In July 2021, Mistra Sustainable Consumption published a scientific study on how individuals’ climate emissions could be reduced by 40%. This became the starting point of a viral spread unlike anything the study’s lead researcher, Annika Carlsson-Kanyama, had ever experienced.
An article in The Guardian framed the findings by highlighting that men emit more because they drive more and eat more meat. After that, the story was picked up all over the world.
What did it feel like to suddenly receive global attention for your results?
– I’ve worked as a researcher for a long time, and at best the university issues a press release, but often nothing at all, says Annika Carlsson-Kanyama, sustainability researcher at Ecoloop. So it was very surprising when people from all over the world started getting in touch with questions. It was great fun, actually. I was extremely busy!
Just awake at the summer cottage
– In an interview with South Korean TV, I thought they were only going to record audio, not video. But that turned out to be wrong when I was met by a very professionally made-up Korean female journalist. I myself was sitting there, just awake, in the summer cottage.
– I’ve written about this before and know that it’s often seen as controversial to say that men’s and women’s consumption affects the climate differently. Many people have shown that we can change our climate emissions by changing our consumption. But the fact that men’s and women’s consumption differs so much, there really aren’t many studies on that.
FILM
Watch the video about the event here.
ARTICLE
Read the scientific article in the Journal of Industrial Ecology here.