- Stephanie Hegarty
- BBC population reporter
Image source,Getty Images
Despite the promises made before the COP26 summit, a study showed that the carbon footprint of 1% of the richest people will grow, while the carbon footprint of the poorest 50% will remain low.
Studies have pointed out that to warm the earth below 1.5°C requires an annual per capita carbon dioxide emissions of 2.3 tons, and the emissions of the richest people will be 30 times this number.
The carbon emissions of the poorest 50% of the population will still be far below this standard, even though they are the group most severely affected by climate change.
This research was carried out by two European environmental agencies, when world leaders were attending the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Oxfam’s Naftoke Dabi said: “A small number of elites seem to have free passes for pollution.” Oxfam commissioned the Stockholm Environment Institute and the European Environmental Policy Institute ( Institute for European Environmental Policy) conducted this research.
“Their excessive emissions are exacerbating extreme weather around the world and undermining the international goal of limiting global warming.”
Climate scientists warn that before the earth’s temperature rises from pre-industrial levels to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, we can continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is limited.
Assuming that this amount is evenly distributed, every adult on the planet has one. By 2030, each of us can emit 2.3 tons of carbon per year.
The super-rich emit much more carbon dioxide than others, many of whom own multiple houses, private jets and super yachts. A recent study tracked celebrities’ air travel through social media accounts and found that some celebrities emit more than 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year.
But 1% of the world’s people are not only billionaires, or millionaires, this includes anyone with an annual income of more than $172,000. The study also surveyed 10% of the world‘s richest people (anyone with an income of more than $55,000) and found that emissions are still high. The richest 10% will emit 9 times more carbon than their share.
Consider an example among the 10% richest people. One such family is the Curths in the suburbs of Toledo, Ohio. Traci Curth, her husband and teenage daughter each drive a car.
Image source,Traci Curth
Tracy’s family has three cars, and she thinks many American families do the same.
“I live in the suburbs, and this is the way people move around,” Tracey said.
Toledo is hot in summer and cold in winter, so the air conditioner is turned on when the heating is not on. This refrigerator is filled with chicken breasts and minced beef, and they eat meat four or five times a week.
“I think this is normal for most American families,” Tracey said.
For Togonin Severin Togo, an English teacher in Maricati, life is very different.
Image source,Getty Images
The poorest people in the world have the lowest carbon footprints, but they are most susceptible to the effects of climate change.
Like 80% of people in the world, he has no car and rides a motorcycle to work.
“Cars are considered the patent of the rich,” he said.
He has stopped eating meat recently, but before then he only ate two to three times a week. Like 90% of people in the world, he has never been in an airplane.
But he does worry that people burn waste to produce emissions in his city, where the waste management system does not work, and worry about the inefficient wood and gas stoves used for cooking.
The Oxfam report found that 40% of middle-income people have done the most to control emissions.
Although the carbon footprint of these people increased significantly between 1990 and 2015, after the signing of the Paris climate agreement in 2015, the government carried out reforms in areas such as transportation and energy, and their carbon footprint would decline.
But Darby said that governments need to take more action, calling for bans and taxes on “carbon emission-intensive luxury goods such as luxury homes, SUVs or space tourism.”
“They need to solve the emission problem of the richest people because they have a huge responsibility for the climate crisis, and the poorest people are paying the greatest price,” she said.