Micro-level decoupling: Explaining low-emission behaviors among high-income earners in Australia and the United Kingdom

A fundamental challenge for achieving decarbonization and the transition into sustainable societies is that economic development and the emission of greenhouse gasses tend to go hand in hand. While some countries have been able to reduce emissions while maintaining economic growth ("relative decoupling"), little evidence exists that societies have been able to decouple emissions from growth ("absolute decoupling"). Previous research has predominately been preoccupied with decoupling and its explanations at the macro level, with a particular focus on the role of national- or regional-level climate policies. While the individual level has been largely ignored in the decoupling literature, GDP and economic growth is, after all, at least partly influenced by the incomes of individuals, with higher earnings typically leading to increased consumer spending and thus stimulating economic activity. Similarly, national emissions largely depend on the choices and behaviors of individual consumers, especially among the high-income strata of the population, who are generally responsible for a disproportionately large share of consumption-based emissions. Using the concept micro-level decoupling, we focus on the relationship between income and individual-level behaviors aiming to reduce personal greenhouse gas emissions. First, we identify high-income earners who frequently engage in low-emission behaviors ("decouplers") and estimate their prevalence compared to high-income earners who do not significantly engage in these behaviors. Second, we explore the unique individual-level explanatory factors characterizing "decouplers" and "non-decouplers". Our analysis focuses on two affluent countries, Australia and the UK, which historically have had similar economic growth profiles but varied in their achieved levels of relative macro-level decoupling: While emissions in Australia have increased over the past decades and at best leveled out, emissions in the UK have steadily declined. Our results will provide insights into the relationship between macro-level and micro-level decoupling, as well as illuminating pathways for increasing low-emission behaviors among high income earners (micro-level decoupling). Consequently, our study contributes to ongoing debates regarding the role of individual-level behavioral change versus systemic and structural transformations in mitigating climate change.