environment
Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says
Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions
TL;DR
- The wealthiest individuals, particularly the top 1%, are responsible for a disproportionate amount of global greenhouse gas emissions through their ownership of companies and assets.
- Greenpeace estimates that the climate damage caused by the super-rich, through ownership-based emissions, amounts to nearly $1 trillion per year.
- The top 1% of wealth holders control about a quarter of global annual emissions via their shareholdings and investments.
- Ownership-based emissions, associated with privately owned financial and physical assets, are a major contributor to global carbon output and are harder to address than consumption-based emissions.
- Wealth taxes are suggested as a potential measure to address the climate debt and responsibility of the extremely wealthy.
- Recent data shows significant investment in fossil fuels by big banks and financial investors, despite prior commitments to curb such activities.
- There is a growing focus on wealth inequality and its link to environmental impact, with calls for curbing wealth excesses and allowing the poor a larger share of their labor's output.
- International climate talks are addressing a 'just transition' for workers affected by the move away from fossil fuels.