The carbon footprint of the empty Castilla-La Mancha

In this paper, we analyze the carbon footprint of Castilla-La Mancha households, a region of the so-called “empty Spain,” and their mitigation potential. For this purpose, we use the environmentally extended multiregional input-output model and the Spanish Households Budget Survey to extract expenditure microdata by municipality size. We find that households in smaller municipalities have a larger total carbon footprint due to their higher direct emissions. Although their consumption is lower than other municipalities, they have a more intensive pattern of embedded carbon consumption. Households in smaller municipalities spend a higher share in private transport and housing-related activities, emitting almost an additional ton of direct carbon emissions. Regarding their mitigation potential, results show that for every euro that municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants reduce their consumption, they would reduce emissions by 0.796 kgCO2. However, while the size of the municipality increases, the mitigation potential decreases (0.378 kgCO2 for more than 100,000 inhabitants). This highest mitigation potential will only be achieved if mitigation policies especially favor their inhabitants and if infrastructures and social services are developed to facilitate a change in their consumption patterns. •The mitigation potential of the CLM household carbon footprint accounts for 20.1%.•Adopting a more sustainable consumption pattern could lower emissions in −2.43 tCO2.•As the size of the municipality increases, the mitigation potential decreases.•Households’ emissions in small municipalities are higher due to transport.•Only half of the CO2 linked to CLM households' consumption is emitted within Spain.