Women contribute less to climate-heating emissions than men, study finds

Men generate significantly more climate-heating emissions than women, according to a new study.

Men’s choices in food and transport, two of the most polluting sectors, lead to 26 per cent higher carbon emissions than women’s.

Researchers studied over 15,000 people to analyse how gender shaped what we ate, how we moved, and how much we polluted.

Even after adjusting for income, job type and household size, a gap of 18 per cent remained.

The biggest culprits behind significantly higher emissions from men were red meat and cars.

The researchers found that these two lifestyle choices alone explained almost all of the remaining gap after accounting for biological and socioeconomic differences.

Red meat, for example, makes up only 13 per cent of the average food footprint but accounts for 70 per cent of the emissions difference between men and women.

Cars are responsible for the entire gap in transport emissions, with men more likely to drive alone and use more polluting vehicles.

By contrast, emissions from flights are similar across genders, suggesting not all carbon-intensive behaviours are split the same way.

While men tend to eat more calories and travel longer distances, the study shows that this doesn’t fully explain the gender gap. After controlling for these differences, a significant gap remains, rooted in how people consume, not just how much.

Even within similar income groups, men consistently show higher-emitting dietary and travel habits.

Among single men and women, where factors like household roles or childcare aren’t in play, the food-related emissions gap is wider than in couples, while the transport gap is smaller. This suggests that shared meals nudge women’s diets upward, while commuting patterns widen the gap in couples, especially those with children.

The study by researchers from the London School of Economics and the Institute of Polytechnique de Paris points to longstanding cultural associations between masculinity and high-emission goods.

Red meat and cars, in particular, are repeatedly linked to male identity in social science research.

This could help explain not just consumption patterns, but also the growing climate concern gap between men and women.

If men face higher personal costs to cut emissions, giving up meat or reducing car use, they may be less inclined to support climate action.

Previous studies show that women in high-income countries are more likely to adopt climate-friendly behaviours and support environmental policies.

But the researchers caution that climate concern may also drive the behaviour, not just the other way around. In other words, lower-carbon lifestyles might reflect and reinforce deeper values and priorities.

The new study challenges the idea that income alone explains who pollutes most. In fact, the gap in emissions between men and women is roughly the same as the gap between high-income and low-income groups in the same sectors.

This raises important questions for climate policy. If carbon taxes or behaviour change campaigns target high-emission activities like driving and eating meat, they may disproportionately affect men, especially those who associate such consumption with identity or status.

The study also suggests that public messaging and policy design need to take social norms and gender roles into account, not just market signals or price incentives.

The researchers calculated that if all adult men in France adopted the average carbon intensity of women, keeping the same food intake and travel distances, national emissions from food and transport would fall by over 13 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

That’s equivalent to three times the reduction France expects to achieve in those sectors annually under its 2030 climate plan.

While men tend to emit more, studies show that women are more likely to suffer the consequences of climate breakdown, especially in lower-income countries where they have less access to resources, limited land rights or little decision-making power during crises.

According to the UN, women and children are up to 14 times more likely to die during climate-related disasters. They also make up around 70 per cent of people displaced by such events, due to factors such as caregiving roles, lower mobility and reduced access to resources.