Restaurants, pets and holidays: how UK’s well-off have outsize carbon footprints

Data shows baby boomers have highest emissions and London has lower footprint than rest of UK

The great carbon divide: charting a climate chasm

Restaurants, pets and foreign holidays are among the reasons why the UK's most well-off people rack up carbon footprints far greater than those on low incomes, according to data shared with the Guardian.

The biggest carbon divide is in aviation, with the richest 10% in the UK - the 6.7 million people paid more than 59,000 a year - causing more than six times more climate-heating emissions from flights than the poorest 10%. Spending on electrical items, homeware and furniture also contributes to the outsize impact of the wealthy, who splash out four times more on these goods.