20 November 2023 – A new study of global climate inequality shows that the wealthiest 1% of people produce more carbon emissions than 66% of the poorest. In 2019, this group of billionaires, millionaires and high earners were responsible for 16% of global carbon emissions.
The Guardian worked with Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute and other experts to investigate the correlation between wealth and carbon emissions. The study also looked at the disparity of the impact of climate change.
The result is not surprising. The richest people, corporations and countries are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, while the poorest are the ones that suffer the most from climate change.
In 2019, the super-rich 1%, which equates to 77 million people, emitted more carbon emissions than the 66% poorest, which equates to 5 billion people. This shows that climate inequality is a huge problem and needs addressing.
Top 10% Of Richest People Responsible For 50% Of Emissions
We all know that rich countries are responsible for more carbon emissions than poorer ones. But this new report illustrates this fact by putting figures to it, giving us a stark reminder of climate inequality.
According to the study, in 2019, high-income countries, which account for 16% of the population, were responsible for 40% of carbon emissions. While low-income countries only contributed 0.4%.
Africa is home to 17% of the world’s population, however, they are only contributing 4% to global emissions. And looking at the emission of people by income, the story is the same.
The richest 10% by income were responsible for 50% of the total global CO2 emissions in 2019. In contrast, the 50% poorest people were only responsible for 8%.
Oxfam’s analysis further showed that since the 1990s the super-rich 1% have produced twice as many carbon emissions as the 50% of the poorest people on the planet. And the amount that the super-rich are producing will be over 22 times higher than what is considered safe in 2030.
By polluting our environment with vast amounts of carbon dioxide, the richest 1% are also destroying our efforts to reduce carbon emissions. In 2019, the amount of carbon emissions produced by this group of super wealthy people cancelled out the emissions saved by almost 1 million onshore wind turbines.
The report has calculated that through their emissions, the super-rich of the world were responsible for 1.3 million excess deaths due to heatwaves.
Lifestyle, Investment & Power
There are three main reasons why the rich are bigger polluters than the poor: their lifestyle, what they invest their money in and their influence on policymaking.
Richer people live in bigger houses, drive bigger cars and can afford to travel more and longer distances. They also spend more money on clothing and status goods or luxury items. All this produces more carbon emissions.
The super-rich are even worse, with their yachts and private jets. Analysis by Greenpeace found that European private jets have emitted 5.3m tonnes of carbon dioxide between 2020 and 2023. A superyacht that is on permanent standby produces approximately 7,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, more if it is actually used.
The rich and super-rich also invest their money to increase their wealth. And they tend to invest in high-emission investments. For the richest 1%, the majority of their emissions, between 50% and 70%, comes from their investments.
And with money also comes power. They hold the majority of the shares in big corporations, which means they have a huge influence over policies. Their wealth also allows them to influence governments, through donations to political parties and lobbying efforts.
As a result, policies that would harm the super-rich are unlikely to be implemented, even if they were necessary to stop climate change and save lives, allowing the rich to continue to pollute our environment.
Climate Inequality Also In Terms Of Impact
While the richest people contribute the most to climate change through their emissions, it’s the poorest people who are hit the hardest by the effects of climate change.
According to the report, over 91% of people who died due to climate change-related disasters over the past 50 years occurred in developing countries.
And even though wealthy countries are also impacted by climate change through heatwaves, flooding, drought and wildfires, they are able to use their wealth to protect themselves from the worst effects.
And it’s the same for individuals in various countries. Wealthy people can insulate themselves from climate change impacts, such as installing air-conditioning to keep cool during a heatwave. They have insurance to pay for any climate-chance related damage.
Because of all this, the report is calling for a 60% income tax on the richest 1% in the world. Not only would this cut emissions, but the money could be used to pay for the global transition to renewable energy and reduce inequality.
Our Opinion
This report shows the climate inequality in our world clearly. We find the stark contrast between how much the rich pollute our planet and how little they are impacted by climate change shocking.
The poorest people in the world hardly contribute to the problem, yet they have to cope with the worst effects of it. What the world needs, in our opinion, is the rich countries and people to take responsibility.
They caused and are still causing the problem, therefore they should pay for it. We should be taxing polluting luxury items such as yachts, luxury cars and private jets. We should make people using these pay every time they use them.
In our opinion, rich countries should fork out to help poor countries to make the transition to renewable energy and net-zero.
However, what are the chances of all this happening? Well, fairly low, given that most of the rich countries are led by rich people. The UK is a prime example, but by far not the only one. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and his wife are worth £730m, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.
He isn’t going to introduce policies that make him poorer or his rich friends for that matter. He is part of the 10% richest people in the world that were responsible for 50% of carbon emissions in 2019.
And he has only recently watered down the climate policies of the UK, showing that for him our environment isn’t important. How can we ever prevent a climate change disaster if the richest people who are the biggest polluters are making the decisions?
