Findings on carbon footprint
In Table 3, total footprint results from the survey have been summarized. It can be found that the highest carbon footprint comes from the East zone of Kolkata, with a total annual footprint at 42.4 tonnes. In this part of Kolkata, it is found that vehi- cle ownership rates are higher as compared to the other parts of the city and also income wise, this is the most affluent part of the city, according to the survey findings. In this part of Kolkata, the average vehicle ownership rate for each household is more than 1 for both cars and two-wheelers. Travel demand in this part of the city is high thereby generating an annual aver- age per capita footprint of 0.10 tonnes. On the other extreme is North Kolkata, which is the most congested part of the city, the total annual footprint is the least. Here the average per capita footprint is 0.05 tonnes per year. The average vehicle own- ership rate is less than 1 for both cars and two-wheelers. South and West Kolkata are more or less similar in terms of their total and average per capita footprint, though South Kolkata happens to be a relatively affluent part as compared to West Kolkata. Two-wheeler ownership is the maximum among the West Kolkata households (1.2).
A diagrammatic representation of the total and per capita footprints income category wise is exhibited in Fig. 4. It is seen that the lower middle income category, comprising 38 per cent of the households (from Table 2) generates the highest total footprint at 47.8 tonnes annually, whereas, the low income category comprising about 33 per cent of the households gen- erates the lowest carbon footprint at 16.1 tonnes annually. The middle income category also generates a substantial amount of total footprint amounting to about 36 tonnes annually. On the other hand it is seen that the high income category com- prising merely 7.5 per cent of the households generates about 22.5 tonnes of footprint annually. The second part in Fig. 4 shows a clear picture of the relation between people’s affluence and the average per capita footprint. It clearly shows that per capita footprint increases with income. It is seen that the average annual per capita footprint is highest for the high income category and it declines subsequently with income. It can be said that though the lower middle and middle income sections generate high footprints, owing to a larger representation in the total population, it is actually the high income group in the city, whose per capita footprint is increasing and gradually approaching very high levels. According to our results, the high income group’s average per capita footprint is more than thrice that of the middle income group and is about 15 times that of the low income category household.