Sobering report releases up-to-date information on our warming planet
The “polluting elite” is disproportionately driving climate change – with the richest 1% of people in the world producing as much carbon emissions as the poorest two-thirds, according to a new report.
The report by The Guardian, international charity Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute concluded that climate change and “extreme inequality” are “intertwined, merged and drive each other.”
Researchers found that 16% of all carbon emissions in the world in 2019 were caused by the world’s richest 1% of people – a group that includes billionaires, millionaires and those earning more than $140,000 a year. The analysis found that their contribution is “the same as the emissions of the poorest 66% of humanity” – about 5 billion people.
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The report also found that the richest 10% of people worldwide accounted for about half of emissions this year.
“It would take about 1,500 years for someone in the bottom 99% to produce as much carbon as the richest billionaires do in a year,” said Chiara Liguori, senior climate justice policy advisor at Oxfam. “This is fundamentally unfair.”
The amount of carbon dioxide emissions the top 1% reportedly produced in 2019 – 5.9 billion tonnes – is enough to alter global temperatures enough to kill an estimated 1.3 million people, it says the report, citing a widely used study methodology known as the “mortality cost of carbon.”
The report also highlighted that just 12 of the world’s richest billionaires produced nearly 17 million tons of emissions from their homes, transportation, yachts and investments – an amount it said was more than 4 1/2 coal-fired power plants over the course of a year exceeds.
At the top of this list is Carlos Slim Helu, who has a net worth of $94.7 billion, according to Forbes. He was followed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and luxury retail magnate Bernard Arnault.
The earth is under siege
William Ripple, an ecology professor at Oregon State University who is also director of the Alliance of World Scientists, told CBS News that the report’s methodology and findings are “broadly consistent with some of the current peer-reviewed scientific literature on the subject.” to match”.
“Carbon inequality and climate justice are big issues,” he said. “To combat climate change, we must dramatically reduce inequality and provide support and climate compensation to less wealthy regions.”
Last month, Ripple and a team of other scientists published a paper stating that Earth was “under siege” and “in an unknown territory.” They found several all-time records linked to climate change and “deeply concerning patterns of climate-related disasters.” They also noted that efforts to address these issues have made “minimal progress.”
The Guardian and Oxfam report called for a series of steps to help humanity “break out of the climate and inequality trap”, including a transition to renewable energy sources. It also proposed a 60% tax on the income of the world’s richest 1%, which the report said would lead to a 700 million metric ton reduction in global emissions.
UN report shows dangerous “emissions gorge”
The climate wealth gap report came on the same day the United Nations released its own new report on the costs of climate adaptation. The UN Environment Program found that despite “clear signs” that climate change risks are increasing, nations are falling further behind in the investments needed to respond.
This “adaptation finance gap” is between $194 billion and $366 billion each year, says the UN report, which says at least 50% more financial investment is needed and that developing countries face “significantly higher” costs and have needs than others.
Greenhouse gas emissions – which trap heat in the atmosphere and drive warming – have risen 1.2% since last year and have reached record highs.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters on Monday: “If nothing changes, emissions in 2030 will be 22 gigatonnes higher than the 1.5 degree limit allows” – referring to the target, warming to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It is expected that the world could exceed this level within the next five years.
“All of this is a failure of leadership, a betrayal of the weak and a huge missed opportunity. Renewable energy has never been cheaper or more accessible,” said Guterres. “…The report shows that the emissions gap is more like an emissions canyon – a canyon full of broken promises, broken lives and broken records.”
CBS News correspondent Pamela Falk contributed to this report.
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