According to a study of the laboratory on inequalities, the 1 % of the richest world population generates more carbonated discharges than the poorest half.
by Audrey Garric
The climate crisis is deeply a crisis in inequality. While most of the greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the wealthiest, the poorest and less responsible are the most affected by the growing impacts of climate change. Reviewing global taxation, in particular by taxing the richest, would both accelerate the fight against warming and that against poverty. These are the conclusions of a vast study on climatic inequalities published Tuesday, January 31. It was led by the global inequalities laboratory (World Inequality Lab), a research institute attached to the Paris School of Economy and the University of Berkeley, California.
“Our relationship shows that there is a triple crisis of climatic inequalities – inequalities of emissions, losses caused by warming and capacity to act -, and that world wealth contributes too little to solve the climate crisis “, Summarizes the first author, the economist Lucas Chancel, co -director of the World Inequality Lab (with in particular Thomas Piketty) and professor at Sciences Po.” The idea is not to blame the rich or to absolve the poor, adds -As it is a question of better understanding which groups will be the winners and the losers of the energy transition in order to accelerate it. “
The aggravation of the climate crisis is largely fueled by the fraction of the wealthiest world population. As the report recalls, the richest 10 % are responsible for half of the world’s emissions (48 %). The most wealthy 1 % even leads to 17 % of carbon discharges alone, more than the poorest half of the population – which is responsible for 12 % of emissions. This top 1 % is responsible for a quarter of the growth of emissions between 1990 and 2019.
inequalities between countries but especially within countries
Other figures make it possible to measure even more the abyssal deviations between the income categories: the most privileged 1 % emits 101 tonnes of co 2 equivalent per person and per year, and the top 10 % 29 tonnes, against 6 tonnes for intermediate classes and 1.4 tonnes for half the poorest, according to figures advanced by Lucas Chancel, which take into account both the consumption of goods and services and investments. The carbon footprint should be reduced to 1.9 tonnes per person in 2050 to maintain a chance to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C at the end of the century.
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