New research shows that cars and meat are the main factors driving the gender gap in greenhouse gas emissions.

According to a pre-Indian study of 15,000 people in France, planetary heating emitted by men is 26% more polluted than women in transportation and food. After controlling for socio-economic factors such as income and education, the gap narrowed to 18%.

Eating red meat and driving a car can explain almost all 6.5-9.5% pollution differences, which also take into account men eating more calories and longer distances, the researchers said. They found no gender gap in flight.

"Our results show that traditional gender norms, especially those associated with red meat consumption and automobile use, play an important role in shaping an individual's carbon footprint," said Ondine Berland, an economist at the London School of Economics and Political Science and co-author of the study.

Research on gender gaps often plagues what factors to control, and seemingly independent variables are often plagued by gender differences. For example, men need to eat more calories than women, but they also eat more than women. They also have higher average incomes, which in itself is associated with higher emissions.

Previous studies in Sweden found that men spend on goods produce 16% more climate heating emissions than women, although the money is very similar.

"I think we estimate that compared with the low-income population, we estimate that the carbon footprint of men and women in France is the same as we estimate," said Marion Leroutier, an environmental economist at Crest-Ensae Paris and co-author of the study.

One can take the most powerful moves to cut carbon pollution, including getting rid of gasoline cars, reducing meat and avoiding flights.

But efforts to challenge automotive culture and promote plant-based diets have sparked a backlash of anger among experts who see it as an attack on masculinity. The term “soy boy” has been used by far-right figures including U.S. Vice President JD Vance, and Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist, portrays progressives as weak.

Soybeans are a common source of protein for vegan diets, but three-quarters of the world’s soybeans are fed to animals to produce meat and dairy products.

French researchers suggest that gender differences in emissions could explain why women tend to be more concerned about the climate crisis, believing that the personal cost of reducing emissions is greater, which may lead men to avoid coping with climate emergencies.

But they added that greater climate concerns could lead women to do more to reduce their emissions. "More research is needed to understand whether these differences in the carbon footprint are also partly due to women's greater focus on climate change and the higher likelihood of adopting climate-friendly behaviors in their daily lives," Leroutier said.