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.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21822936

“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,"

    • hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net
      4·
      2 days ago

      Oh, do you happen to have a military? That’s actually a big chunk of the reason Americans have such a high carbon footprint… That and an entire society built around making it almost impossible to live without a car.

    • Beastimus@slrpnk.netEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Epic! I hope to be able to ditch my car in the next two years, and I’ve mostly stopped eating meat too, and I haven’t turned my AC/Heat on since February (and then not for long.) I feel like taking the kind of steps needed to drastically reduce your share of emissions is easier than a lot of people make it out to be. (Though obviously it depends on life circumstances.)

    • silence7@slrpnk.netM
      8·
      2 days ago

      That’s two of the big three sources of household emissions. There’s a third one though: which is heating and cooling.

      I’d look at getting those off of fossil fuels next, and doing what you can to get electricity from renewables.