CONSUMPTION PATTERN AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURE IN BRAZIL

This paper examines the connections between household consumption and environmental pressure in Brazil. The aim is to investigate how increased consumption of Brazilian families in the last two decades has changed the environmental pressure of the economic system. The method chosen was the structural decomposition analysis associated with the Household Budget Surveys. Environmental pressure increased during the period considered. Excluding the effects of Land Use Change and Forestry, the emission level keeps rising with the increased production and consumption. The composition effect decreased emissions of consumption, mostly due to the agricultural sector; this reduction was overcome by the scale effect.