Oxfam International’s latest report highlights the huge difference in carbon footprints left by the super-wealthy and everyone else.
For instance, global warming caused by just the richest 1% of the world’s population amounts to more than that produced by the poorest two-thirds of humanity, and is expected to produce 1.3 million excess deaths due to heat before 2030.
The report, “Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99%” draws on research by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and assesses the consumption emissions of different income groups in 2019, the most recent year for which data are available. The report shows the stark gap between the carbon footprints of the super-rich —whose carbon-hungry lifestyles and investments in polluting industries like fossil fuels are driving global warming— and the bulk of people across the world.
The report points out that climate degradation and inequality are locked in a positive feedback loop, where people living in poverty, women and girls, Indigenous communities, and Global South countries disproportionately experience climate impacts, which in turn increase the divide between the global wealthy and the poor. The report finds that seven times more people die from floods in poor countries and that climate change is worsening inequality both between and within countries.
A copy of the complete report can be found here:
