Wealthy individuals have a higher carbon footprint. A new study published in Nature Climate Change quantifies the climate outcomes of these inequalities. It finds that the world's wealthiest 10% are responsible for two-thirds of observed global warming since 1990 and the resulting increases in climate extremes such as heat waves and droughts.

“If everyone had emitted like the bottom 50% of the global population, the world would have seen minimal additional warming since 1990,”

The study assesses the contribution of the highest emitting groups within societies and finds that the top 1% of the wealthiest individuals globally contributed 26 times the global average to increases in monthly 1-in-100-year heat extremes globally and 17 times more to Amazon droughts.

The research sheds new light on the links between income-based emissions inequality and climate injustice, illustrating how the consumption and investments of wealthy individuals have had disproportionate impacts on extreme weather events

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,"

  • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
    5·
    3 days ago

    Ages 35 to 44

    Median net worth: $135,600

Average net worth: $549,600

    The vast majority of millennials are in that category, not under 35. Gen Y starts in 81 and ends in 96.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
      1·
      3 days ago

      I meant to say younger millennials and zoomers. Not millennials and older zoomers. My bad.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        3 days ago

        And by the time these younger millennials reach 35+ they’ll also be worth more, just like the people before them weren’t worth over 100k when they were in their 20s and early 30s…

        • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
          1·
          3 days ago

          Yes. Exactly. And they aren’t now.

          So it’s assumable that they likely aren’t flying around in private jets.

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
            2·
            3 days ago

            They’ll still be in that 10% when they’re older and they probably already live a very unsustainable lifestyle if they’re from first world countries.

            10% is just a nice number to use, a millennial that takes the plane to cross the country to see their family on Christmas has a much higher environmental impact than poor farmer in a third world country.

            • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
              11·
              3 days ago

              No…there’s no more social mobility. Within an age group you are always going to be more or less within the same quintile. Obviously there are exceptions, but nobody is going from being a median to a top 10% in their lifetime. That’s an outlier.

              The guy who has to drive a clunker 30 miles from an affordable suburb to a decent job isn’t the problem.

              The problem is that he has to in the first place.

              And that’s caused by a series of decisions made by people who are and have always truly been in the top 1%. The curve-wreckers who make it so that median is $39k and average is $200k. That’s an insanely tipped scale.

              • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
                2·
                3 days ago

                Top 10% on a global scale means a net worth of 100k USD, it’s not a lot in first world countries, if you own the place you live in, no matter the size, you’re pretty much certain to be worth at least that at some point. Median net worth for people 35-44 is 25% higher than that in the US. The people in that bracket weren’t worth that much overnight. When I was 25 my net worth was about 10k, 15 years later it’s now about 150k from just… Living my pretty average middle class life, i.e. being in a relationship, buying a small house and setting money aside. I didn’t have that when I was 25, I do now, just like people who are 25 now don’t have much but they will in 15 years, just like the people who were 25 in 1975 didn’t have much but they did in 1990.