The richest 10 percent of the planet’s population has contributed nearly seven times more to global warming than the rest of the population, accounting for two-thirds of the rise of global warming since 1990, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change. The study also found that the wealthiest one percent produced an impact 20 times greater than the remaining 99 percent of the population combined, with this disproportionate effect ballooning to 76 times when the top 0.1 percent of global wealth was singled out, illustrating a stark disparity between the wealthy contributors to global warming, and those most vulnerable to its effects.
These findings are the result of a new study model that combined climate simulations with economic data to track global emissions from various income groups, to assess each of their contributions to extreme climate effects. In addition to the higher rate of personal consumption typically seen in wealthy populations, the flow of public and private investments of the extremely wealthy, at both the global and regional level, were included, to generate “a much more complete picture of the actual cause and effect of Earth-melting pollution” by “following the key source of power in our capitalist world: property.”
In addition to the top 10 percent being responsible for two-thirds percent of global warming, the study found that in 2019 alone the “wealthiest 10 percent of the global population accounted for nearly half of global emissions” through “private consumption and investments, whereas the poorest 50 percent accounted for only one-tenth of global emissions,” according to the study text.
The study also found that emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent of just China and the United States alone led to a two-to threefold increase in extreme heat events in vulnerable regions such as the Amazon, southeast Africa and Southeast Asia–areas that have contributed the least to global carbon emissions.
“Our study shows that extreme climate impacts are not just the result of abstract global emissions, instead we can directly link them to our lifestyle and investment choices, which in turn are linked to wealth,” explained study lead Sarah Schöngart, a climate modeling researcher with Switzerland’s ETH Zürich. “We found that wealthy emitters play a major role in driving climate extremes, which provides strong support for climate policies that target the reduction of their emissions.”
“If everyone had emitted like the bottom 50 percent of the global population, the world would have seen minimal additional warming since 1990,” study co-author and head of the Integrated Climate Impacts Research Group at IIASA, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, remarked. “Addressing this imbalance is crucial for fair and effective climate action.”
The study authors suggest that research such as this could be used to inform policy designed to address the disproportionate effect that wealthy groups have on our climate, such as “a coordinated global wealth tax” that could fund programs aimed at helping mitigate the disproportionate effects being experienced by less privileged populations.
“This is not an academic discussion – it’s about the real impacts of the climate crisis today,” added Schleussner. “Climate action that doesn’t address the outsize responsibilities of the wealthiest members of society, risks missing one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce future harm.”