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,"

  • xor@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    “The study also emphasizes the importance of emissions embedded in financial investments,”.

    it’s not them personally, but they own the corporations that are selling products to everyone else.

    if the bottom 90% demanded only sustainable products, and:or just didn’t buy from heavy polluters, that would make all the difference

    • Nalivai@lemmy.world
      32·
      3 days ago

      There is no demanding under capitalism. Working people don’t have any leverage over corpos, you either eat what they sell you, or die. Working people in democracies have some say on how government operates, which in turn has leverage over corpos. But working people were convinced to stay out of politics, so corpos are buying the governments.

      • xor@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        defeatism is really sexy and all… but not very useful.
        there’s more than one angle of attack… yes capitalism is bad and it’s replacement is the best thing to strive for….
        that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t make more environmentally conscious choices.

        but before i get into the communist revolution with you, the point is the lower 90% still buy plastic and olive oil from other continents and pretending like the owners of the olive oil companies are the only problem is pure ignorance

        shoot all of the olive oil ceo’s in the head and you’ll still have olive oil companies shipping olive oil. if people refuse that and only use locally sourced things that would be the end of olive oil exports.

        green washing exists because of the demand for greener products… of course, people would have to pay more attention than just a label that says “we do some nice things with 1 penny per billion dollars earned!”.

        it’s also quite satisfying to grow a garden… especially a community garden….

        or you could sit around grumbling that nothing can be possibly be done while sucking on a disposable vape cartridge… throw your trash in the ocean because nothing can possibly be done… use disposable everything because nothing can be done. it’s all capitalism’s fault and there’s absolutely nothing you could do.