Disproportionality in Power Plants' Carbon Emissions: A Cross-National Study.

ABSTRACT: Past research on the disproportionality of pollution suggests a small subset of a sector's facilities often produces the lion's share of toxic emissions. Here we extend this idea to the world's electricity sectors by calculating national-level disproportionality Gini coefficients for plant-level carbon emissions in 161 nations based on data from 19,941 fossil-fuel burning power plants. We also evaluate if disproportionalities in plant-level emissions are associated with increased national carbon emissions from fossil-fuel based electricity production, while accounting for other well-established human drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. Results suggest that one potential pathway to decreasing nations' greenhouse gas emissions could involve reducing disproportionality among fossil-fuel powe

SUBMITTER: Jorgenson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4929454 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature