018] [@millward-hopkins_providing_2020], and below 2.1 tCO2eq per capita [@akenji_1.5-degree_2019] by 2050, respectively.
The average household energy footprint of European citizens was around 170 gigajoules (GJ) per capita in 2015 [@stadler_exiobase_2018] [@eurostat_eurostat_nodate-3], and the household carbon footprint around 7 tonnes CO2-equivalence (tCO2eq) per capita [@eurostat_eurostat_nodate-4]. However, the differences in household energy and carbon footprints are large within and between different regions in Europe [@ivanova_mapping_2017] [@gore_t._confronting_2020] [@oswald_large_2020]. Energy footprints ranged from less than 100 GJ per capita to over 300 GJ per capita [@oswald_large_2020], and carbon footprints from below 2.5 tCO2eq per capita to 55 tCO2eq per capita [@ivanova_unequal_2020]. Depending on the assumptions of different global decarbonisation scenarios, the average footprints likely need to be reduced to somewhere below 100 GJ per capita [@riahi_shared_2017] [@grubler_low_2018] [@millward-hopkins_providing_2020], and below 2.1 tCO2eq per capita [@akenji_1.5-degree_2019] by 2050, respectively.
In this paper, we assess under what conditions European energy inequality is compatible with the achievement of global climate goals and a decent standard of living, taking both inequality within and between European countries into account. To this end, we first construct household energy and carbon footprints for harmonized European expenditure deciles in 2015, combining data from EUROSTAT's Household Budget Survey (HBS) with the Environmentally-Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output (EE-MRIO) model EXIOBASE. We analyze the distribution of energy and carbon intensities across European expenditure deciles and final consumption categories, and compare this current structure to a hypothetical situation where all European expenditure deciles use the best technology available in Europe. Finally, we examine how the energy inequality across European expenditure deciles would need to change in order to achieve the dual goal of climate protection and a decent standard of living for all.
