World's wealthiest 10 per cent responsible for two-thirds of global warming since 1990: Study

One per cent of the worlds wealthiest are responsible for a fifth of the global warming seen since 1990 while ten per cent are responsible for twothirds of global warming a new study has foundPublished in the journal Nature Climate Change the study directly links climate change to personal lifestyle and investment choices of highincome individuals according to researchersFurther one per cent of the wealthiest were found to have contributed 26 times the global average to increases in 1ina100year heat extremes in a monthOur 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 lead author Sarah Schoengart currently associated with ETH Zurich Switzerland saidFindings shed a new light on climate injustice and inequality in emissions related to incomes and show how the consumption and investments of wealthy people disproportionately impact the worlds weather the authors saidTropical regions including the Amazon southeast Asia and southern Africa all of which historically contributed the least to the worlds emissions experience especially severe impacts of climate change the team saidEvidence from the study on how emissions from wealthy individuals drive climate extremes provide a strong support for climate policies that target the reduction of their emissions Schoengart addedMaking rich individual polluters pay can also help provide much needed support for adaptation and loss and damage in vulnerable countries according to the researchersFor the analysis the team combined economic data and climate models which helped them trace emissions from varied income groups around the world and assess their contributions to specific climate extremes such as heat extremesWe find that twothirds onefifth of warming is attributable to the wealthiest 10 per cent one per cent meaning that individual contributions are 65 20 times the average per capita contribution the authors wroteThey also found that emissions from 10 per cent of the wealthiest in the US and China each led to a twotothreefold increase in heat extremes across the worlds vulnerable regionsIf everyone had emitted like the bottom 50 per cent of the global population the world would have seen minimal additional warming since 1990 coauthor CarlFriedrich Schleussner a research group leader at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis AustriaAddressing this imbalance is crucial for fair and effective climate action Schleussner saidStressing the importance of emissions while making financial investments the authors argue that targeting the financial flows and portfolios of highincome individuals could yield substantial climate benefitsSchleussner said Climate action that doesnt address the outsize responsibilities of the wealthiest members of society risks missing one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce future harmThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params